“Did... Did you do all that...?” Jutaro turned to me. His voice was hoarse. He was looking at the area around the fortress, particularly at all the downed Takeda soldiers, clearly unable to believe what he was seeing.

“Well, I guess. I don’t like being treated like a big deal, so I’d prefer it if you didn’t talk about this too much.”

“After all that we’ve seen from him, getting surprised is plain stupid.” Elze put her hands on her hips and heaved a heavy sigh.

“I-It does seem a bit silly at this point.” Linze agreed with her elder sister.

Hrm... all I did was mix a couple of my abilities! Is it really that big of a deal? I stared at the cheering soldiers, feeling a bit conflicted about the whole ordeal.

◇　◇　◇

“Firstly, I would like to give you my purest of thanks for helping us with the battle.” We gathered in the fortress’ keep, which wasn’t particularly large or fancy, and met a well-built man with a mustache. He looked to be in his early forties. The man sat at the seat of honor and bowed his head to me. Tokugawa Ieyahsu. The lord of this fortress and the territory it was built in. One of the nine lords of Eashen. I couldn’t help but notice his name was “Ieyahsu,” rather than the “Ieyasu” I was used to. The pronunciation was the same, but the spelling was different. I thought that was a little weird, but I could roll with it.

“Oh, we just happened to come around at the right time. No need to thank us.” Yumina was seated in front of us, directly facing Ieyahsu. She introduced herself as the princess of Belfast, and us as her bodyguards. It was just a way to make the situation easier to understand, but I couldn’t be more thankful for Yumina’s social decorum.

Yae was counted amongst the “bodyguards,” too. In short, we said that we came to help out because of our connection to her. Not like we were lying, either, so there were no problems to speak of.

“To think that Yae became one of Princess Yumina’s bodyguards... Life is indeed full of surprises.” Kokonoe Jubei suddenly spoke up. Yae’s father was a large, grizzled-looking man who looked to be nearing fifty years old. Currently, he was the acting instructor of the Tokugawas. Due to his time instructing Viscount Swordrick’s family, Jubei knew quite a lot about Belfast.

“Now... who is this youth that saved my fortress...?” Ieyahsu shifted his gaze past Yumina and directed it straight at me. You’re looking a little too inquisitive there, old man...

“This is Mochizuki Touya, one of my bodyguards — or, as I prefer to put it, my future husband.” Yumina’s cheeks turned all rosy as she spoke. Whoa, whoa, whoa! I did not consent to this! There was absolutely no need to say that! The Lord and the instructor both sighed in a way that expressed both admiration and astonishment. I didn’t like that reaction at all.

“Oh, I see now. The boy being betrothed to the princess of Belfast makes his feat easy to understand. How very splendid.”

“Indeed. I’m very proud of him, too.” Yumina puffed up with pride as though Ieyahsu’s praise was meant for her. Please stop. Please. I need an adult.

“Praise aside, I would like to ask you a question... Have you heard of a place known as ‘The Ruins of Nirya’? It’s actually what we came to Eashen for...”

“Nirya...?” Yumina’s question made Ieyahsu take a moment to think. Suddenly, something came to his mind and he lightly slapped his knee.

“Oho, you must mean the ruins said to house the secrets of Nirai Kanai. I don’t know much about it, actually... What about you, Jubei?”

“From what I hear, the Ruins of Nirya are in Shimazu’s territory. But they’re supposedly at the bottom of the sea. Getting inside would be no trivial task...”

“The bottom of the sea?!” What the hell? Is it some kind of water temple? Does it have an entrance that appears and disappears depending on the tide?! Well, not like we have any choice. We’ll have to go see it for ourselves. Now we know where it is, so we can make our way there if we want... but the situation right now doesn’t really give us a lot of wiggle room.

“About Takeda’s army... Do you think this will be enough for them to back down?” My question made Ieyahsu fold his arms. His head bobbed in thought.

“I believe they will regroup and try attacking us again. They may come with more of those masked warriors, perhaps even their cannon units...” No amount of soldiers would change the result, though. Cannons might be troublesome, but I could still break them.

“I must say, though... The masked soldiers, this invasion in general... it confuses me to no end. The Lord of Takeda, Schingen-dono, is indeed the proud leader of the four great military commanders known as ‘Takeda’s Elite Four,’ but this battle felt rather unlike him. The rumors may be true after all...”

“Rumors?” Ieyahsu’s words got me curious. Jubei spoke up to elaborate, rather than Ieyahsu himself.

“There are rumors that Schingen-dono might have already passed away. That his body is being controlled by a dark strategist known as Yamamoto Kansukay, who is using the shell of their Lord to lead Takeda’s armies as if they were his own.”

“Yamamoto Kansukay...”

“When you consider the existence of the masked soldiers, that doesn’t seem impossible. He might have a spell or an Artifact that can take control of corpses.” After listening to Jubei, Leen presented her own thoughts.

Well, controlling that many corpses at once doesn’t seem like a trivial thing to do. It seems possible to me. Does he plan on using Takeda to force all of Eashen to unite under one banner? Crap, now I’m thinking about Takeda’s army. I can’t exactly leave with a clear conscience now...

“Would it all cool down if someone captured this Yamamoto Kansukay guy?”

“It might... However, Schingen-dono’s death is nothing but a rumor. And, from what I hear, Kansukay never leaves Takeda’s stronghold at Tsutsujigasaki. Sneaking inside and kidnapping him would be a fool’s errand...”

Hmph. That was exactly what I was planning, but I guess that does sound kinda silly, even if I could get in with [Long Sense] and [Gate]. It would be great if there was a spell that could make a person invisible, or... Ah.

“Leen. You can use light magic to make your wings invisible, right? Is it possible to apply it to your whole body?”

“It is, yes. However, it simply makes the light encompass something, so people would quickly notice if you bumped into them.”

Alright... So she can actually make people invisible. That’ll make the stealth portion easier. I was already thinking of infiltrating the enemy fortress. So really, I’d prefer as few casualties as possible, regardless of friend or foe.

“A-Are you thinking of actually sneaking in?” Linze spoke as if she just read my mind. Sheesh, is it that obvious?

“If this Yamamoto Kansukay is really the mastermind, it’d be the easiest way to deal with the situation, right?”

“That’s true, but...” She was probably worried about me, but I didn’t feel that there was a need for that. I could always escape through a [Gate], after all.

“The main problem is getting to this... Tsutsujigasaki place. Have you ever been there, Yae?”

“No, not even once, I have not. What about you, Father?”

“Same for myself... Why should that matter, though?”

“If we find someone who has been to Tsutsujigasaki, Touya-dono can use his magic to get there in mere moments, he can!”

“What...?!”

Jubei and Ieyahsu both looked at me in sheer surprise. I didn’t really want to stand out so much, but since I was leaving Eashen after exploring the ruins anyway, I decided to just accept it.

“Allow me to be the one to introduce him to Tsutsujigasaki, then.” A voice echoed throughout the keep, coming from seemingly nowhere. It didn’t belong to anyone in the room. I quickly pulled out the New Model Army and aimed for where I’d heard the voice — out in the corridor surrounding the room.

“Who is there?” Someone took the words right out of my mouth. It was Jubei, who seemed as baffled as I was.

A person walked out of the shadows in the corner.

Whoa, it’s a ninja! The black clothes were a clear giveaway. The outfit stood out, yet I still hadn’t realized that the person was there, so it was possible they used some kind of perception-blocking spell. The person took off the cloth covering her head, revealing the face of a beautiful woman. It was a female ninja. A kunoichi, to be more precise.

“I am Tsubaki, subordinate of one of Takeda’s Elite Four — Kousaka Masanohbu-sama. I’ve brought a secret message to Tokugawa Ieyahsu-sama.”

“You’re with Kousaka-dono?!” The kunoichi kneeled on the floor, took out her message, placed it in front of her, and backed away. Even if the current battle was over, she was a ninja working for the opponent. It’d only be natural for us to be cautious around her. Eyes on the kunoichi at all times, Jubei took the message and handed it over to Ieyahsu.

I kept my gun trained on her, just in case. Better safe than sorry, after all.

Ieyahsu opened the scroll and began reading. A look of surprise dawned on his face, then he became sterner. What could’ve made him react like that?

“Milord. What does it say?”

“It seems that the rumors were true. Takeda’s forces are naught but an army of puppets.”

“It can’t be...!” Jubei was at a loss for words. So it’s true. Yamamoto Kansukay had complete control of Takeda’s army.

“Schingen-dono has already passed away, and, with the exception of Kousaka-dono, Takeda’s Elite Four are all imprisoned in the dungeons. The letter asks us to stop Kansukay and save the land of Takeda.”

“Kousaka-sama pretends to be loyal to Kansukay. He’s plotting how to take Takeda out of his hands in the shadows, however.” The kunoichi, Tsubaki, gave us some more intel. According to her, Kansukay was hiding the fact that Schingen was dead. He used the corpse as a proxy to put the land of Takeda under his command. The Elite Four noticed. Three of them were imprisoned, but Kousaka pretended to be loyal to Kansukay and thus was spared.

“In all honesty, Tokugawa has no obligation to do so much for Takeda. But at this rate, the masked soldiers under Kansukay’s command will ravage our lands. As pitiful as it might sound, the power to save both Tokugawa and Takeda lies in the hands of these Belfastian guests of mine.” Ieyahsu looked at me. And with that, it became my duty to infiltrate Tsutsujigasaki and do something about Yamamoto Kansukay.

“What are you going to do, Touya?” Despite knowing the answer, Yumina went out of her way to look up at me and ask me that.

So I’m the one who gets to decide the fates of two lands... Well, it doesn’t really bother me.

“Sure, I’ll do it. I’ll infiltrate Tsutsujigasaki. I want to go to the Ruins of Nirya with a clear conscience, after all.”

“Thank you.” Tsubaki bowed her head to me alongside her words of gratitude.

“Going in with a large group would be a bad idea, so the only ones to go will be me, Tsubaki, and Leen.” Tsubaki knew the inner workings of Takeda and Leen was a fairy with great magic skill, so it was the best choice for a smooth operation. Sadly, Paula couldn’t tag along this time. Once I told her that, the bear plush stomped on the floor in frustration and made her anger very clear. That [Program] is damn impressive...

“Alright, let’s get to it and...”

“Wait, wait! Are you really gonna sneak in there in broad daylight? Shouldn’t you wait for nightfall?” After I stood up and got ready to go, Elze said something extremely reasonable.

Guess she’s right... There’ll be fewer people at night, and the darkness can help us hide. Even if Leen makes us invisible, night time is the better setting for a stealth mission.

I decided to take a rest before the new plan. Well, it wasn’t much of a rest. I had to use a [Gate] to inform Yae’s mother that Jubei was fine, then teleport to Belfast and tell Laim that I wouldn’t be back for the night, among other things. I even had to go to Oedo and buy alcohol, food, arrows, oil, and other things to resupply the fortress. With [Storage], it wasn’t tiring in the least, so I didn’t really mind. Ieyahsu even gave me money for doing it. Quite a lot of money, in fact. A delivery service sounded more enticing than ever at that point.

The day went by quickly while I kept myself busy, and soon it was night time.

“Alright, Tsubaki, picture a place from which you can see the stronghold at Tsutsujigasaki. I’d be thankful if you picked a place that doesn’t have many people.”

“Understood.” As Tsubaki closed her eyes, I took both of her hands. Geez, I was tense enough doing this with Yae, but it’s even more unnerving doing it with a stranger... Honestly, holding a girl’s hand is heavy enough... so why are Yumina and the others glaring daggers at me?! I had no idea what I did to deserve such glares, but I decided to get this over with. It felt like the safe thing to do.

“[Recall].” I focused my magic and pressed my forehead against hers. Tsubaki was about as tall as me, so I didn’t have to lean in like I did with Yae. Soon enough, I saw the faint image of a big, single-story building surrounded by a few moats and a castle town. So that was Takeda’s stronghold, Tsutsujigasaki.

“[Gate].” I distanced myself from Tsubaki, stood in the middle of the keep, and created a portal of light leading to the enemy stronghold.

“Okay, we’re off. Kohaku, tell me if anything happens.”

«Understood.» The tiger replied via telepathy. It was a handy little thing that allowed Kohaku and I to talk privately. If something happened here, Kohaku would tell me about it and I could get back in an instant.

First one to go through the [Gate] was Leen. She was followed by Tsubaki and then myself.

Once through, the first thing I noticed was the night sky. There was not a moon visible, but several stars twinkled in the sky. We were surrounded by a dense forest, and I could see some torches burning off in the distance. That was the Tsutsujigasaki stronghold, no doubt about it.

“So that’s what we’re infiltrating...” First, I decided to examine it using [Long Sense]. I could see some bridges built over the moats and, as I had expected, the gates were closed.

Guarding the gates stood some brawny fellows, clad in full armor and holding spears.

I looked beyond the gates and saw a long, white fence built sort of like a maze. Right next to it, there was a well. Not too far from there, in an open space, I saw a garden tree that seemed like a perfect hiding spot. Alright, that’s where we’ll warp to...

“[Gate].” I quickly opened a portal and tried going through. However... instead of letting me go through it like normal, it pushed me back after taking just one step.

“Huh?” I tried passing through again. But, just like the first time, I was repelled right after putting my leg in.

“What’s going on?” I tilted my head in confusion. This had never happened before.

“A barrier talisman. That’s the most likely thing that could stop you from going through the [Gate].”

“A barrier?” Leen came to that conclusion after watching me try a few times. I could recall Duke Ortlinde saying something similar, too. Passage through teleportation can be stopped by the simplest of barriers... So that’s how it works...

“This is probably Kansukay’s doing. I can go inside freely. I’m Kousaka-sama’s subordinate, after all. Wait here while I destroy the talisman.” As Tsubaki got ready to head into the stronghold, Leen folded her arms and stopped her.

“Don’t. When you break a barrier, there’s a high chance that the one who created it will notice. Even if they don’t know that you were the one who did it, making them alert isn’t a wise idea.”

“What should we do, then?” There was only one possible answer to that question. Nothing else would work.

“Leen. Let’s infiltrate the place with the magic that makes your wings disappear. You and I can become invisible, then we’ll accompany Tsubaki as she passes through the gate. That should work, right?”

“It doesn’t make them disappear, it just affects the vision and... Well, alright. Stand over there, then.” I did as I was told. Leen placed her hand on me and gathered her magic, forming a magic circle beneath us.

“Bend, O Light. Guiding Curvature: [Invisible]!” After she spoke the spell, the magic circle rose up and surrounded us both. Once it reached the tops of our heads, it dispersed like nothing.

“You disappeared...” Tsubaki expressed her surprise.

Oh? It’s working already? But I can still see my arms, and the rest of me too! I can see Leen!

“Leen. Is my vision unaffected by this spell or something?”

“Well obviously. Can you imagine how inconvenient it would be if you couldn’t see your own body?”

“Oh, I can still hear you.” Tsubaki sounded slightly relieved. Wow, guess she really can’t see us.

Leen grinned, walked behind Tsubaki, and suddenly began fondling her breasts.

“Fhyaaaaahhh?!”

“Hey, Touya! Why are you taking advantage of her just because she can’t see you?”

“T-Touya-san?! Wh-Why...?”

“It’s not me! That’s Leen! I’m still in front of you!” I moved the foliage around me to indicate my presence. Heck, even if you can’t see her, you should be able to tell based on the feeling on your back!

“No... Ah, hey, that’s... Ahh!”

“Hmm... They’re unexpectedly big. Are you the type who looks slender in clothing? These are quite the melons...”

“Cut it out already!”

“Ouch!!!” Since she clearly wasn’t going to stop the fondling, I hit her with a karate chop. A 612-year-old has no business being this childish. Please consider the importance of our situation! As Leen clutched her head and crouched down in pain, Tsubaki turned red from the embarrassment and backed away. Her arms were wrapped around her own chest. Good job, Leen. You made our tenuously allied ninja friend wary of us.

I spoke up, hoping to calm Tsubaki down.

“It’s okay now, don’t worry. I’ll give her a good smack and make her stop it if she tries it again.”

“...You’re going to smack my ass?”

“Quiet, you!” Leen’s joke made Tsubaki back away even further.

Can we even succeed if it goes on like this? I became slightly... No, I became very worried.

◇　◇　◇

“I am Kousaka-sama’s subordinate. Let me pass.”

“I see. Just a moment, then.” The two guards looked at Tsubaki’s permit, nodded, and slowly opened the heavy gate. The place didn’t seem to have a separate entrance for individual people.

Still invisible, Leen and I quickly slipped through the open gate as well. Tsubaki walked through a moment later and the guards closed the entrance once again. Whew... We made it.

“Hey, Leen. Shouldn’t the barrier dispel our invisibility?”

“As a rule of thumb, barriers only repel magic that affect their area of influence. It won’t dispel the spell on us because, instead of affecting the area, it affects only us. That’s also why the barrier shouldn’t prevent you from leaving through a [Gate].” That made sense to me. A [Gate] only affected the destination, after all. I couldn’t enter, but I could leave with no problem. That was also why my [Long Sense] wasn’t dispelled. The target of the spell wasn’t the area, but me.

Anyway, now that we were inside, we had to go save the three members of the Elite Four who were locked up in the dungeons, then ferry them out with a [Gate]. Though if they were capable of fighting, I’d gladly have them join us. I suggested my idea to Tsubaki, who instantly agreed.

“The dungeon is this way.” Following Tsubaki, we ran through the moonless night.

The dungeon was in a building near the west edge of the stronghold.

Tsubaki said that not even her permit would let her inside. I had Leen make her invisible like us and we all used our collective vanish-ness (according to Leen, that wasn’t the right term, but whatever) to sneak inside.

We passed the guard room and walked down the stairs. In the dungeons made from stone and wood, I could see an old man. His eyes were closed and he was sitting in quiet meditation. The man was large in build, had long, graying hair and a face with several wrinkles here and there.

“Who is there?” Still meditating, he suddenly spoke up, surprising all three of us. He could sense our presence despite our invisibility, it seemed.

“Baba-sama, I’m Tsubaki. Kousaka-sama ordered me to help you. Do you happen to know where I could find Naito-sama and Yamagata-sama?”

“You’re one of Kousaka’s? Hmph, I had a feeling that he was only pretending to be part of Kansukay’s army. He’s not one to be underestimated.” Clearly amused, one of Takeda’s Elite Four, Baba Nohbuharu, bore a wide grin.

“Naito and Yamagata are in the cells further down. But don’t you think you should show yourself first?” Leen canceled her spell, making Baba raise his eyebrow and stare at us.

“Who are these two? I don’t recognize them.”

“These are guests of Tokugawa-dono. Their names are Mochizuki-dono and Leen-dono. Mochizuki-dono is powerful. He defeated the fifteen thousand masked soldiers that attacked Tokugawa all by himself.”

“He what?!” Old man Baba’s eyes opened wide. W-Wait... there were fifteen thousand of them?! I didn’t know that! I guess that explains why the map app had so many pins on it...

The old man was still looking at me in disbelief, but there were more important things to do than be awestruck. I could use magic to blow the cell open, but that would attract too much attention. Thus, I only had one course of action.

“[Modeling].” I changed the shape of the grating and began creating a space for a person to pass through. It took me about a minute to finish it, after which old man Baba walked out as if he was never locked up.

“I see that you can do some strange things, squirt.”

S-Squirt?! Well, I guess I am way younger than you... I chose not to say it, but I could’ve easily brought up that the fairy with me was way older than him.

The rough old man joined us as we walked through the dungeon and reached two more cells. They were on opposite sides of the room.

The one on the right held a gentle-looking man who appeared so ordinary that I couldn’t help but compare him to an office worker on the verge of retirement. The one on the left, however, held a middle-aged man with the eyes of a warrior and countless battle scars all over his body.

“Oh, Baba-dono. Glad to find you in good health.” The office worker turned to us.

“Looks like things are getting interesting, Baba-dono. Lemme join, in case things get wild.” The scarred man grinned with excitement, stood up, and walked over to the grating. Seeing the way they acted, old man Baba heaved a long sigh.

“Naito. How about taking this a bit more seriously, eh? The way you’re always smiling like that really gets to me. And you, Yamagata. You should try using that noggin of yours every once in a while. Not all problems can be solved with battles.” Hmm... So the office worker was Naito Masatoyoh, and the scarred one was Yamagata Massakage.

“Hey squirt, get these two out of their cells, will ya?”

“Fine by me. But could you stop calling me squirt? I have a name, and it’s Mochizuki Touya.” As I looked at and waited for him to correct himself, Leen joined the exchange.

“Just so you know, this boy is first in line for the throne of Belfast, so you ought to take care in how you talk to him.” All three of the men were at a loss for words. Well, she’s not wrong, but that description still doesn’t sit right with me... I still haven’t agreed, after all.

“Really, now? Hmm... But changing the way I call him would make me look pathetic at this point... Well, he’ll just have to deal with being called squirt.” Baba’s response made Leen smile and shrug. Well, shit. Guess he just doesn’t listen to people.

“I will take the liberty of calling him Touya-dono.”

“Then he’ll be Touya to me.” Just like Baba, both Naito and Yamagata went with whatever they were comfortable with. Man, Takeda sure is full of people who act however they want. Shame that Schingen’s dead. I would’ve loved to meet the guy who got this group of misfits to listen to him.

I used [Modeling] to free the two men just like I’d freed old man Baba. Then, I got Leen to make us invisible and we all made our way through the guard post and out of the dungeon.

“What do we do now, Your Soon-to-be Majesty?” Naito spoke with a smile on his face, clearly making fun of me. I do not approve of this, not at all. I got everyone together and told them my plan.

“I intended to let you three escape the stronghold and go on to capture Yamamoto Kansukay with my group, but...”

“Hey now, we can’t have that. Take me with you, Touya. We all have a score to settle with that bastard, you know?” Yamagata cracked his knuckles, a fearless smile spread across his face. With his face being so scarred, that motion was scary in more ways than one.

“Kansukay is surrounded by the oni mask soldiers, and he himself uses some strange magic. Guy’s inhuman. Think you can really beat him?” Old man Baba said something strange. As my expression became a confused one, Naito continued where Baba left off.

“Yamamoto Kansukay was once a strategist under Schingen-sama’s command. A capable man with a good head on his shoulders, he was an excellent strategist. But he somehow got his hands on a jewel imbued with demonic power. Ever since he got his hands on that, he seemed to get crazier every day. He began killing cats and dogs, started doing weird experiments... and that soon escalated to the point of him committing actual murder. Since then, he created the corpse-controlling ‘oni masks’ and became more powerful than ever. We couldn’t stop him. The power in that jewel of his was far too great...”

So, that thing actually made Yamamoto Kansukay go insane? Some kind of demonic power, huh? That was probably the Artifact controlling the corpses.

“What do you think, Leen?”

“There’s little doubt that this jewel made him lose his sanity. Artifacts might sometimes be so strong that they develop a mind of their own. They could even house such things as the grudges or obsessions of their creators.” Grudges...? That makes it sound like a cursed item. Whatever the case, Leen made it easy to understand. Takeda’s strategist, Yamamoto Kansukay, was being controlled and turned insane by a cursed jewel. Therefore, it was safe to assume that breaking the jewel would take care of the situation.

“So, where can we find Kansukay?” I turned to Tsubaki.

“I believe he might be in the building in the central quarter of the stronghold...”

I took out my smartphone and ran a search for ‘Yamamoto Kansukay,’ but didn’t get any hits. Hmm? Is he somewhere else? No, that can’t be it. To confirm my suspicions, I ran a search for ‘Leen,’ but didn’t get any results either.

It’s that damn barrier. It’s blocking my [Search] enchantment. Man, what a pain.

“Tsubaki, where is the central quarter?”

“Uhm... It’s in this direction.” I used [Long Sense] to move my sight toward where she was pointing. It was a spell that affected me, so the barrier couldn’t do anything about it.

Once I passed the large garden and was about to take a look inside the building, I saw a man walk out of it.

A black kimono, a black hakama, swarthy skin, and an eyepatch over the left eye. That’s Kansukay, no doubt about it.

I took my sight back and asked Leen how to destroy the barrier. Since I already saved the Elite Four, all that was left was to prepare myself for the moment they found out. Then all I had to do was teleport to Kansukay.

“I believe there should be magic-imbued talismans placed at the four corners of this stronghold. Breaking just one of them should do the trick.”

“I know where to find one. Follow me.” We all followed after Yamagata. Thanks to our invisible forms, we got there without anyone noticing.

There was a small stone jizo statue placed in a little hole in the wall. It was about as tall as Paula.

“No doubt about it. This little jizo is one of the talismans.”

A statuette? Not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when hearing the word “talisman.” In this world, “talisman” seemed to share its meaning with “charm” and the like, so they came in many shapes and sizes.

“So, we should just break this and teleport straight to Kansukay, right?”

“Now wait just a second, squirt. We might be tough, but going in without weapons is crazy. Don’tcha have something for us?” Sheesh, this guy sure is the demanding sort... Old man Baba was completely right, though. But the only weapons I had on me were the New Model Army and my gunblade, Brunhild. Neither of them were something I could give to them...

“Well. Guess I’ll have to make some.”

“Make some?” The Elite Four looked at me like I was a lunatic. I ignored their stares and used [Storage] to take out the steel I kept from when I was making bikes.

“You okay with a spear? Do you have any requests or preferences?”

“Hm? Yeah, I’d like a spear. Naito does best with two short swords, and Yamagata likes his greatswords...”

“Sure thing.” I used [Modeling] to reshape the steel. First, I made the two short swords. Then came the greatsword, and last, but not least, the spear. The three took their weapons and tested out how they felt and handled.

“To make something like this in such a short amount of time... You are amazing, Touya-dono.”

“The whole thing’s made of steel, so I thought this spear would be heavy... but it’s surprisingly light. Balance is a little strange, though." I had made the hilt hollow solely to make it lighter. It was basically a steel pipe with a spearhead on top. That gave it more endurance than standard spears, but I had no idea if it was any sharper as a result.

“So, we ready?” Everyone nodded in response. I unholstered the New Model Army and loaded it with bullets from my waist pouch. Specifically, the bullets imbued with a small explosion spell.

I aimed at the jizo statue in front of me. It seemed like an action that would wind up getting me cursed, but there was no other option. Once I pulled the trigger, the jizo shattered into countless pieces.

With the barrier destroyed, I took out my smartphone, turned on the map app, and ran a search for the oni mask soldiers.

Yup, it works. I can use my phone’s functions again.

I locked on all the oni mask soldiers, planning to take them all out.

“H-Hey, what’s that?!” Yamagata and the other two looked up at the night sky with wide eyes. They were staring at the small [Multiple] magic circles. Leen was looking over at them as well.

“You’re doing that again?”

“It’s a good idea to get rid of all those who could get in our way, right? Things would get pretty bad if we teleported there and instantly got surrounded.” I raised my hand to the sky, focused my magic, and activated all of the [Multiple] magic circles.

“Strike true, Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: [Shining Javelin]!” Light rained from the skies for the second time in recent history. The dead of night made it a beautiful sight, much like a meteor shower.

But man, I wasn’t among the enemy forces last time, so I had no idea it was so loud and made the ground shake this much...

Spears of light fell all over the stronghold, destroying the oni mask soldiers one by one. It didn’t matter if they were outside or indoors, the spears reached their targets even if they had to pierce through roof tiles. Crap... I didn’t really think this through.

Once the rain of light stopped, I could hear the normal soldiers start to shout that they were being attacked, so I locked on to all the ‘enemy Takeda soldiers’ and cast [Paralyze], making the area turn quiet.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Hey... Did you really just do all that?!” Old man Baba looked around while blinking in disbelief. For a brief while, the other two’s mouths were open wide due to the shock, but they soon spoke up.

“Dear me... This is unbelievable...”

“Okay now, don’t you think you took care of Kansukay with this?” It was a possibility, considering that ‘enemy Takeda soldiers’ included him, as well. I didn’t expect him to be harmed, though. Not only was [Paralyze] weak against anyone with talismans, but it didn’t have much of an effect on anyone with high magical aptitude.

“I think Kansukay’s just fine. It’s not a problem, though. Just means we have to take him head-on. Let’s go finish this.” I opened a [Gate] to the central quarter, where Kansukay was.

Once I was through the portal of light, I saw a one-eyed, swarthy man standing in the large garden. He was surrounded by immobilized Takeda soldiers. The eyepatched man noticed our sudden appearance and looked right at us, his shadow dancing due to the two bonfires next to him.

“I see. So the Elite Four are responsible for this, then? You’ve truly surprised me. How did you accomplish this?”

“You don’t need to know that. Now shut up and die!” Yamagata brandished his greatsword and charged at Kansukay. Whoa, damn! Now there’s someone who’s quick to act! But I guess his appearance isn’t exactly hiding that. Yamagata Massakage — the captain of Takeda’s shock troops — swung his blade straight toward Kansukay’s neck. However, it was blocked by the katana of an armored samurai who jumped out from the side.

“Wha—?!” He was clad in red armor and a helmet with a lion decoration. The samurai’s white hair danced around as he deflected Yamagata’s greatsword.

A red oni mask was covering his face. He was almost two meters tall and had muscles so large that it looked like they were going to burst. Wait... it can’t be...

“M-Milord...?” The hoarse voice that somehow escaped old man Baba’s lips confirmed my assumption about the armored samurai.

That was Takeda Schingen. He who was once the lord of Takeda. Now reduced to a mere puppet under Kansukay’s complete control.

“Kansukay, you filth! You’d dare to use Lord Schingen as a shield?!”

“A shield? I would never. Lord Schingen merely protected me. That’s all. Though, I do regret pushing him into a situation that made it necessary. I shall call for a replacement.” Magic gathered around Kansukay, forming a large circle in the middle of the garden. That circle’s element is... Darkness! He’s summoning something! “Come to me, O Darkness. I seek the service of bones: [Skeleton Warrior]!” A skeleton crawled out of the magic circle. It was wielding a curved sword in its right hand and a round shield in its left. Man, this Kansukay guy sure seems to have a thing for undead-related powers.

“Blade Mode.” I took out Brunhild and instantly transformed it into a longsword. The skeleton charged at me, so I swung horizontally and split it in half.

But the skeleton slowly began moving and regenerated, seemingly shrugging off my lethal blow. Its split spine shifted back in place and it got up, prepared to charge me again. What the heck?!

“Come forth, O light! Shining Duet: [Light Arrow]!” I heard Leen casting a spell, and a moment later, an arrow of light pierced through the skeleton in front of me. The bones shattered into fragments, never to regenerate again. Huh? Why’d that work?

“Surely you know that undead are weak to Light magic, right? Pointless slashing gets you nowhere, dummy.” Oh, right. I returned Brunhild to gun mode and reloaded it. I elected to use Light magic bullets.

I aimed at the skull of another skeleton coming toward me and pulled the trigger. The gunshot was accompanied by a burst of light that splinted the bones, preventing it from rising again.

I looked to the side and saw Tsubaki, old man Baba, and Naito valiantly fighting the living bones, whose regeneration made the struggle look fruitless.

“This is annoying. I’ll just end it all at once.” Leen released her magic, causing a magic circle to appear below her feet. It began to widen until it was large enough to cover the whole garden.

“Come forth, O Light! Shining Exile: [Banish]!” Right after she spoke her spell, all the skeletons in the garden burst into particles of light and vanished. What the hell was that? That was awesome! Guess I shouldn’t have expected any less from the clan matriarch of the magically-adept fairies.

“Hmph... Light-element purification magic. Not bad at all. However...” The red armored samurai stood before Kansukay, ready to protect him. He aimed his katana at Yamagata, blocking his path and preventing him from moving forward.

“Milord! Please move aside!”

“Schingen-sama! Blast it all, that slimy wretch!”

“Look at how he treads over our feelings… What scum!”

“Heheheh, it’s useless. Our dear lord protects me. I know full well that you are unable to cross swords with the leader you are so grateful to. That means you cannot lay a hand on m—” Before Kansukay could finish his sentence, Schingen’s mask suddenly shattered. Things were dragging on a bit, so I shot it with my gun.

The armored samurai dropped to the ground face-down. The puppeteer no longer had any hold over it. Cool. Destroying the mask really did stop him. With the deed done, I spun Brunhild in my hand.

“Wh-Wha—?!” With a surprised expression on his face, Kansukay looked between Schingen’s still body and me.

“Squirt, you...”

“Hey, I didn’t even know him.”

“That’s true... Still, I would appreciate it if you considered our feelings, too...” Old man Baba and Naito both looked at me with shocked expressions, but I really didn’t know how to react.

“H-Heheheh, impressive. But I still have this!” Kansukay took off the eyepatch over his left eye. There was a red, shining eye — no, a jewel — inside the socket. It shone in a mystifying, ghastly, ominous manner, as if beating like a heart. Is that the jewel we were told about?

“As long as I possess the ‘Jewel of Immortality,’ I cannot die! You can even behead me and still, I will instantly recover!”

“So you used the jewel’s power to grant immortality to the oni mask soldiers?”

“Heheh, that I did! The negative side is that I can only give the simplest orders when the soldiers are too far away from me, but this Artifact more than makes up for it with the great magic power and immortality it provides!” Kansukay proudly answered Leen’s question. It was becoming very clear that that thing was the cause of this whole troubling situation.

“Hoo-ahhh!!!” With a mighty war cry, Yamagata swung his greatsword down on Kansukay. The attack neatly cut off his arm, but it quickly turned into a black mist and vanished into nothingness. Moments later, Kansukay’s shoulder grew a perfectly new arm.

“Wha—?!”

“I told you it won’t work! I can regenerate no matter how many times you cut me! And it’s all thanks to this jewel!”

“[Apport].” I cast a spell, and a small round object appeared in my hand.

Well, he just said he wouldn’t regenerate without the jewel, right? I threw the shining red jewel into the air and caught it, just in case Kansukay hadn’t realized what just happened.

“N-No!” He hastily placed his hand against his left eye. Obviously, the jewel was no longer there. Wait. It occurs to me that this thing was in his nasty old eye socket for who knows how long... Ew. Ew. Ew. This is gross!

“Y-You bastard! When did you—?!”

“My my, talk about having sticky fingers. Is that another Null spell?”

“Yeah. [Apport] allows me to instantly bring small objects to me. Useful in situations like this.” Leen took a look at the jewel in my hand, quickly took it between her fingers, and examined it with squinted eyes. Her brow furrowed as her glare turned intense. That thing’s pretty gross, honestly.

“Hmph, this one’s really bad. It has a curse that gathers the negative energy from the surroundings and makes the owner’s heart impure. It was likely applied by some weird wizard. Either way, it’s the reason this man lost his sanity. Though, considering that a clean heart gets in the way of controlling corpses, I can’t help but call it practical.”

“I’m impressed that you can tell that much just by looking at it.”

“Don’t underestimate the eyes of a fairy.” She proudly puffed out her chest.

Guess I shouldn’t have expected any less from the clan matriarch of the fairies. I keep forgetting that she’s kind of a big deal...

“Artifacts are magic tools from ancient civilizations. They’re all extremely precious, but this one has absorbed so much malice that it’s now safe to call it a concentrated disaster. It’s best to destroy it.” Leen raised her right hand, still holding the jewel, and aimed at a nearby wall.

“What are you doing?! Stop that!”

“I won’t.” Leen maliciously smiled at the desperate Kansukay. Man, she really likes doing things that people don’t want...

Leen threw the jewel with all she had, making it hit the wall and shatter into many pieces.

“GHaahgHGHhh!!!” With a blood-curdling scream, Kansukay fell to the ground. After a writhing for a while, he stopped moving and began gradually drying up into a twisted, mummified form.

Soon enough, he became dust, and the gentle wind blew him away into the night sky.

“Thank... you...” Huh? Did I hear a voice just now... or was it my imagination?

“What... What just happened?”

“This means that Yamamoto Kansukay already died. Interacting with the jewel probably absorbed his magic, willpower, and stamina, among other things.” After Kansukay vanished and left nothing but his clothes behind, Yamagata asked a pretty good question. Luckily Leen was there to clarify. So, with the jewel destroyed, the body was unable to sustain itself? That meant he was undead himself, huh?

“Ah, Lord Schingen!” Just like Kansukay, the oni mask soldiers turned to dust and disappeared into the night sky. I could only hope that this would allow them to rest in peace.

The Elite Four and Tsubaki put their hands together and sent their prayers off for the dead. Maybe it was because I was Japanese, but I couldn’t help joining them.

“If something happens, use a [Gate] to return right away, okay?” As Elze and the others expressed their worry, I turned my back to them and walked into the water with Sango and Kokuyou still on my shoulder. Whoa, my feet aren’t getting wet. There seemed to be a magic barrier about a centimeter away from my body. Sango and Kokuyou were already impressing me.

I entered the water with a splash. Soon enough, the water reached my neck, and a moment later, I was completely submerged.

I found myself facing no difficulties. I could breathe without a problem. Even water pressure had no effect on me.

“Just how strong is this barrier?”

“Well... When it comess to physsical attackss, it could even ward off a Dragon, but when magic iss involved, it dependss entirely on the opponent.” Kokuyou answered with a slight sway of his head.

“We might be powerful, but there is nothing we can do against attacks that break through the barrier’s limits, or spells that completely dispel the barrier.” Sango continued the explanation. Basically, no matter how impressive, it wasn’t the panacea to all defensive problems.

I continued walking along the seafloor. It occurred to me that the barrier seemed to be warding away the effects of buoyancy as well. I tried swimming upward to test that, and ended up floating a little bit, so I guess it wasn’t completely gone.

I spent time pondering about the barrier until I finally arrived at the stone circle. I walked past that, making a beeline straight for the stairs in the middle of the ruins. With a magic light at my side, I illuminated the long way down.

Finally, I reached the large hall with the magic circle in the center. It looked the same in person as it had with [Long Sense]. It was surrounded with six spellstone pedestals.

I approached the red spellstone pedestal and filled its jewel with fire magic.

Moments later, the pedestal itself began to emit a reddish light. It was safe to assume that I’d activated it.

I continued to do the same with all the other spellstone pedestals. After making five lights come alive, I made my way to the final spellstone and filled it with water magic. Then, the entire magic circle began to shine.

“Guess this means I activated the teleportation circle.” I hesitantly stepped on it... And nothing happened. Huh? Why, though? The six pedestals are all shining and... oh...

Does it need Null magic after all?

My [Gate] was a Null spell, after all. It was possible that the teleportation circle was based on a similar principle...

I stood in the center of the magic circle and focused my Null energy. The circle released a burst of light that was downright explosive! I teleported off in a flash.

I closed my eyes due to the sudden bright light, and after I slowly opened them, I realized I was in a garden. Blooming flowers, chirping songbirds flying around, there was even a small canal with water flowing through.

Just like in the underwater ruins, there was a magic circle beneath my feet. However, the six pedestals were nowhere to be seen. Guess it was a one-way trip.

“Masster... where are we?”

“No idea...” I stepped off the magic circle, looked around the garden, and noticed something approaching from the distance. Is that... a girl? Soon enough, I could see her clearly. So clearly, in fact, that I had no choice but look away from her. Silky, smooth, short, and jade-green hair. Porcelain-like skin and golden eyes. The girl had a thick air of mystery around her. When it came to age, she looked about as old as Elze and the others. That was fine by me.

She was wearing a sleeveless black jacket with a large, pinkish ribbon. She also wore white knee-high socks and black enamel shoes. That too, was fine by me.

Indeed, it was all fine. Except there was one thing that wasn’t!

“A pleasure to meet you. I am Francesca, the terminal gynoid tasked with managing this Garden of Babylon.” Garden? Terminal? Her words left me with some questions, but the biggest question of all was related to what I was looking at!

“Uhh, well...”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Why... Aren’t you wearing anything... down there?” I knew it was bad to look, but I couldn’t help throwing the occasional glance at her lower body, where I could see neither skirt nor trousers.

All she wore there was a small white piece of cloth. Her panties were completely exposed.

Wh-Why?! Just where am I?! What is happening here...?! I kinda liked it, though.

◇　◇　◇

“I do not know how to answer your question. I believe you could call it a... duty?” The girl who introduced herself as Francesca tilted her head in a cute manner.

Wait a sec, does she mean that wearing skirts or pants isn’t allowed? Who’s the manager around here? I have some compliments to give!

Wait, calm down... This situation is dangerous for your mental health.

I need to do something about this.

“Uhh... Francesca, right?”

“That is correct. However, you should refer to me as Cesca.” Wouldn’t Fran be the more logical nickname here? Ah, whatever.

“Can you please put something on? I, uh... I’m having trouble deciding where to look.”

“But I am wearing underwear, am I not?” That’s true, but so not the point here! Guh... Stay calm and keep it together, Touya. Just think of it as a swimsuit. It’s a swimsuit, nothing more, and...

I couldn’t prevent myself from peeking at it again. Nope! Those are panties, damn it! No doubt about it!

“You just peeked, didn’t you?”

“I’m sorry!” Ah shit, she’s on to me!

“Well, if you insist, I will go ahead and put something on.” Cesca pulled a black skirt adorned with white frills out of nowhere and began getting into it. Why didn’t you just wear that from the beginning?!

“...Are you sure you do not wish to do something to me?”

“I’m sure. Just put it on already.”

“I will not protest if you fondle me even a little.”

“Enough of that! Hurry up and put it on!” I wanted to cry. I just needed to get her into the skirt so we could finally have a proper conversation, but the whole situation was mentally exhausting.

“So, I have several questions. Can you answer them?”

“Yes. I certainly could.”

“What is this place?”

“This is the Hanging Garden of Babylon, high in the sky. Some call this place Nirai Kanai.” Hanging garden? The sky? I looked around and it definitely was a garden, but it didn’t seem any different from your standard botanical ones. I could see the sky through a glass dome above us. Cesca led me to the edge, where there was a wall of glass separating us from the outside.

Beyond it, I could see a sea of clouds. There was no doubt about it. The place actually was floating in the sky. It was well deserving of its name, a hanging garden.

“What’s the purpose of this place? Why was it made?”

“The construction of this hanging garden was Doctor Babylon’s hobby.”

“Doctor Babylon...?”

“Doctor Regina Babylon. Our creator.”

Creator? What a weird thing to say. She’s making it seem as though she was a product and... wait a sec.

“My lord. This is not a human. I cannot feel the flow of its vitals.”

“Wha—?!” Sango told me exactly what was on my mind. Both my understanding and my lack of comprehension of the situation crashed into each other at once.

“Dr. Babylon created me to be the management terminal of this garden. That was five thousand and ninety two years ago.”

“Five th— Huh?!” Leen told me she was six hundred and twelve, and I’m supposed to believe that this girl is almost four thousand five hundred years older than her?! Wait, I guess calling her a girl isn’t right, is it? If she was created, then she’s a robot...? Wait, is she an android? Or I guess a gynoid? I think she said something like that...

“So, Cesca. You’re a machine?”

“Not entirely, no. I have some magically-made organic parts and a magic reactor, so I am more of a combined magical-mechanical lifeform.”

Guess that makes her closer to a Golem or a homunculus, then... But man, she’s so realistic. A normal girl from top to bottom...

“...I am incapable of being impregnated, but I am well-equipped to partake in the relevant act, if you so desire.”

“I didn’t need to know that! H-Hey! Quit raising your skirt!” Is she not programmed for standard shame?! Was Dr. Babylon a goddamn idiot?!

“Worry not, my parts are fresh, clean, and like new.”

“I didn’t need to know that, either!” Cesca let go of her skirt, a look of disappointment clouding her face. Her mannerisms gave me a good window into the creator’s mind. It was clear to me that Dr. Babylon was not right in the head.

“Thiss girl iss sso hard to undersstand.” Kokuyou looked at Cesca, his head bobbing side to side. I couldn’t agree more.

“That aside... I’m impressed that this place has been active for five thousand years. Is there a reason why either you or the garden didn’t decay or break down?”

“The hanging garden in its entirety is strengthened by magic. Though five thousand years might seem like a lot to you, I was in sleep mode for most of it, standing by in case of an emergency. The hanging garden was largely automated as I slept.”

...Wait a sec. If she’s active right now, doesn’t that mean this place is in a state of emergency? I asked the synthetic girl, and she gave a small nod.

“Emergency, indeed. We do not have a better word to describe it. You are our first guest, after all. What is your name, if I may ask?”

“Ah, I’m Touya. Mochizuki Touya.”

“Very well, Administrator Touya. You have been recognized as compatible. I — Apparatus Number Twenty-Three, codename Francesca — have been assigned to serve you. Till death do us part.”

“Excuse me?” Compatible? No, wait... assigned? Cesca pointed at the magic circle I used to teleport here and began explaining.

“No normal person can activate that magic circle. It is made to be unable to accept magic from multiple people. That means that it can only be activated by those with an affinity for all types of magic... Just like Doctor Babylon.”

So, the woman who made Cesca was just like me in that regard, huh? Wow, so someone else like that actually exists in this world... Well, it was a whole five thousand years ago, but still. So this place can only be accessed by people with the same potential as the old doc.

“Dr. Babylon resolved to assign us to a compatible person who could make it past the teleportation circle. That was four thousand nine hundred and seven years ago.”

“So when you say compatible, you mean people who have an affinity for all pools of magic?”

“No. That is not the case.”

“Wait, I was wrong?!” She instantly shot my assumption down. If that wasn’t the condition, then what was...?

“Administrator Touya, you were recognized as compatible because you told me to hide my exposed underwear when we first met.”

“You can’t be serious! How does that gauge compatibility?! That doesn’t even make any sense!”

“Oh, but it is very important. If you had let your instincts dominate you and tried to have your way with me, I would have dropped you to the surface in but a moment. If you had chosen to ignore my attire and let me stay like that, you would have been deemed incompatible and I would have politely asked you to return to the surface.” For real...? Her exposed panties were that important? I couldn’t help but doubt her words.

“Dr. Babylon decided on this method to gauge whether a person is considerate and kind enough to be worthy of myself and the Hanging Garden of Babylon.”

“I see... Dr. Babylon was some kind of freak, then.”

“I will not disagree, Administrator.”

Seriously? The doc was definitely some kind of complete freak. I couldn’t stress it enough.

“Well, with that joke settled, I must reveal that it was actually left down to our own individual discretion. Personally, instead of a fake gentleman who is excessively kind and clearly used to women, I would rather settle for a ‘secret degenerate’ who throws glances at my underwear, but controls himself and pretends he doesn’t care about it at all.”

Wait, so that’s how it was decided?! I’m getting confused! And what did she mean by ‘secret degenerate’?! That’s super rude! The word ‘settle’ doesn’t sit right with me, either.

“At any rate, I am your property from here on out. I do hope we get along well, Master.”

“Hhaahhh...” A sinking feeling came over me. I’d gotten into something troublesome. I could easily picture the twisted grin on Dr. Babylon’s face.

I figured it was about time to summon the others. We all had a lot to talk about, after all. I explained the situation to Cesca and opened a [Gate] to the surface.

“A garden, is it...? This could be a relic left behind by the ancient civilization of Partheno.” Leen was looking around, clearly overwhelmed by what she was seeing.

The ancient civilization of Partheno. It was a highly advanced culture responsible for creating various spells and magical implements, more specifically Artifacts.

This Hanging Garden of Babylon was a relic left behind by that civilization, and it was fair to call it an Artifact in itself. Going by that logic, Cesca might be considered an Artifact, too.

Everyone was walking around and exploring the place. Cesca told us that this hanging garden was the size of four Partheno Domes. That didn’t mean anything to me as I had no idea what a Partheno Dome was. I had no doubt it was very big, though.

There were areas much like botanical gardens, fountains, stepping stones, flower beds, ponds — anyone even casually into gardening would go crazy over the place.

As I stood there admiring the flora, I could easily tell what was on everyone’s minds. Julio would love to see this.

Leen, Cesca, and I were resting in one of the garden’s corners, at a spot near a pool beneath something similar to a gazebo.

“So, you got what you wanted to find, Leen?”

“I’m actually unsure. I only hoped to discover some ancient magic, but we happened to find something far greater.” She wasn’t wrong. The whole of this hanging garden was one giant gathering of ancient magic. It had a garden that should never have survived five thousand years, but it somehow did. Then there were flowers that never withered, a barrier that made the whole of it invisible to outsiders, and so on... It was impossible for us to guess what kind of, and just how much, mysterious ancient magic was at work on this floating paradise.

Regina Babylon, the creator of this place, was a genius, no doubt about it. Though, it was kind of hard to ignore the fact that the good doctor was the type of person to force gynoids to walk around with exposed underwear.

“Cesca, is there anything more to this place besides the garden?”

“No. Nothing. Unlike the others, this Babylon facility is simply a wonderful personal garden floating through the sky. It has no treasure worth mentioning and no weapons to speak of. It is nothing more than a wonderful garden.”

“Hey now, this place is a treasure in itself.”

“That’s very kind of you to say. However, you are aware that this Hanging Garden of Babylon is already yours, right, Master?” Huh? What’s she saying now?

“The one that controls and manages this place is myself, yes? And I’m your property now, Master. That means my property is vicariously yours, understand?”

“...Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m quite serious. You can consider it my dowry.”

Quite a big dowry, at that... Wait, what? I have no intention of marrying her! I’ve got enough on my plate with just one fiancee.

“Hey, Cesca. You’ve now piqued my curiosity. You said that unlike the others, this place is just a personal garden. What did you mean by that?” Leen looked at Cesca with keen, perceptive eyes.

Come to think of it, Cesca hasn’t been referring to gynoids in singular terms, either... Her phrasing kind of suggests that there’s more than just her.

“Babylon is split into several floating sections. Besides this hanging garden, there’s also the research laboratory, the hangar, the library, among several others, all of which are managed by my sisters. Babylon becomes complete when all of them are joined together.” What...?

“So, you’re saying that the floating island of Babylon was created by your creator, Dr. Regina Babylon, some five thousand years ago. It then became separate and its parts are now floating all over the world, correct?”

“Indeed.” Leen confirmed the facts with Cesca. The scale of it all was a tad too large for me to wrap my head around.

Everyone who had been out in the garden gathered in the gazebo and intently listened to what Cesca had to say.

“If something like that was floating around out there, wouldn’t someone have noticed and made a huge fuss already?” Elze raised a fair point.

“Babylon is protected by a magic barrier that prevents outsiders from seeing it. Because of that, it is nearly impossible to view it from the surface.”

That seems about right... Dr. Babylon, the genius pervert of days long lost, must have used some kind of ancient magic to give Babylon the perfect stealth function. And the only way to discover it is by making it past the teleportation circle. A circle that would only work for those who had an affinity for all magic, just like the creator.

“So, how many floating islands are there?”

“Besides my garden, there is the library, research laboratory, hangar, tower, rampart, workshop, alchemy lab, and storehouse. Nine in total, but I do not know if all of them still remain active.”

A whole nine?! Wait, considering they were all over the world, that number might actually be small. Plus, I’m pretty sure I remember hearing that the garden is the biggest of the individual pieces. Dr. Babylon was simply amazing... despite the perverted nature.

“I’m quite interested in this library you mentioned. It seems like something that’d be full of knowledge about ancient cultures.” Leen, sitting at my side, adopted a bold grin, but I wasn’t sure if I could relate to her in that regard.

The library belonged to that Dr. Babylon. I would not have been surprised if it was actually a gigantic porn collection. It was way too suspicious.

I thought similar things about the storehouse, actually. I really did not want to go there and find a bunch of erotic goods.

“I-Is it possible to contact the other floating islands?” Linze asked a question, fear and apprehension laced into her words.

Better work on that confidence, girl. You’re still no good at interacting with new people. Well, I guess calling Cesca a person doesn’t really count...

Either way, Linze had a point. If the other places were controlled and managed by others like Cesca, then the most efficient way to complete Babylon was to get in contact with them.

“Sadly, the links between me and my sisters are now inactive. Our barrier is set to the highest level, preventing any and all magical communication attempts. Unless Master orders it, the defense level can’t be lowered.”

“What does ‘link’ mean...? And what exactly do you mean by ‘Master,’ here?” Yumina tilted her head to the side. She wasn’t familiar with the word “link”? Guess Belfast hadn’t progressed enough in scientific fields to let them know about technical terms.

“A ‘link’ is basically a connection between multiple things. And when I say Master, I mean ‘my dearly beloved husband,’ of course.”

“Don’t tell her lies like that. Master in this case is more along the lines of ‘boss’ or ‘superior,’ Yumina.”

Does she actually equate master with husband? How self-serving. Despite being an artificial girl — no matter how partial — she’s too much of a jokester. I already know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this too, is the fault of Dr. Regina Babylon. I didn’t really think about this before, but Regina is a girl’s name, isn’t it? Well, she’s definitely not the type of woman I’d like to have around...

“And why exactly are you this girl’s superior, hm?” Linze furrowed her eyebrows and pressed me for an explanation. Wait, why am I being interrogated?

“My dear administrator gazed upon my underwear, so I decided to dedicate my heart and body to him alone. That is why he is my master, the admin of my heart.”

“Hey! You left out several key details just now!” The air around us turned sour almost immediately. Everyone in the vicinity with the exception of Leen, Kohaku, Sango, and Kokuyou was glaring at me with cold eyes.

Slowly, Linze folded her arms and stood in front of me. She didn’t let me get up from my seat. Her eyes were emanating a light as cold as ice. Wh-Who’s this girl? What happened to the usual calm and docile Linze?

“...Touya.”

“Y-Yes?”

“On the ground, now.” Linze was mad beyond words. Her voice suddenly carried an immense weight, probably because she was always so calm and quiet most of the time. I stood up from the chair and sat on the ground. I didn’t want to risk making her any angrier.

“You’ve already seen all of us in our underwear, and yet you did it again with another girl? Do a girl’s panties really mean that much to you?!”

“That was just an accident back then. I just happened to walk in and see it all, and...”

“So you did it on purpose this time, then?”

Hey, there was just no way to defend myself from that exposure! She was the one showing them off to me! Why am I the one getting in trouble?!

“So you weren’t satisfied with seeing us in our swimsuits? I know you were looking at us a lot.”

“Well... That was, uh...”

“I did my best to choose a bikini that paired well with my sister’s, and that still wasn’t enough? So you’re the type to see a difference between swimwear and underwear, are you?” Sh-She’s being really scary! Linze was looking away at nothing in particular, mumbling something quickly to herself. Even the other girls were a little confused. Leen piped up, a malicious grin spread across her face.

“Hey, shall I show you my panties too? Seems to be the fashionable thing nowadays.”

“Sorry, but could you please shut up?!” Leen’s grin only grew wider. She was clearly enjoying the unfolding scene. No, but seriously... why am I being picked on? I didn’t do anything wrong!

“It looks like you don’t know why they’re mad at you.” Leen shocked me stiff. It was as though she had read my mind. Is she an esper?! Does she have some Null spell for that?! That’d be nice right about now! Gimme!

“Just leave it at that. If you want to press him further, you should make your relationship with him clear. At the very least, you have to be on the same level as Princess Yumina here.”

“...Yeah, okay.” Leen’s words made Linze nod and back off.

I don’t get it. They completely lost me. I looked over to see Elze with a wry smile on her face. She was patting Linze softly on the shoulder. I don’t get it, but... it’s over, right?

“Only the master, Touya, can give the order that will lower the level of the barrier. At a lower level, communication should be possible. However, his administrative powers do not extend beyond this garden. Unless something causes the other facilities to lower their own barriers, we will be unable to make contact, is that correct?”

“Exactly.” Leen and Cesca brought us back to the point of the situation.

I used my smartphone’s map to search for ‘Babylon,’ but didn’t get a single hit. Even the garden we were standing upon wasn’t marked. I took that to mean the barriers prevented my [Search] magic.

“You’ve been floating about for so long. Surely you’d have encountered any of the other pieces at least once.”

“Only twice. Once, three thousand and twenty eight years ago, and another nine hundred and eighty five years ago. The first time, it was the library, while the second encounter was with the storehouse.”

Good assumption, Yumina. But even so, that’s a lot of years separating encounters. It’s not like we can just sit around waiting for that to happen again...

“So, to find the other Babylon pieces, we have no choice but to search for the teleportation circles, then.” Leen heaved a long sigh. Wait, we’re actually doing it? I couldn’t help but feel a bit reluctant...

“Do you happen to know where the other teleportation circles are?”

“Negative. I do not even know the location of the one you used to get here. Where is the garden’s teleportation circle, anyway?”

“Beneath the sea, just off the coast of southern Eashen.”

“Eashen...? No such location exists in my database.”

That makes sense. Eashen probably wasn’t around five thousand years ago. Regardless, it was troubling that Cesca didn’t know the location of the other teleportation circles. That would make things considerably difficult. Hell, the first teleportation circle was deep underwater. It wouldn’t be unusual if the others hadn’t survived the five thousand years they had to have been around for. That being said, finding them would not be an impossible task if they were all housed within ruins like the first one.

“Why was Babylon separated, anyway? Spreading it out all over the world like this just makes getting it back together seem almost impossible...”

“I am unaware of the reasons Dr. Babylon had for separating the facilities. I never asked, after all.” I wondered if she had a particular reason for doing it. It could just as easily have been for a joke or something, after all.

Geez, my faith in Dr. Babylon is going down the more I think about her. It probably isn’t nice to assume that a person long gone was some sort of deviant...

“So, Touya. What are you gonna do with her?”

“Not sure how to answer that...” Elze’s question made me ponder. She’d been alone for five thousand years. That made her seem like quite a tragic character, but...

“What do you want to do, Cesca?”

“Well, I want to be with you, dear master. From dawn till dusk. From bathroom to the bedroom.”

Those words made me feel uneasy. I was tempted to leave and pretend none of that day’s events had happened. Oh shit, Linze is mumbling something again!

“Well... is it really okay for you to be separated from this garden? It can’t sustain itself without your management, right?”

“No need to worry about that. I instantly know if something happens to the garden, and I have the ability to teleport here at will. The garden sustains itself just fine in auto-mode, so there are no problems in that regard.”

Damn it. My escape route is well and truly closed. Seems I’ve no choice but to take her, now.

“With that in mind, I wish to register you as the garden’s master. I am already yours, but I must make your ownership of the garden official, as well.”

“Registration? What do I have to do?”

“Excuse me for a moment.” Cesca walked over to me before I had a chance to get out of my chair. She placed her hands on my cheeks and, as if it wasn’t a big deal, pushed her lips against mine.

“MmMpPh?!”

“AAAAAAHHHH!!!!” Four shrieks resounded around me. However, Cesca ignored them and continued to force her tongue into my mouth. Whuh? He— Huh?! WHAT? What is she— Explain?! Finally, she released my lips from the lock, which gave me a moment to process the fact that she had kissed me.

“Wh— Whuah?!” A strange sound escaped my mouth. But how else was I supposed to react? She had nonchalantly taken away my first kiss. She had stolen it from me, in fact.

The thief in question licked her lips as if tasting them and closed her eyes.

“Registration complete. I have consumed and recorded my master’s genetic information. Ownership of the garden will now be transferred to Mochizuki Touya.”

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!” Yumina closed in on Cesca. With her small hands raised high, she was making her anger extremely clear.

“Wh-Who in their right mind just k-k-kisses someone like that?! Even I didn’t get mine yet! I’ve yet to get mine, you know?!” Did she actually just say the same thing twice? Her face was beet red, and I couldn’t even tell if she was mad or flustered. Whatever the case, for some reason, I found it rather adorable.

“I believe this to be the most effective way to retrieve genetic information. I cannot bear children, but the alternative retrieval method would’ve taken more time all the same.”

“Ch-Children?!” Yumina’s face grew even redder. I didn’t know if it was just my imagination, but I swore that I could see some steam rising from her head. Suddenly, someone stood before me, blocking my view of the scene. I looked up to see Linze, glaring down at me with a stern expression. Her hands were on her hips.

Oh, things were sure looking grim for little old me. After all, I had enhanced senses that informed me of serious danger. I resigned myself to the fear and closed my eyes tight.

“Touya...”

“Y-Yes?!”

“I... love you.”

I’m sorry, WHAT? Her oh-so-sudden words made my eyes open wide, and when I looked up at her again, I saw that Linze’s face was as red as Yumina’s.

She quickly closed her eyes, gathered her determination, and hastily pushed her lips against mine.

It was a kiss, no doubt about it, but unlike Cesca’s, it was clumsy and forceful.

“Hgmgh?!”

“AAAAAHHHH!!!” A trio of shrieks echoed throughout the Hanging Garden of Babylon.

◇　◇　◇

Some time had passed since Linze’s confession. We were all flustered beyond words, so we took Cesca with us and returned home.

I quickly asked Laim to look after Cesca, hastily returned to my room, put my hands over my head, and dropped onto my bed. I was in a complete state of panic.

What kind of situation did I get myself into? Linze is in love with me? “Love,” as in... that kind of love? Oh man... Maybe I shouldn’t overthink it. Linze is cute, no doubt about that. She’s a graceful, calm girl. Always thinking of others. A bit shy, sure, but she more than makes up for it with how hard-working she is. She’s definitely the kind of girl many people would be proud to call their girlfriend... But I’m still engaged to Yumina. Yumina’s an adorable girl as well, and I can’t help but admire the composure and reliability she has at such a young age. Then again, I find it pretty endearing when she acts her age, too. Am I just moved by the gap between her normal personality and her youthful actions? Hm? Wait, is it really a gap if her actions fit her age? Oh man, how the hell do I deal with this...?

I buried my face into my pillow and sighed when I suddenly heard someone knock on my door.

“Touya, it’s me, Yumina...”

“H-Huh?!” I opened my door to see Yumina, standing there in her casual clothing.

This is super awkward... But why? I didn’t do anything wrong. Is this how husbands feel when their wives find out that they’re cheating? Wait, we haven’t even gotten married yet, so it clearly wasn’t cheating or anything! Yumina walked into the room and sat on the sofa in the middle. I nonchalantly sat in front of her, but I was unable to look her in the eye. I was unsure if what I was feeling was guilt.

Staaare...

Staaaare...

Staaaaare...

Staaaaaare...

Guh... She’s giving me the old heterochromic glare. Why is the air so heavy...?

“Touya.”

“Y-Yes?”

“I am quite mad, you know?”

How am I supposed to react to that...? We happen to be engaged, so it should be obvious that you wouldn’t enjoy seeing another girl profess her love to me.

I did find it somewhat adorable how she furrowed her brow and pouted, but it did absolutely nothing to remove the weight from the situation.

“Even I didn’t get a kiss yet, and now two girls got theirs before me?!”

“Wait, that’s the problem here?!” Well, that’s all well and good, but I wasn’t the one who kissed them in the first place! They kissed me! I don’t care if that sounds like a cheap excuse, just understand that already!

“You’re not mad about Linze confessing her love to me?”

“Why would I be? Anyone with working eyes can see that Linze loves you, Touya.”

Well shit. Guess my eyes are on the fritz. That made me feel a little disappointed in myself.

“This is a good opportunity, so let me tell you this. I don’t care how many mistresses you have. It can be ten or even twenty, and I won’t mind as long as you don’t make them unhappy. That’s just something natural for men, and I don’t mind at all.” Seriously? I know that polygamy isn’t uncommon in this world, but those kinds of numbers sound a little unreasonable. It’s a little scary, actually!

“However! HOWEVER! You can’t be so careless as to get kissed when you still haven’t even kissed your first wife! You have too many openings! Be more defensive! No, become impregnable!”

“Well, but—”

“No buts!”

“Okay...” A large part of me thought that she was mad about the wrong thing, but apparently, it was pretty damn important to her.

“So, you’re saying that you wouldn’t have any problems with this happening if I kissed you beforehand?”

“Well, I admit I would be a bit jealous, but I wouldn’t be against it. So long as you properly treasure me, anyway.”

Is the person talking to me really twelve? Kind of feels like her views on things are a bit too objective, right? Does she really love me as much as she claims...?

“...You just thought something rude, didn’t you?”

“Uhhh...” Why am I surrounded by such perceptive girls? Yumina got up off the sofa, walked around the table with determination in her step, and sat right next to me.

“Touya. I am prepared to take you as my husband and live my whole life as your wife. That is because I love you. Because I love you just as much as, if not more than, Linze does. I don’t want you to doubt that.”

“...Sorry.” My apology couldn’t have been more sincere. Being so doubtful of her feelings was the height of discourtesy. I was at fault for not having been clear enough to her.

“...I really am sorry.”

“...I’ll forgive you if you hug and kiss me.”

Whoa! Talk about a difficulty spike! The situation’s tough enough already, isn’t it?! Then again, it really doesn’t seem like she’ll back down until she gets what she wants. I fearfully reached for her shoulders and pulled her small frame closer. I pulled her into a tight embrace, the top of her head resting under my chin. The softness of her body and the feminine smell of her hair made my heart stir wildly.

Alright. Okay. I have no choice but to admit how I felt about her. Yumina slightly backed away from me, then slowly closed her eyes and tilted her face upward. That’s a clear sign that there’s no going back now! Even I’m aware of that! I steeled myself and kissed Yumina on her small, soft lips. It wasn’t much more than a light, gentle touch.

I quickly reeled backward, pulling my face away from hers. She gave me a bright smile and tightly wrapped her arms around me.

“Eheheh. You kissed me! That makes me the first one you kissed, right?!”

“Er, well... Yeah. Guess that’s true...” I was already kissed twice, but this was the first time I had done the kissing. Wait, was that her goal all along?! A part of me began to believe that everything that had just happened was all a part of her master plan, but the thought was kind of scary, so I chose not to dwell on it.

That aside, what would society think about a boy who’s sixteen kissing a girl who’s twelve...? I had no idea how it was in this world, but in the previous one, it would basically be a first year high schooler kissing a sixth year elementary schooler... And that seemed like a huge crime. Which was a little strange. I mean, considering that there was only a four year difference between us, it wasn’t so bad...

“What do you think of Linze, Touya?”

“Well, I... I think she’s cute and, honestly, I was kind of happy when she confessed her love to me. But I can’t even decide how I feel about you, and now I have to think about Linze, as well, which is really nerve-racking. And yeah, I know that makes me sound pathetic.”

“And if you had to say whether you liked or disliked her?”

“Well, obviously I like her. There’s no doubt about that. She’s dear to me.”

Yumina smiled, still wrapped up in my arms. What? What’s with that sly smirk on her face...?

“Did you hear that, Linze?”

“What?!” Yumina spoke toward one of the room’s corners. I looked over there, and a moment later, Linze appeared out of nowhere, her cheeks red as beets. Wait, what?!

“We asked Leen to cast that spell on her. Without it, there’s no way Linze would’ve come here.”

Wait, she was using [Invisibility]?! She was in the room the whole time? That means she heard everything I said and... Damn it, how embarrassing!

“It’s your fault, you know? You just shut yourself in your room without saying anything. Linze was actually crying because she thought you hated her. Elze was about to come over and punch your teeth in.”

“Ahh... I’m thankful she didn’t...”

Geez, I was so overwhelmed by my own feelings that I didn’t consider anyone else. I’m totally hopeless...

“U-Uhm, I-I’m sorry about what I did. When I saw Cesca kiss you, I just didn’t want to lose to her... And it happened before I realized it... I didn’t even consider your feelings... I’m so sorry...” I closed in on Linze and took her hand in mine. She was trembling, tears running down her cheek.

“Ah...”

“As I’m sure you just heard, I don’t hate you. I think you’re cute and yeah, I do like you. I’m not sure how I should go about this, but I do know that I treasure you.”

“Touya...” Linze faintly smiled. Yep. A smile fits her face better than any tears could. And I’m the one who caused those tears. Elze could knock my teeth out and it’d be justified.

“With both of your feelings settled... how about it? Will you take Linze as your second wife?”

“E-Excuse me?” Yumina nonchalantly said something unbelievable. Another wife? Linze? I looked at the girl and saw her fidgeting. Her face was still red as a tomato.

“It’s fairly standard for royalty, nobility, and wealthy merchants to take second or third wives. The only issue is your dependability as a man. If you are able to properly care for us, no one will complain. I’m sure you’re okay with that, right, Linze?”

“I-I want to be your w-wife, Touya.”

Seriously...? Well, that makes me happy, sure, but there’s a lot of other aspects to consider here.

“...D-Do you not want me?” Linze looked as if she was about to cry.

Crap, I can’t let that smile disappear. Making her sad again just isn’t an option. Alright! Whatever! Come what may!

“You’re fine with being my second wife? Are you sure about that?”

“...I-I think I can get along with Yumina. If we can both find bliss while loving the same person, nothing would make me happier.”

“...Alright, then. If you’re really both fine with it... I’ll accept the both of you.” Suddenly, Linze smiled brightly and hugged me tight. With her usually being so docile, that action temporarily confused me. Yumina stood up and jumped at me, too. Th-This is seriously embarrassing!

“So, from now on, Linze is just like me — a fiancee!” Yumina looked really happy. Linze’s face was still kind of red, but from the way she nodded, it was clear that she was happy, too.

It was already quite late, so I told them to go back to their rooms. They responded by asking me for a goodnight kiss. I didn’t yet have the guts to kiss them on the lips, so I somehow got them to compromise, strange as it may sound, with a kiss on the forehead. Yumina was happy, while Linze was embarrassed.

After they left my room, I heaved a long sigh. Way too many things happened today. I need to get my feelings in order. As always, I lay down on my bed.

So, how am I supposed to deal with this...? I have the money to take care of both of them, I have a proper house for them to live in. Do I even have any actual problems? Oh, right, I’ll have to pay a visit to Linze’s parents... All that matters now is my resolve. I have to be prepared to live the rest of my life with them. I have to think ahead about this... After all I... want them to be happy.

I slowly fell asleep, with many thoughts gently bouncing through my mind.

THUD!

The door to my room crashed open, startling me awake. Huh, who what where why?! Is it morning? The room’s bright... I looked around, half-asleep, to see a person standing by my bed. It was a girl. She loomed over me, the morning light shining down on her.

“We gotta talk. Now.” It was the elder twin sister of the girl that had become my second fiancee just a day before. The morning light made the gauntlets on her hip shimmer slightly.

Well, this isn’t ominous. Could trouble avoid coming so early in the morning? Just once, please?

◇　◇　◇

Elze took me to the third training ground of the royal army. Elze and General Leon often used this place to spar, and Elze, despite being an outsider, was able to come and go here as she pleased. We had no trouble getting in thanks to that.

It was still early, so nobody was training. Besides the odd bird’s chirps, the place was enveloped in absolute silence. Elze led me to the training grounds, and I saw that we weren’t alone.

“Yae? What are you doing here?”

“...Touya-dono. I have been waiting for you, I have.” Yae sat in the middle of the training field. Her blade was in front of her and her posture made it seem as though she had been meditating for some reason. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, grasped her blade, and stood up. She seemed slightly different to her usual self.

“You’re taking Linze as your wife, right?”

“Ah... Yes, indeed, that happens to be the case...” I turned around to see Elze staring at me.

There’s that glare again... Just how many times and from how many girls have I received this glare in the last day or so? Then again, it’s a matter concerning her little sister, so it’s not surprising she’s so serious.

“So that makes you my brother-in-law, then?”

“Aha... Yes... I hope we get along well, indeed...” I hadn’t really thought about it, but she was right. Elze as a sister-in-law... Something is just plain off about that.

“What do you think of Linze, then? Do you really like her?”

“...To be completely honest, I’m still unsure about that. I don’t think I can say that I love her, but the same goes for Yumina, too. Still, I definitely like her as a person, and she’s very important to me.”

“And did she agree with that?”

“She did.” Elze let out a sigh.

Is she disappointed? Shocked? At a loss for words? I can’t tell... Elze briskly scratched her head and repeatedly, but lightly, kicked the ground with her toes, clearly irritated. Whoa, she’s scaring me!

“That girl always had this side to her... Despite being such a scaredy-cat most of the time, she’s always been the type to be bold where it counts. She’s the complete opposite of me when it comes to that...”

“I am not too different in that regard, I am not. I am unable to become determined without a proper push...”

What are they going on about now? Elze equipped the gauntlets she had on her waist and smacked her fists together. The clang that echoed out was quite noisy. Yae, too, placed her sword through her sash and fixed its position.

“Touya... I want you to fight us.”

“Huh?!”

“If you win, we won’t say anything about your relationship with Linze. But if we win, you’ll have to listen to our request.” Wait, what?! How did it come to this?! Am I being punished for something?! Yae unsheathed her sword, seemingly ignoring my confusion.

“I borrowed this sword from Viscount Swordrick, I did. The edge of the blade is rounded off. It should not be able to kill or even cut you, but shattering your bones is well within the realm of possibility, it is.” That information does nothing to calm me down!

“Touya, use [Modeling] to dull Brunhild’s blade as well.”

“Wait! Before I do anything, can you tell me why I have to fight you two in the first place?!”

“To be frank, Touya-dono. The both of us are the type of girls who need to do this, we are. It’s a matter of confronting our feelings. If you wish to call it cowardly, so be it.” I had no idea what she was talking about, but they clearly had no intention of backing down. Alright, all I have to do is lose on purpose, and...

“If you hold back, I’ll never forgive you. I won’t accept your relationship with Linze, either. I’ll never allow my sister to be with a man who refuses to get serious when it matters.”

Crap. She warned me against doing exactly what I was planning... Guess Elze knows exactly how my superficial mind works.

Reluctantly, I did as I was told and used [Modeling] to round off Brunhild’s blade.

Guess I have no other choice, I’ll just cast [Slip] the moment the fight begins, and then...

“No Null magic allowed. You can’t call it a fight if we just drop to the ground the moment the battle starts. I won’t use [Boost], either.”

How the hell did she know exactly what was on my mind?! Holy shit, women are scary!

“Touya-dono can use elemental magic, as well as ranged and melee weaponry. We can only use melee weaponry, but there are two of us. That seems fair, does it not?”

That means the only bullets I can use are the normal rubber ones. The impact from those things can really rattle your bones, though, so it’s not like they’re bad.

“I still feel like I’m at a disadvantage, though...”

“I am fully aware that we are asking a lot of you, we are. However, we need an opportunity to take the next step.” Once again, I had no idea what she was saying, so I just sighed and steeled myself. I figured I’d play their game as long as they needed me to.

“Are you ready?” I simply nodded, afraid to ask what I had to be ready for.

The next moment, Yae and Elze split up and closed in on me from two separate angles. A pincer attack? Already?!

“Blade Mode!” I extended Brunhild into the shape of a blunted longsword, then ran toward Yae. I could have easily parried her blade, but the same couldn’t be said of Elze’s fists.

After crossing swords with Yae, I used the momentum to slip past her. I turned around, took the New Model Army into my left hand, and fired all six bullets at her.

I was brimming with confidence, certain all six shots would find their mark on Yae’s back, when Elze jumped into their path and held her left hand up high. The gauntlet she wore was shining an emerald green.

A moment later, the bullets scattered into several uncertain directions.

“As long as they aren’t magic, ranged attacks don’t work on me.” Crap, I forgot! Her emerald gauntlet was imbued with a wind-type, barrier spell that deflected all physical ranged attacks!

“Gun Mode! Reload!” I barraged them with all twelve bullets from both of my guns in a desperate attempt to distract them and buy some time.

But Elze didn’t seem to care. She charged at me while holding up her left gauntlet.

“Blade Mode!” Elze’s right fist closed in on me, but I was able to evade it. I quickly changed Brunhild into a longsword again and launched a horizontal slash at her. She evaded it, too, but it bought me some time to back away and fix my stance.

“You are a naive fool!” Yae came lunging at me from right behind Elze. I had no chance to distance myself. Hold on a sec! That’ll definitely cut me, dulled blade or not! I dodged to the side, preventing the tip of her blade from digging into my shoulder. Then, I quickly turned around and tripped her over with my leg, using her own momentum against her.

“Kuhh?!”

“Reload!” As Yae fell to the ground, I quickly aimed at her with the New Model Army.

However, before I could pull the trigger, Elze attacked me with a kick, leaving me with no other option than to back away.

“Entwine thus, Ice! Frozen Curse: [Icebind]!” My spell made the ground beneath their feet begin to freeze.

“Agh!” They deftly escaped and split up, coming at me from two angles again. The rimy binding didn’t even have a chance to take hold.

Crap! I’m at a clear disadvantage here! After all, it’s not like I can do anything that could seriously hurt them or anything!

“Whoa!” I evaded another straight punch from Elze. Yae was closing in on me, too. At that moment, I closed my eyes and cast a spell.

“Shimmer forth, Light! Dazzling Brilliance: [Flash]!”

“Kh?!” The sudden burst of bright light made Yae stop in her tracks. I used the opportunity to back away from them again. It was best for me to keep my distance in a battle with those two. I was at the greatest advantage at long-range.

Once she recovered from the blinding flash, Yae reached for her hip, took out her shortsword, and placed it in her free hand. What...? Yae lowered her posture and charged toward me. Right when I was about to fire a feint or two so I could make her back away, she actually threw the shortsword at me.

Whoa?! Who the hell throws their weapon like that?! Doesn’t the sword represent a samurai’s soul?! Do shortswords not count or something?! I barely dodged it by slightly moving my pelvis to the side. Ugh! It grazed me! Before she could fix her posture, I fired all twelve of my loaded bullets at her. There’s no way she can dodge at this distance!

“Gah!!!” The strong rubber rounds made Yae fall to the ground. Despite that, she was still able to launch a horizontal slash at me. It was something I could easily evade, though.

But Elze was waiting for me, right at the spot I had jumped to. Crap, she’s too close! Her fists are way faster than my aim. Elze went all out and attacked me with a right hook. I don’t have any other choice! I bent my body and somehow dodged her fist, let go of my guns, and grabbed her right hand. I used my momentum to spin her around with her back facing toward me. Then, I put my right elbow into her armpit and raised her up.

“Wha—?!” I threw her to the ground, and she made a noise that sounded like a scream. I hadn’t done a shoulder throw since school, but my body seemed to remember the motions.

“Gah...!” Apparently, my technique wasn’t good enough to properly damage her. Elze quickly rose to her feet.

But by the time she was standing upright again, I had Brunhild trained on her. We were so close that she couldn’t redirect the bullets even if she wanted to.

It has a classic hold-up.

“Reload. I win.”

“...Why aren’t you shooting?”

“Because if you accept defeat, I won’t need to.” Firing at someone dear to me didn’t make me feel good. I made a mental note to apologize to Yae after the battle.

“You’re stupidly kind. Do you really think you can protect Linze and Yumina with that mentality?”

“...That’s just who I am.”

“Heh, it sure is. Guess it’s part of the reason why me and Yae fell in love with you.”

“......What?” What did she just... say? I, uh... What? My brain functions froze up.

Just as I snapped out of my trance, I realized that Elze’s right hand — the one clad in the red gauntlet — was emitting a light. That gauntlet’s ability was... increasing destructive power, wasn’t it?! Alright, if she really doesn’t want to fold, then I guess I can’t go easy on her either. I aimed at Elze and pulled on Brunhild’s trigger. The battle was finished. Or so I thought.

“Wh—?!” I pulled the trigger a second time. It didn’t fire. As it turned out, it wasn’t even loaded. What? Why? I’m pretty sure I reloaded... Oh...

Yae’s actions from earlier finally made sense to me. The shortsword she threw at me. She hadn’t thrown it in order to harm me. When I dodged and it grazed me, the fastener on my waist pouch had been sliced open.

My bullets had scattered out of it as I moved, and they had all ran out. My reload was meaningless if there weren’t any bullets within a radius of one meter... I’ve been had.

With lightning-fast speed, Elze stepped to the side and launched her fist into my chest.

“Gghuh?!” I tumbled to the ground, my consciousness fading.

◇　◇　◇

“W-We want you to treat us the same as Yumina and Linze!”

“...Huh?” I came back to my senses and, since I had lost, readied myself for whatever their request was, but no amount of preparation could’ve been enough for what they hit me with.

“W-Well, surely you understand th-that we... We do... Ohh... Y-You should be the one to say it, Elze-dono!”

“H-Huh?! B-But I...! Ohh... W-Well, f-first up, uh... I-I-I also love you, Touya!”

“I-It is the same for me, i-it is!” They looked down, their faces flushed red.

...What the hell? Weren’t we just fighting a moment ago? Now I’m being confessed to? By two girls at once, even. What exactly is this?

“Treat you like Yumina and Linze...? What do you mean?”

“W-We also want to become your... w-wives... we do.”

“Y-Y-You have to agree to this, you know?! Y-You lost the fight, fair and square!” I pinched my cheek.

Well, that hurt. Not dreaming, then. Guess I’ve got four incoming brides, huh? Wait! No no no no! Isn’t that a bit too many?! But wait, Tokugawa Ienari had more than forty concubines and over fifty children... Compared to that, I guess that I... Wait! Comparing myself to him is insane! Seriously, that guy used to harvest the... you-know-whats... of fur seals, turn them into powder, and drink them for sexual vitality! He was even nicknamed the “Fur Seal General” because of that. I don’t want to be grouped with a guy like him! Damn it, Touya, stop. You’re going off on a stupid tangent.

“Are you two... really okay with that?”

“I don’t mind. Nothing’s gonna change my feelings for you, and if I can be happy and others can be happy while loving the same person, then it’s all good, isn’t it?” I remembered that Linze had said something similar the day before. Those girls really were twins. Their thought patterns certainly matched up sometimes.

“I love them all about as much as I love you, Touya-dono. If we can all become your wives, then all is well, it is.”

Man, the girls of this world sure have a low desire to monopolize their man. Hmm... did they grow up to be like this because polygamy is the norm? Or wait, maybe these girls are just odd? Normally, this would be the perfect setting for a catfight... They don’t really seem to be displaying much jealousy though, so it’s kinda weird. Well, not that it didn’t exist. There was some slight envy, as evidenced yesterday. Come to think of it, Linze might be the most jealous person among them.

“S-So? What about you...?”

“Huh?”

“I-I’m asking about what you think of us!”

Oh, that. The recent barrage of romantic events made me feel a bit numb, and that wasn’t a good thing.

I had to tell them exactly how I felt.

“If I was forced to say whether I like or dislike you, then sure, I do like you. You’re both cute and have good personalities. But even so, I’m not sure if I can say that I love either of you. Just as I said before, the same goes for Yumina and Linze. I’m happy that you confessed your love to me, but I’m not sure if I can accept you on good conscience with my feelings being so vague.”

“But you accepted Yumina-dono and Linze-dono, did you not?”

“I wasn’t lying when I said that I liked them, and there’s no doubt that they’re important to me. They said they were fine with that, too.”

Honestly, the concept of marriage is still pretty unreal to me. Hell, we aren’t even dating, so marriage shouldn’t even be on our minds. My cousin skipped through the whole dating process and got married because he knocked up the girl, too. Now I have a closer glimpse into that poor bastard’s situation.

“So, that means that Yumina and Linze are fine with us too, right? Then it’s all fine.”

“But I have no idea what they’ll say about this...”

“There is no need to worry about that, Touya-dono. The one who invited us to become your wives was Yumina-dono, it was.”

...Pardon me?

“Right when the king gave you the mansion, Yumina secretly approached us. She asked us all how we felt about you, confirmed our feelings, and then suggested we all become your wives. We weren’t so certain about it at the time, though. But, uhm... little by little... we began to think it’d be nice. Then when Linze lost her composure yesterday, I finally decided! I want to be by your side, Touya.” Elze looked straight at me. There was no hesitation in her eyes. Her face was still a bit red, though.

“I began to think that it would be great if we could all live as a family, with you at the center, I did. In all honesty, I am still unused to Yumina-dono’s leniency, but I have no doubt that I want to live by your side, I truly do.”

Yumina was the one who said she wouldn’t mind if I had ten or twenty mistresses... Was that “leniency” just a display of her confidence as the first wife?

“S-So?”

“...Alright, I understand how you both feel. I like you both, too. Elze, you’re lively and cheerful, albeit a bit obstinate, but I find that pretty cute, too. Yae, you’re diligent, dignified, and very considerate of your family. I’m also aware that you’re gentle and good with children. You two would be excellent wives, I’m sure.”

“Th-Then—” Before Elze could speak, I raised my hand to stop her.

“However, I need some time to think. I’ll give you my answer in the evening. I’ve got some stuff to mull over first.”

“...Alright.”

“...I understand, I do.” We headed back home. I went up to my room, while Elze and Yae went to have a talk with Yumina.

I sat on my bed, exhaled a long sigh, and assumed my thinking pose, flat on my back.

What now? Well, the answer to that question is already obvious. I already accepted Linze, so refusing those two is out of the question. I like them all about the same. They’re all important to me. I don’t want to, nor do I think myself capable of doing anything to hurt them. But that’s exactly what makes me question if I’m really the right person for them. I’m scared that this situation might just make them sad in the end. Or maybe I’m just scared for myself... Marriage is a big deal, after all. It isn’t just my own problem. I have to shoulder the lives of other people. Being cautious is natural, isn’t it? Not only that, but the burden on me is four times heavier. Can I really carry that weight?

“Hmmm... Maybe I should consult someone.”

Leim... would surely just side with Yumina. Lapis, Cecile, Crea... I’m somewhat reluctant to discuss this with women. Renne isn’t even an option. Julio... is a bit unreliable... Guess there’s only one person I can count on.

What I did next was something I’d wanted to try for a while. I just hadn’t gotten the opportunity. I don’t want to just talk to Him, I should go see Him in person.

I went to the kitchen and took some baked sweets to bring to Him as a kind gesture. After I was done gathering bits and pieces, I held the stuff under my armpit.

“[Gate].” I walked through my shining portal and was instantly greeted by an ever-expanding, shining sea of clouds. Among the clouds was an old tea table, neatly placed on a small patch of tatami mats. Ah, now this is nostalgic.

There was an old man sitting next to the table. He turned to me, seemingly frozen in surprise as he bit into a rice cracker.

“...O-Oh. Oh my. It seems I have a visitor. Hoho, if you were going to drop by, you should have informed me ahead of time. I’ll actually be quite honest with you, though. I had no idea that you even could come back here of your own free will.”

“It’s been quite a while, God.” I’d been there before, so I had the idea that maybe I could use [Gate] to return. I didn’t actually expect it to work, though.

“This realm is dense with magic, after all. That is probably why you could come back. It is also the reason why you could not return to your previous world. The magic in the atmosphere on your Earth is very thin, I’ll have you know.”

“Oh, this is for you. I brought cookies and stuff.”

“Oho, thank you very much. I believe that warrants a nice cup of tea.” He began filling a teacup with hot water. And, of course, it turned into tea the moment it poured from the spout. But what else was I expecting? He was God.

I silently drank the warm tea.

Ah, delicious. It’s been a while since I last had green tea...

“Well now, what brings you to my humble abode?”

“Ah, there’s something I wanted to consult you about...”

“Hmm? Well, do tell.” I began explaining my situation to him. I wanted to know what I had to do about my circumstances and how I should interact with the girls moving forward... I made sure to cover all the necessary details.

“Hmm... Are you not simply overthinking things? They said they love you, so why not just be happy?”

“Well, I am, but I can’t help but consider all the things that come with it.”

Sharing my worries with God makes me feel like I’m at a confessional. Not like I sinned or anything, though...

“Very well, then. Let me call in the specialist.”

“Huh?” God reached for the black phone at his side and dialed a number.

A few moments later, a woman rose up from the sea of clouds. It looked like she was in her early twenties. Her hair was as pink and as fluffy as the thin, white silk she was wearing. She floated through the air toward me. Her wrists and ankles were adorned with golden rings, and her neck had a solid gold collar-piece around it. I also noticed that she wore no shoes.

“Kept you waiting, huh?” She sat at the tea table after giving a playful greeting.

“Er... and this is?”

“This lovely lady is the god of love. I thought she would be the perfect person for your troubles.”

The god of love?! Her?!

“Well, well. Lovely to meet you! I must say, I’ve been watching you every now and then! You’re a very interesting young man.” Now that she mentions it, God did mention something like this once before... Something about a god of love that had taken an interest in me, if I recall. So this is the woman herself? I never expected to be consulting a deity about this. God only knows, I guess.

“So, the title ‘god of love’ means exactly what it says on the tin, right?”

“Yes, it does. But it’s not like I control people’s feelings, get it? I just do a little of this, and a little of that... things that set the mood and create those standard, love-related cliches. I guess you could say I’m the producer of situations like those!”

“Cliches...?” Oh, I think I get what she means. She’s probably referring to those cases where girls are late to school, hurry there with toast in their mouths, and run into a great guy who just happened to walk around the corner.

“Yeah! Cliches! All the lovey-dovey ones. If you need a specific example, I’m the one who seeks out guys who go ‘Darling, I swear to you... when I return from the battlefield, we will finally be married.’ And then I make sure they never ever reach the altar!”

“That kind of thing is your fault?!” By “never ever reach the altar,” she clearly means that she makes them die, right?! Wait, that’s a death flag, not a love flag!

“So, what’s up?” I had my reservations about consulting her, but I really had no other choice. She happened to be the goddess of love, so I figured maybe she would have some good advice. At any rate, I hastily explained my current situation.

“Hmm... sounds like things are getting super interesting.” The god of love smiled, reached for the cookie on the table, and stuffed it into her mouth. She’s not one for manners, clearly.

“But I still don’t see your problem. It’s fine if you like each other, isn’t it?”

“But... four girls at the same time?”

“There’s your first mistake! You have to discard the common sense of the world you used to live in! If you only love one of them and consider the others to be extras, you’re not only making them pitiful, but you’re also being cruel as well! But if you love them all and are truly intent on making them happy, then that’s just another form of true love, get it?”

Love... Do I even feel it for them, though?

“Why did they even fall in love with me...?”

“I don’t know! Sometimes you get the ones who fall in love at first sight, and other times there are those who don’t realize their feelings because the target of their affections is too close to them. Each person has their own life, and there’s a lot of room for variation there! Love doesn’t fly straight like an arrow! There’s many paths to it, get it?” Part of me understood her explanation, but another part of me didn’t. Still, I at least understood the point that there was no true form to love.

“Interested in what I think? Seems to me that you lack confidence. You’re worried about whether or not you’re worthy of responding to their feelings. But here’s the thing, young man! You aren’t the one who decides if you’re worthy. They are!”

Damn... Kind of feels like she hit the nail on the head. I was just feeling weird because I felt like the girls were idealizing me. I didn’t believe that I fit the image of me that was in their heads.

“You should be more honest with yourself and see where these feelings lead. Sure, it’s important to be considerate of how others feel, but you can’t just go and act against your own interests in the process. Doing so wouldn’t just be rude to yourself, but also to the girls who confessed, get it?”

“I see... So I’m allowed to be a bit selfish, then?”

“That’s more like it! Love isn’t about one-sided happiness! It’s meaningless if you don’t become happy, too.”

...That’s true. I have things I can never let go of. I have to talk things out and reconcile with the girls. Those reservations might be with me for the rest of my life, but at the very least, I have to get them to agree to that.

“Did you find your answer?” God spoke up as if he just read my mind.

“I’m not sure, but I think it’s in sight at least.”

“Very well, then. That is quite good to know.”

“Eheh, glad to see the cliche I granted you didn’t go to waste!”

...Hm? She said something strange just now... Cliche? One of the things she manufactures, right?

“What exactly do you mean by that? The cliche you granted me, I mean.”

“Oh, just a little while ago, I produced a situation in which you walked in on them changing and then got really surprised. You should be thanking me, get it?”

“That was you?!” This god of love seems to be a fan of generic scenarios.

In the evening, I had the girls gather in the living room. Laim, Lapis, and the others weren’t with us. It was only myself and the four girls who had confessed.

The four sat on the couch in front me and patiently waited for my words.

I considered all of those girls far too good for me. That was exactly why I didn’t want to lie to them and wished to let them know my true feelings.

“Alright, well, to start things off let me just say... I have no plans of getting married.”

“WHHHAAAATTT?!!” The four of them leaped off the couch at the same time. Their surprise took verbal form and echoed throughout the living room.

◇　◇　◇

“Wait, what?!”

“H-Have we done something wrong, have we?”

“...You said you’d accept me as your wife...”

“Touya?!” All four girls leaped to their feet at once and closed in on me. Crap, that came out wrong!

“Okay, wait! I only meant ‘right now,’ all right! I wanted to say that I’ve got no plans of getting married right now!” My words stopped the girls dead in their tracks. Okay, good. They’re at least willing to hear me out.

“If not right now, then at some point in the future?”

“Of course. If none of you are against the idea, I’ll marry all four of you quite happily.” I answered Elze’s question, and the girls returned to their seats. Good, they’ve calmed down a bit...

“I like all of you equally, and I don’t plan on breaking my promise to marry you, but I can’t get married right now. I don’t want it to feel like we’re only together because I got caught up in the moment.”

“...I do not understand what you mean, I do not.” Yae tilted her head in confusion.

“What I mean is, I just don’t think I’m ready for a commitment like that yet. I’m not mature enough to look after other people. I mean, I’m still not fully convinced I can even look after myself at the moment. So, please, wait until I am ready to carry the weight of another life alongside my own. If it doesn’t seem like I’ll ever become that sort of person, you’re free to leave my side at any moment. Nobody can take that right away from you; not me or anyone else.” That was my own selfish condition to the agreement. I wanted everyone to be happy, but I wasn’t yet sure if I could make them happy. I was still lacking in so many areas. I didn’t have the resolve, the courage, the strong feelings of love, or the knowledge to make any of them happy just yet.

I knew that I was basically just telling the girls to wait until I felt like I was worthy of them, but I didn’t intend to just lead them on indefinitely until I suddenly decided that day had come. The condition I’d laid out for them could’ve easily made any girl hate me, and I could’ve accepted it if any of them decided to call the whole thing off for that reason alone. That was their choice to make, and I intended to respect their wishes.

“...You really couldn’t have worded that any better? I mean, I guess that makes sense, but still.” Elze sighed as she spoke, with an expression that was somewhere between exasperation and relief. Hell, the fact of the matter was that the girls had all proposed to me, and what I had said was just as bad as if I’d never said anything at all. I was unsure of what to do. I would basically be taking away their choices in the matter for my own convenience. Even I felt like that was a horrible thing to do to someone.

“You’re playing dirty. You already know that we’d never just throw you aside like that, but you’re pretending like we have that option anyway, right?” Elze shot another glare at me as she spoke. Well, I mean, I don’t think that highly of myself, but it’s not like I was expecting you all to just cut all ties with me here and now or anything.

“Falling in love is never an easy thing, it is not...” Yae gave Elze a pat on the shoulder. Elze herself turned her head away and puffed up her cheeks.

“...Even if my sister gives up on you, Touya, I’ll wait for as long as I have to... Because I want to be your wife.”

“Hey, who said anything about me giving up on him?!” Linze laughed as she watched her sister panic. Oh good, she was just teasing her.

“I’m fine with that, too. We’ve already talked this over among ourselves, after all. Now all we have to do is make you fall so completely head-over-heels in love with us that you’ll be the one proposing to us next time.”

“Guess I’ll just have to do my best to keep you from falling out of love with me before then.” Yumina’s words brought a smile to my face. From now on, we’re not just party members anymore. I’m engaged to these girls. They’re my lovers, and one day we’ll all be part of the same family. I need to do my best so that day comes even a little sooner, and when it does, I’ll be the one to propose to them properly.

“So with that, all four of us are Touya’s fiancees. Shall we line up in order and have him kiss us as proof?”

“WHAT?!” Elze, Linze, Yae, and I were all caught completely off-guard by Yumina’s abrupt suggestion. Meanwhile, it looked like she wanted to give herself a pat on the back for coming up with such a cunning plan. Why are you never satisfied with things getting wrapped up semi-normally for a change?!

“W-Wait, umm, d-don’t you think it’s still a bit too soon for that?!”

“Th-Though we may be e-engaged now, I do believe we should take things in due moderation, we should...!” Elze turned red as a tomato and broke out in a panic. Yae was bright red, too. While I could understand Yae’s reaction, I wouldn’t have taken Elze to be such a late bloomer.

“But he kissed me just yesterday, you know?”

“Huh?!” As Yumina muttered those words, Elze and Yae turned their heads in my direction with such speed that I worried they might get whiplash. I mean, she’s not lying, but, uh...

“A-Actually, he k-kissed me, too... On the forehead, I mean...”

“HUH?!” Linze spoke up, and this time the two turned to face me with even greater speed than before. I mean, she’s not lying either, but give me a break here!

“A-Alright then, that settles it! You’ve gotta k-k-k-kiss us, too!”

“I would... like a kiss, too, I would...”

Alright, hold up! Aren’t you the very same girls who were just saying that it was “too soon” or that we should “take things in moderation” a second ago? What part of this is “moderate” to you?! Elze and Yae locked me down with their gazes, still blushing up to their ears.

Crap, I can’t exactly run away now... Not after I just decided I’d accept everything about them.

I reached out my hand and drew Elze closer toward me. She jumped a little at my touch, but she didn’t put up any resistance as I gently pulled her body in. I placed my hand on her cheek, then drew my face closer to hers, when...

“T-Too embarrassing, changed my mind!”

“Ghuoh?!” Leaving me with only those words, Elze’s fist came crashing directly into my solar plexus without warning. The abrupt force gave me no time to steel myself, so I collapsed for the second time that day. As my consciousness faded, the only thought to cross my mind was something along the lines of oh no, not again...

“...Ungh?”

“Have you regained consciousness?” I awoke to find myself back in my own room, laying on my bed. The sun had long since set. Through the dim lamp-light, I could make out the figure of Cesca sitting in a chair next to my bed. She was dressed in a maid uniform, for some reason.

“Cesca...? What’s with those clothes...?”

“Lady Lapis presented me with them. If I am to serve my Master, then this is to be my uniform, so I have been instructed.”

...Come to think of it, I just kind of left Cesca in the maids’ hands the minute we got back home, huh? I didn’t forget about her or anything, but too many life-changing decisions kept flying at me one after another, and... Hang on, that’s all this girl’s fault, anyway!

“Alright, but what brings you to my bedroom?”

“I have come to make love to you.” I leaped to the edge of my bed like I’d just heard a gunshot fire in my direction. The fog in my mind cleared itself up instantly. My chastity is in danger!

“That was a joke. I have no plans for that. Not today.” Don’t just casually stick “not today” on the end like you think I won’t notice! I can never let my guard down around you for even a second!

“The truth is that I’ve come to deliver a message addressed to you.”

“A message for me...? Who’s it from?”

“It is from Doctor Regina Babylon.” Hold the phone, what? A message for me... from that ancient genius doc? The very same person who created Cesca and the Hanging Garden of Babylon?! But how? Cesca moved her right hand to her left wrist as if to take her own pulse, only to open her left wrist up and bring out a cable with some sort of connector on the end.

“Whoa.” It’s times like these that I have to remind myself that Cesca’s actually a machine.

Cesca took the cable and presented the end of it to me.

“Huh? What am I supposed to do with this?”

“I am unsure. The doctor told me that if I gave this to my new Master, then he would understand.” Instructions unclear. Unfortunately, as a flesh-and-blood human being, I can’t think of any other places that I could comfortably “connect” a thing like that to... Do I stick it in my mouth...? Wait, could it be? The shape of this connector looks familiar, but... No, that can’t be right!

I went over to where my coat was hanging up on the wall, then took my smartphone out of the pocket. After that, I took the cable Cesca had offered to me and tried plugging it in. It fit perfectly.

My phone made a little beeping noise when it picked up the foreign cable, and the screen displayed a loading bar that slowly filled up with green. When the loading bar hit 100%, my smartphone’s screen suddenly lit up brightly.

“H-Hey, what is this?!” The light gradually died down to reveal a person roughly 15 centimeters in height standing on top of the screen.

The person was semi-transparent, almost as if to assure me that I was merely seeing a 3D projected image... which would have been fine, except my phone wasn’t even capable of projecting holograms, to my knowledge.

The holographic person was a lady who looked to be in her early twenties. She wore a white lab coat and glasses, and had what looked like a cigarette in her mouth. Her long, blonde hair hung down messily, which I felt was a shame because it would’ve suited her perfectly otherwise. The top and skirt that she wore beneath her lab coat were also creased, adding to her overall slovenly appearance.

“This is Doctor Regina Babylon.”

“This is the doctor...?” The doctor, who had until then been sitting somewhat listlessly, turned her face up to gaze at mine as she grinned at me. Huh?

“Howdy there. Nice to meetcha, kid. The name’s Regina Babylon, as you know. Before anything else, let me just thank you for taking up administration of the garden, as well as Francesca. Really, it means a lot to me, Mochizuki Touya.”

“Wait, how did you...?” What does this mean? Why does someone from almost five thousand years ago know my name?! Not just that, but why does this connector fit into my smartphone perfectly? It’s almost as if it was specifically designed to be used exactly like that from the very beginning...

“Trust me, I know how you feel. I mean, that’s a very good question. Of course you’d want to know. After all, you’re a very special kind of person.”

Special...? Wait, does she know that I’m from another world?! Just who is this Doctor, anyway?!

“Allow me to give you the answer you so long for. Look closely now.” The doctor spoke slowly, and as she did, she raised her skirt up before my eyes. Black lace panties consumed my vision.

“This is my favorite pair, I’ll have you know.”

“The hell do I care?!” I threw my smartphone down onto my bed without thinking. The hell do you mean I’m “that kind of person”?! Don’t just lump me in with you! It’s not like your panties were the first thing I wanted to know about or anything, alright?!

“Ha ha ha! I’m kidding, I’m only kidding. Don’t worry about it, that was just my way of breaking the ice.” Or so the good doctor said, still attempting to flash her panties at me from her new position atop the bed, grinning at me all the while. I knew it, this person’s way beyond your regular eccentric! The holographic doctor returned her cigarette-like object to her lips, that grin never leaving her face.

“I’ll explain everything to you, so forgive my little prank. Firstly, why do I know about you? Well, you see, I have a device that allows me to glimpse into the future.” A device for looking into the future? Is it some kind of Artifact? I had no idea she was such a genius that she could even make something like that... She’s still a weirdo, though.

“I mixed a bit of Space-Time Magic together with some Light magic, and then used a Null spell called... Well, never mind. That’s not important. What’s important is that I made a device that can project the future. The problem is, the device has a couple of fatal flaws. First, the visions of the future I can observe are only fragmentary, and second, I don’t get to decide how far into the future I want to look. The device seeks out someone with the same biorhythm as the wielder from the future, and proceeds to reflect events from that person’s life. In my case, having an affinity for all the base magic elements came back to bite me, meaning the extremely far-off future that you are in is the only one I’ve been able to get a look at.” You’re telling me I have the same biorhythm as this nutty professor? I don’t even know what that means, but I don’t like it. It feels like she’s lumping me in with her as partners in crime or something... I’m not like that, okay?! We might be the same kind of person, but that only extends as far as our magical alignments, got it?!

“Anyway, that’s how I caught sight of you. At first I was only looking out of curiosity, but then things got more and more fun as time went by. It got to the point where I was having great fun watching you and your party go about your wild adventures, but then one day, I wasn’t able to see your future anymore. Why do you think that was? It’s because the future had changed. No, that’s not quite the right word for it. I suppose a better way to put it would be that your future became uncertain.” Uncertain...? What’s an uncertain future mean?

α (The past) —————————— β (The future)

Let’s imagine time moving in a straight line from past to future, like this. If, somewhere along the line from α to β, an unknown factor named γ were to intervene, then the new future would change from β to β1.

If the future the doctor had been looking at so far was future β, then some huge event big enough to change the future, Event γ, must have happened, creating future β1 as a new possibility... I think.

“I thought it might have been the fall of Partheno... but that event is likely already set in stone. After all, our civilization doesn’t exist in your world anymore. Anyway, the fall of Partheno was brought about by the enemy of mankind, the Phrase, and their relentless invasion. That much was already an established fact in your era, too.” The Phrase... Wait, the Phrase?! The crystal creatures that Leen told me about! So the fall of the five-thousand-year-old civilization was brought about by that same weird species?!

“We fought back, of course, but the Phrase came at us in the tens of thousands. Nothing could be done to prevent the fall of Partheno. After that, the Phrase scattered to all corners of the world. It was truly the end of days. I’m sure that the reason I stopped being able to see the future beyond that point is simply that there is no future for the world under those circumstances.”

So the flow of events between α (The past that the doctor existed in) and β (The future that I’m currently inhabiting) was slowly tilting toward β1 (The future where the Phrase destroyed the world)? But still, that doesn’t make too much sense. The world is fine.

“Right. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, your future never came to an end. For some reason, they disappeared from the world before the worst possible outcome could occur. I don’t know how or why, but thanks to their abrupt disappearance, I was able to see the future you inhabit once more.”

That means β1 was ultimately averted. That’s good to know, at least. If β1 had been the future of this world instead of β, God might’ve sent me somewhere else entirely, and then I wouldn’t have been able to meet with everyone here.

Still, what could’ve made the Phrase just up and vanish from the world one day...? Were they wiped out by some kind of Phrase-targeting virus like in some sci-fi novel or something?

“Anyway, that should suffice as an explanation as to why I know all about you. And naturally, I left Babylon there as a little present for you. Use it however you like. I’ve even filled it with lovely girls catered to your tastes. Feel free to use them however you like, too!” The holographic doctor gave me an evil little smirk when she said that. Dammit, what’s with this feeling?! Her whole face is just saying “No, no, don’t worry. I understand perfectly. You’re a boy, I get how it is,” and it’s driving me up the wall! This must be what it feels like to have an older sister who gets her kicks out of messing with you!

“Just in case, I split Babylon up into multiple parts to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Whether you go hunting for the rest of the pieces or not is up to you, I don’t mind either way. It all belongs to you now, anyway. From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t really seem like you’ll be needing anything so absurdly powerful in your future, anyhow.”

Then why did you even build it?! I know they say the line between genius and stupidity is paper thin, but this person’s clearly way over that line!

“Well, I’ve been talking for a while now, so I’ll end the message around here. Oh, and by the way, when this message finishes playing, Francesca will strip naked.”

“Whhhat?!”

“That was a joke. Anyway, see you around, kid.”

I threw my smartphone at the bed again. Ugh! Goddammit, that little Doctor Panties kept making fun of me right till the end! I don’t get her at all! Did she seriously build all of Babylon for the sole purpose of messing with a kid five thousand years in the future?!

“...Shall I strip?”

“Thou shalt not strip!” I quickly stayed Cesca’s hand.

So the long and short of it was, Doctor Babylon had been peeking in on us from the past, so she knew all about us. But if she really could see the future, then why was the teleportation circle for the garden located at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Eashen? For that matter, why bother splitting Babylon into several pieces if she knew it was going to me, anyway? It made it all very hard to believe she was seeing the future perfectly.

No, wait. She said she could only take fragmentary glances into the future, so maybe she couldn’t zoom in on the finer details or something. I really hope that’s the case, because if it’s not, then I’ll never be able to rest easy again knowing that someone’s peeking in on everything I’m doing all the time.

Another thing that caught my attention was the Phrase. From how she spoke, it seemed like the Doctor wasn’t aware that the Phrase still existed in this world line.

Maybe that cricket-type Phrase we met at the old capital had actually just been sealed there this entire time. If so, it would mean that the Phrase invaded one thousand years ago, too... That would explain why the old capital came to ruin so suddenly, and why it had to be relocated in the first place. It all makes sense if I consider all these events to be related.

So if the one that we ran into was probably a survivor from when the old capital was invaded, then... I’d bet it was originally caught so that people could research it to try and find some kind of weak point.

But hang on... If that were the case for the cricket-shaped one, then what about the snake-shaped one that Leen saw? Shouldn’t we take this as a sign that the events that happened five-thousand years ago, and then more recently one-thousand years ago, are about to happen all over again?

Five-thousand years ago, the world was on the brink of destruction. One-thousand years ago, the old capital fell. Following that pattern, the events appeared to be reducing in scale. Even if it were to happen again, things likely wouldn’t turn out as disastrous as the last couple of times... Still, it would’ve been foolish to make that assumption.

“Is something the matter?”

“Nah, it’s nothing...”

This is all just “what if” right now. If my fears turn out to be unfounded, then I couldn’t ask for anything more, but on the off-chance that my guess is right...

“Won’t do me any good to keep dwelling on it, I suppose. I’m sure it’d just make everyone feel uneasy, so I’ll keep quiet about it.”

“About my making love to you?”

“You’ll do no such thing, and that is not what I meant!”

“Understood, Master.” This train of events could have easily spiraled out of control. The last thing I wanted to deal with immediately after getting engaged was being accused of cheating. I chased Cesca away, since I’d already made sure that she’d been given her own room, and crawled into bed.

◇　◇　◇

The next day, I paid a visit to the shopping district in the southern part of the capital.

My destination was a jeweler’s. I figured I should, you know, buy engagement rings for everyone.

I could’ve easily made the rings myself using [Modeling], but cheaping out on an important gift to one’s fiancee just felt wrong to me, so I wanted to buy them from the store instead. That said, I had no idea what the going price for engagement rings even was. I’d heard before that an engagement ring was normally “three months’ wages,” but I’d also heard that that was just a rumor spread by jewelers to make people spend more on them. Not that it mattered either way, since I wasn’t even being paid in “wages” in this world...

From what I’d read online, an engagement ring was something a guy gave to a girl upon getting engaged. This was the one that was supposed to cost “three months’ wages.” And then separate from that, there was the pair of rings exchanged during a wedding and then worn all the time by a husband and wife. Because these rings were left on all the time, they didn’t have to be overly expensive, apparently. It also seemed to be the norm for wedding rings to come without jewels attached.

For a normal wedding, I’d only need to buy three rings. One engagement ring, a wedding ring for my wife, and a wedding ring for me, but in my case I had four wives, so I’d ultimately need four engagement rings for the girls, four wedding rings for the girls, and a wedding ring for myself, for a total of nine rings...

Hang on, is that even how weddings work over here? I only just noticed, but that’s just a custom from my world. I don’t even know if things work that way over here. I mean, wedding rings are probably the norm at least, but...

Unsure of the local customs, I decided to ask the person who worked in the jewelry shop when I got there.

As I walked through the shopping district with my head full of such thoughts, I happened to overhear an argument going on. Curious to see what kind of trouble was brewing, I went over toward the food stall that the voices were coming from. When I got there, I found the stall manager standing with his arms crossed, angrily eyeing the customer in front.

“Look, kid. I don’t know where ya got them coins or what they’re worth, and I don’t really care. Ya can’t pay with them here. We don’t take ’em. Capisce?”

“That’s troublesome. I’m afraid these are all I have, you see...” The customer was a boy around the same age as me. He wore a black top over a white shirt, black pants, and had a long white scarf around his neck. His color scheme was perfectly monotone. He stood there scratching his head, clearly troubled. Even the hair he was scratching at on his head was pure white. In his hands he held two crepes, one half-eaten.

“Eeehh, can’t I just pay with this, though? This is money too, you know?”

“If you don’t got any money, then that’s the same as stealing my food. Don’t make me hand you over to the guards, kid. I’m tellin’ ya, we don’t got no weird coins like that in this country!”

“Uhh, excuse me...” I couldn’t help but stick my nose in. From what I could gather, it seemed the boy didn’t have any of this country’s currency, but he went and accidentally took a bite out of some food without realizing that he wouldn’t be able to pay for it.

“Yeah? Whaddya want?” The shopkeeper barked at me angrily.

“I’m just passing through, but if it’s just about the money, then I can pay for his share. Would that be alright?”

“I ain’t complainin’, just so long as yer payin’.” I handed the man one copper coin, and he gave me two more crepes. Four crepes for one copper seemed a reasonably decent price. With that matter sorted, the boy and I left the stand with food in hand.

“Thanks. You really helped me out of a bind there.”

“Don’t worry about it, really. But I’ve gotta ask, do you really not have any money you can use around these parts? Like, none at all?” The boy thanked me, and I had to check with him just to make sure. I couldn’t help but wonder where in the world he’d come from. After all, even Eashen used the same common currency as Belfast, and those places were almost on the opposite sides of the world.

“See, I was able to buy stuff with this money before, though...” The scarf-clad boy took a handful of silver coins out of his pocket.

“They’ve got a pretty weird shape to them.” The common currency in this world was chiefly round as far as I understood it. This was true for gold, silver, and all other types of coin. In comparison, the coins the boy was holding were 8-sided. They were octagonal-shaped coins. I’d never seen their kind before. I picked one up out of his hand so that I could examine both sides properly.

“If they’ve caught your eye, then I’ll give you a few as thanks for earlier. It doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to use them here, anyway.”

“You sure? Alright, I guess I’ll take just enough to cover the cost of the crepes, then.” Honestly I didn’t really want them that much, but I figured accepting his offer would keep him from getting hung up over it, so I took a few of the coins from him.

“My name’s Touya. Mochizuki Touya. What’s yours?”

“Ende. It’s a pleasure, Touya.” He extended his hand, and I gripped it in a firm handshake. I remembered thinking at the time how unnaturally cold his skin felt. That was a fateful day, the event that served as the first meeting between myself and the boy named Ende.

◇　◇　◇

“Hmm, what should I do? It’s gonna be tough not having any money.” Ende tilted his head while eating his crepe. I bit into mine, too, and we gazed on at the crowds of people coming and going in front of the water fountain.

“Yeah, no kidding. You’re probably just gonna have to get a job for now.”

“What’s your job, Touya?”

“Mine?” My job... My job, huh? I’ve never thought about it much before, but what is my job, exactly? Adventurer, I guess? I mean, technically most of my work is done through the guild and all.

“I do odd jobs here and there as an adventurer with the guild. You know, stuff like hunting monsters or guarding caravans.”

“Ah, I see. Sounds like something that’d work for me.” You make it sound so simple. Well, I guess there’s no massive risks of danger at the lower ranks, so it should be fine.

“You thinking about getting registered? What are you gonna do about getting a weapon? Well, you could always just do plant-gathering quests for the time being, I guess.”

“Why would I need a weapon? It’s not like I’m going to be off slaying Dragons, right?” Is he planning on going at it barehanded? Is he a brawler like Elze? Then again, he could also be a mage. Something caught me about the way he had said that, though. Almost as if he was saying that even Dragons would’ve been a piece of cake for him if he had a weapon.

“Well, alright. I can lead you to the guild office, then. I had some business there today, anyway.”

“Please do. Sorry for all the trouble.” I threw the empty crepe wrappers in the garbage and made my way over to the Guild. I needed to withdraw money to buy the rings for the girls, after all.

Ende was a little bit taller than me. Around 170 centimeters, give or take. His looks were fairly androgynous, too, like one of those pretty-boy characters. Damn it, I’m not jealous or anything, you hear me?!

My eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to his white scarf, how it trailed almost all the way to the ground. It wasn’t even winter, so I had no idea why he needed such a long scarf anyway.

“It was a gift from someone precious to me.” When I inquired about it, that was how he answered with a smile on his face. He kind of missed my point, though. Did he mean that his girlfriend gave it to him? His tone of voice sure made it seem so. The guild’s sign came into sight before too long. The hustle and bustle around the quest board was as lively as ever.

I took Ende up to the counter and had the receptionist run him through the registration process. While he was busy with that, I went to withdraw some money from the adjacent counter. This was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, or so I wanted to believe, so I wanted to splurge on the rings.

When we met back up, I had my money ready and Ende had his brand new Black guild card in hand.

“No troubles with your registration, then?”

“Went just fine. All that’s left now is to start doing quests. I didn’t know the guild had offices all around the world, though. That saves me a lot of trouble. I’m never in one place for very long.” That so, I thought. For a traveler, he sure was dressed rather lightly. Hell, I was impressed he’d been able to make it so far as a traveler with no usable money to his name. He had this sort of blissfully ignorant air about him, too. I thought for a moment that maybe he was some runaway prince from a distant land.

I had my suspicions about the guy, but I decided not to pry. Everyone had their own circumstances, after all.

“Well, I should really get going. Try and stick to the simpler quests at first, yeah? Don’t push yourself too hard now.”

“Got it. Thanks for everything, Touya. Hope we meet again somewhere.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” I parted ways with Ende and left the guild office. He really was an odd one.

With that out of the way, I made for the jewelers.

Each of the four girls in front of me sat with their rings, and gazed at them with great big smiles on their faces. Their design was a fairly simple platinum band with a diamond on each, but they still cost me a pretty penny. Looking back on it, from the moment I told the lady that I didn’t know the standard price for these things, I should’ve expected that she’d try to overcharge me. I mean, once I’d decided on a design and heard the cost, I asked for four of them and the lady’s eyes went wide.

The rings I’d chosen were enchanted ones, with a spell that let them naturally adjust to the size of the wearer’s finger. In addition to that, I’d included some enchantments of my own.

“Each of those is enchanted with [Accel], [Transfer], and [Storage], by the way.” I figured [Accel] was a good battle choice, [Transfer] would let the rings work as spare magic batteries in case they ever ran out at a critical moment, and [Storage] would be a handy spell for any girl to have.

“Thank you so much, Touya.” Yumina held her left hand in her right, and smiled as she gazed down at the ring on her finger.

Next up, I took out a mithril chain necklace.

“Here, Elze. This is for you.”

“For me?” Elze took the chain, seemingly a little puzzled.

“Well you can’t really wear that ring under a gauntlet, right? I figured a necklace would let you keep it on even if we got into any fights.”

“Oh, gotcha. I never thought of that. Thanks, Touya.” Elze put the ring on the chain and wore it around her neck to see how it looked. I felt it really suited her. Since the chain was mithril, there was no chance of it breaking, and as long as the ring was somewhere on Elze’s person she’d be able to make use of the magic it’d been enchanted with.

With the rings handed over, I realized I still had something in my pockets. I reached in and took out the silver coins that Ende had given me, and placed them down on the table.

“What are these?”

“Earlier today I met this weird guy called Ende, and I got these from him. Apparently they’re some country’s currency. Recognize them at all?” Linze took one of the coins and began inspecting it with great interest.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before... They have a very elaborate design carved into them, so I can only imagine that they’re considerably valuable...” I sure hoped that wasn’t the case, because I’d basically taken them as payment for two whole crepes. I began to wonder if maybe taking Ende to get them converted into usable currency would have been the better idea. Thinking about it, even just taking him to a pawn shop would’ve gotten him at least the price of the silver they were made of.

I took one of the coins and gave it another good look over for myself. I heard a knock at the door, and Renne popped her head into the room. She held the door open for Cesca, who brought with her a teapot and some cups.

“I’ve come to serve you tea.” Cesca said, as she placed the cups onto the table and began to pour tea for us. As I was watching her do that, Renne came up beside me acting all fidgety. It looked like she had something to say. I wonder what’s up...

“Um, Touya... er, sir. Can I getcha to... Um, I mean, I do indeed have a request, sir...”

“You don’t have to force yourself to speak politely when Leim’s not around. What’s up?”

“Well, y’see, I wanna ride a bike, too...” A bike? I guess I don’t really see anything wrong with that. I dunno how I’d feel about her riding it around town, but it should be fine if she’s got someone with her at the time.

“I wanna practice, but my feet don’t reach the danged pedals! Sue said you made a littler bike for her before, and, uhhm...” Aha, now I get it. The only bike we have at home is an adult-sized one. Renne’s still too small to ride a bike like that. I should’ve noticed without her having to point it out to me.

“No problem, Renne! I’ll make one especially for you, then. What color would you like?”

“Really? Yer not havin’ a laugh?! Then... a red one!”

“Your wish is my command, little lady.”

“That’s spot-on! Thanks a bunch!” Renne leaned across the sofa and hugged me tight. C’mon now, if Leim were here he’d be furious, you know? Still, I’m just happy if you’re happy.

I wore an awkward little smile and just let Renne hug me, when my eyes met with Cesca’s.

“...So you’re a pedoph—”

“Hey there, nice weather we’re having today, am I right?!” I can’t let you finish that word, Tin Can! I’m already self-conscious enough about that kind of thing thanks to Yumina, so don’t make this any worse for me! Cesca gave me a suspicious stare for a while, but eventually went back to pouring tea like the little outburst had never happened. After she was done, she caught notice of the coins laying on the table and tilted her head slightly.

“I didn’t think this currency would still be in use after all this time.”

“What do you mean, after all this time? Cesca, you know where these came from?”

“Yes. These particular coins are Partheno Silver. They were first minted exactly five thousand two hundred and eighty four years ago, and were used commonly around this region, too. I’m amazed that they’re still in circulation.” That long ago?! Cesca’s words made me pick the coin up once more and examine it even more intently. It definitely didn’t look that old in the slightest. Hell, it looked almost brand new. Why would Ende have been carrying something like this around...? Hang on. What was it he said back then?

“See, I was able to buy stuff with this money before, though...”

Before? What did he mean by “before,” exactly? Is there really anywhere in the world that might still be using a currency from the days of old? I had an idea, but it was a ridiculous one. It almost seemed to me as though Ende were a human who had time traveled here from the past. Either that, or he could have been one of Doctor Babylon’s android creations like Cesca.

“Cesca, out of curiosity, were there any males among those of you made by Doctor Babylon?”

“Males...? No, none at all. The doctor never bothered making any males. There were a few with more masculine personalities, however.”

More masculine, huh... Come to think of it, Ende did strike me as rather androgynous. Looking back, I can’t really say for sure that Ende’s really a “he” at all. I mean, I highly doubt that’s the case, but... Cesca watched as I became lost in thought and shot me an even more suspicious glance. What is it this time?

“...So you’re a homos—”

“Alrighty, that’s enough! Stop! Please, for the love of God, don’t go there!” That’s not what I was asking, and I certainly don’t swing that way! I’m straight as a ruler! Man, I just really love girls!!!

“Do not worry, Master. Be it young boys or big, burly-armed men, I will try to adjust myself to better suit your tastes. Shall I wear short shorts from now on?”

“Thou shalt not!” Man, why is she strangely knowledgeable about these things in particular? Is she just taking after her creator like kids take after their parents? Look. Go on, look at what you’ve done. Everyone’s confused now... Except for Linze. Why’s she blushing?

Do my best at what? Do you even realize what you’re saying, Your Majesty?

“Look, I’m saying I intend to marry her, not that we’re getting married right away. All of that’s on hold until I turn eighteen, at the very least.”

“Even if the wedding’s still a while off, it’s not like that’s stopping you from making me some grandkids! After all, Yumina’s already started her— Mhrf?!” Yumina’s fist smashed magnificently into the king’s solar plexus, making him double over. She definitely just used [Accel] against him...

“Father, you don’t just casually mention things like that!” Yumina was bright red and exhaling heavily. Groveling at her feet, his face pale and writhing in pain, was His Royal Majesty the King of Belfast, the most important man in the country. You reap what you sow. Even if she is your own daughter, that was pretty much sexual harassment. Definitely shouldn’t be saying those kinds of things out loud.

“I’m sorry about my husband. He’s just so excited to hear the news, you see.” Queen Yuel apologized in her husband’s place. It wasn’t a bad thing to be excited, I just felt that he was getting excited about all the wrong things.

“Now really, how should we handle this... There are plenty who know of the situation already, but it might still be a bit soon to announce this to the public.”

“How come?”

“First of all, you’d definitely be targeted by nobles who had thought to marry into the royal family. On the other end of the scale, you have those who would try to win your favor early for political reasons or the like. In addition to that, there are those stubborn few who would stand firmly against the whole thing unless you showed suitable accomplishments in the name of the country.” None of what she said sounded fun in the least. It all just served to remind me how marrying a princess was kind of a big deal.

Accomplishments in the name of the country? Basically, they’d want me to prove that I’d be a beneficial asset to the country before they’d approve of me?

“Let’s keep word of this to ourselves for a while longer. Announcing it too early would lead to a lot of unwanted trouble, so it may be best to keep it a secret for as long as possible and then announce your betrothal just shortly before the wedding itself.” Seems like I’ll have to do my best as well if I want to live up to all of this... I’ll become a worthy partner for Yumina.

I left Yumina with her parents and headed in the direction of the training grounds. I was hoping to catch Elze there, but it seemed my hope was in vain. She was nowhere to be found. The sounds of mock battles spread out across the training ground. It was honestly pretty exciting to watch. Sort of reminded me of the feeling of watching a sports match. There were a lot of knights out training, as well.

“You there, cur. What are you doing here?” I turned to face the voice, and found myself looking at a group of young men. There seemed to be about ten of them. They didn’t look too far from my age. Well, maybe one or two of them were a little older. I couldn’t say for sure, really. I wondered if they were knights, too.

“Yes, mongrel, I meant you. I don’t recognize your face. Which house are you the servant of? You know this training ground is an exclusive area, don’t you? You should really take more care where you wander.”

“Oh, no. It’s nothing like that. I’m just looking around for a friend of mine. I thought she was here.”

A young man standing at the head of the group, one with short golden-blond hair, spoke up. He spoke in a haughty, arrogant tone of voice, as if he was looking down on me for whatever reason. It seemed to me that he had the wrong impression. I figured the best thing to do would be to correct him and move on.

“And which friend might this be?”

“Oh, do you think he’s referring to that lowborn woman? The one who accompanies General Leon so often these days.” A redheaded boy in the back answered the blondie’s question. That sounded about right. Elze did prefer to spar with Leon after all.

“Oh. That girl... Haaa... trying to curry favor with the general, are we? Truly those of lower birth have no integrity at all, pathetic...” The one to speak up this time was a brown-haired boy standing next to Redhead. He had a smug grin plastered on his face.

“I see. This one must be trying to join the army too. He’s using that girl as a foot in the door.”

“This military won’t get anywhere unless someone sets it straight. Frankly, it’d be better if we didn’t allow commoners to serve at all. They have no sense of chivalry, unlike us proud sons of the noble houses.” The group of boy-knights threw their heads back in raucous laughter. I turned on my heel to leave, as they were seriously annoying me.

“Actually... could it be that the girl is your woman?”

“And what if she is?” I paused to answer the brown-haired teen, who decided to yell after me. His shrill laughter was driving me mad with irritation.

“In that case, if you’re looking for her, why not look in the general’s bed? I’m sure she’s there right about now, moaning like the lowborn dog she is!”

I didn’t let him continue his budding tirade. Before Brown-hair knew it, my fist was in his face. He fell to the ground, clutching at himself. Blood pooled from his nose, and a few of his teeth were scattered across the floor. I turned and kicked him hard in the side, just for good measure.

“Ghaugh! Whhuh... what are you doing?!”

“I’m clearly beating the hell out of you. What, do you need me to spell it out?” Brown-hair was on the floor, rolling in pain as he clutched his side. He still managed to yell at me, though. I kicked him again. Harder.

If he had just mocked me, I’d have been able to let it go. But I wasn’t the kind of person who could stand around and let the people precious to him be slandered. It was like my grandpa always said. If you need to beat on someone, then beat them savagely without hesitation.

“You scum! That’s the second son of the distinguished Barrow family! You dare lay a hand on—”

“Shut it. You’re making a racket. Why does his family matter right now? It’s not like he, or you for that matter, have anything great about you as individuals. You’re just lazy little shits who rest on the laurels of their family crests, right?”

“How dare you!” The young knights quickly surrounded me in a circle. They all pulled out their blades. I could tell they weren’t messing around. They were clearly set on harming, if not killing, me.

“So you’ve drawn your swords on me. You understand what that means, right? The only ones who should aim to kill are those who are prepared to be killed.”

“Silence, commoner!” One of the boys charged at me with a slash, but his form was poor. Geez, that’s almost embarrassingly bad. Have any of these guys done any actual training?

“Safety Mode.” In accordance to my words, Brunhild extended into a longsword with a dulled, rounded blade. Nothing sharp at all on this bad boy. This was a new form I’d added to my weapon, for safety purposes. Well... maybe safety wasn’t quite the right term for it. If I decided to swing it at full power it could definitely crush someone’s bones. Anyway, I charged at another incoming swordsman, wielding Brunhild.

“Gah!” The boy stumbled and collapsed to the ground. Too many openings, punk. I could beat you blindfolded.

The “knights” watched as their friend was knocked down, and began to hesitate in their movements. Pathetic.

“Everyone charge in at once! Slash him at the same time!” Blondie barked out an order. Guess that made him their leader. Still, was he a total moron? What kind of chump yelled out his strategy before using it?

I decided to attack them before they made their move. Their attacks were so telegraphed that dodging was trivial. I was easily able to strike three of them in the belly, the chest, and the arm. They went down like a sack of bricks.

The others saw my motion and began to seize up in fear. They were absurdly miserable people.

I swung my weapon without putting too much effort into it, and before long they were all down for the count. All except Blondie. The last man standing.

“E-Eek! Auuuugh!!!” Blondie started screaming like a little girl, turned tail, and ran away as fast as he could. Some chivalry and honor you’ve got there. Really shows when you abandon your allies and turn your back on the enemy.

“Gun Mode.” I returned Brunhild to its gun form, then fired off a bullet. Pow.

“Gwuhh?!” I couldn’t be bothered to chase after him, so I just fired a paralyzing round into his back. Blondie fell to the floor with a crash, then stopped moving entirely. Guess that’s that... Now, where was I?

“Eek!” The only one still conscious was Brown-hair, lying down in a pool of his own fluids. I couldn’t possibly forgive him for saying what he did about Elze.

“Could you leave it at that, please?” I looked up for the source of the sudden voice, and caught sight of two older knights standing nearby. I recognized one of them, but the other was an older gentleman with silvery hair. He looked about forty.

“Lyon...!”

“What’s up, Sir Touya. Long time no see.” The handsome young gent raised his hand to me in a wave. It was Lyon, the good knight that had accompanied us to Mismede. General Leon’s son.

“D-Deputy General, sir! Th-This lout came out of nowhere, a-and he... he...!” Brown-hair pointed at me, seemingly addressing the silver-haired man next to Lyon. Deputy general?

“...Boy. Do you think my eyes blind to the trouble you and your friends cause for the townspeople? You think my ears deaf to the concern regarding your names?” The silver-haired man let out a deep voice, devoid of emotion. He was staring directly at the brown-haired kid. In response, the boy stiffened up in fear and fell silent. It seemed this kind of attitude wasn’t a new thing for them. So they definitely were the kind of people who thought they could do whatever they wanted... I found that kind of person very irritating.

“I understand that your family has been covering for you using their name, but that won’t save you anymore. Now I see you all attack one man in a group, but lose regardless of your cheap tactics. And your little ‘leader’ ran away like an animal upon seeing his friends defeated. Disgusting. Not a single one of you are fit to be called knights.” Lyon spoke with a surprising intensity behind his words. I could tell he felt a lot of shame that these boys were calling themselves Belfastian Knights.

“You’ll soon be informed of your penalties and expulsions. Tell your unconscious friends that, as well. And before you get any funny ideas, don’t go thinking about revenge. If you lay a single hand on this man, your noble families will incur high levels of disgrace. That, I promise you.” The deputy general turned his attention away from Brown-hair and looked at me. Once our eyes met, he bowed his head.

“I’m truly sorry for these wretches. Please know that their behavior is not something that represents the Belfastian Knights.”

“...Nah, don’t worry about that. I went a little overboard, too.” Calm down, Touya. You’ve really done it this time... You definitely didn’t need to knock those guys out with your sword! There were plenty of other ways you could’ve incapacitated them, right? Gah! It’s not my fault... When that asshole spoke badly of Elze I just saw red... I definitely need more training or something.

“Ah, you’re much too kind... I’m the deputy general of the Belfastian knight order, Neil Suleiman.”

“Mochizuki Touya. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh I’m well aware of who you are, young man. You’re quite the celebrity in my social circles.” I had... mixed feelings about that, but I still shook the man’s hand with a smile on my face.

After I apologized to Deputy General Neil, Lyon spoke up about the current state of the knight order.

It seemed that the knights took charge of protecting the capital, guarding the citizens of the kingdom, guarding the royal family, and escorting important individuals. Most were sons from noble families, but usually second or third-born, the oldest sons were the successors, and therefore too important to risk in the field of duty. Apparently those sons only enlisted to boast about their family and social class, rather than out of any sense of duty.

“I’m the second son of my household, actually. But unlike other noble families, we’d get the crap pounded out of us if we did anything bad like those punks...” Lyon wore a wry smile on his face as he spoke. Well, you do have Leon for a father... Lyon certainly didn’t seem spoiled at all to me, which was probably a good thing. Neil also explained that he was the second son of a rather affluent count.

“They’re a minority, it’s true, but unfortunately there are those who cling to their heritage like it’s all they have. A recruit from an earl’s house might refuse to listen to their viscount-born commander, or a captain might try to suck up to a newbie just because he’s from a better social background. It’s a complete farce, if you ask me.” Neil’s expression was one of pure, unbridled disgust. Seemed like there were always troublemakers, no matter where you looked.

“Well, it’s definitely curtains for this lot. They’re pathetic parasites on our proud order! Until now they’ve managed to avoid it through their family connections, but that won’t fly this time. They attacked the man engaged to this country’s princess, after all... They should consider themselves lucky their heads are still attached to their necks.” He must’ve been watching from the start. I’d be willing to bet he let it play out just so he could punish them for it... Well, I beat them up anyway, so it was no big deal.

“That aside... That weapon at your hip, what is it exactly?” Neil pointed a curious gaze toward Brunhild, my gunblade.

“Oh, this thing? It’s my personal weapon. Only I can wield it, and only I can create it. I can use it for close combat or to take out target from afar. Depending on its mode, it can become either a shortsword or a longsword, and it can fire paralyzing shots as well.”

“Hmhm... It’s a wonderful weapon indeed. Could I bother you to make one for me? Naturally, I’d pay you top coin for it.”

“Sorry, but I don’t think that’s such a good idea...” I definitely had to be careful with regards to firearms. They were things that could kill people very easily. I’d have to be careful to only give them to people I had absolute confidence in.

“I see... What a shame.”

“Oh, I could make you another kind of transforming weapon or a paralyzing weapon, though! If you can handle it, that is...”

“Seriously?! I’d absolutely love one!” By the time Neil had finished speaking, I had already cast [Storage] and pulled out an iron ingot. Mithril was sturdy, but it was far too lightweight to forge a regular weapon out of. Much too light to be effective. In fact, its lightness really only made it suitable for a thrusting-based sword like an estoc, or a sword primarily designed for slashing attacks.

“So, Neil, what kind of weapon do you prefer to use?”

“Well, my signature is definitely the spear, but I’m fine with a standard blade, too.” Hmm... that makes two forms, but maybe I should add in a dagger mode too, just for good measure.

I used [Modeling] to craft a spear that was about two meters long. I based it on a western-style spear I’d seen in a video game before, but I changed the blade tip to be more dagger-like. To be blunt, it was more like a dagger with a really long handle.

I designed the grip itself to be hollow, allowing it to shift mass by filling the interior as it shortened in its transformation to dagger mode.

Similar to Brunhild, the thick dagger blade could thin out, which would allow it to extend itself into a one-meter longsword... probably. I enchanted the sword with [Modeling]. And voila! It was complete.

“Begin [Program]／ Starting Condition: The wielder says ‘Spear Mode,’ ‘Sword Mode,’ or ‘Dagger Mode’／ Action Upon Start: [Modeling] casts upon the weapon, transforming it into the user-specified form／ End [Program].” Oh, almost forgot to give it the paralyzing effect. I hastily enchanted the new product with [Paralyze].

“Begin [Program]／ Starting Condition: The wielder says ‘Stun Mode’／ Action Upon Start: Dull the blade of the weapon, and use the [Paralyze] spell to imbue it with the ability to stun anyone the blade touches／ End [Program].”

“Uhh, I guess that’s about it.” I tried to spin the spear around. But, much like the one from back in Eashen, the balance on it was pretty terrible. I was probably just out of practice.

“Dagger Mode.” The grip suddenly shunted and got shorter, making way for a dagger blade about 40 centimeters in length. I gave it a few test swings, and it responded quite nicely. I had a feeling that this form would be the easiest one to keep it in when carrying it around.

“Sword Mode.” The blade expanded this time, becoming a meter-long shortsword. The handle also extended, allowing it to be gripped by both hands if necessary. I held it in front of me and gave it a test swing. Yup, not bad at all.

“Spear Mode.” It returned to its initial state with no issues. Okay, the transformation works well enough... Now to test the other part...

“Stun Mode.”

“Huh?” I had a ridiculously annoying grin on my face as I tapped Lyon on the shoulder with the spear tip. In but a moment, he crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

“Hahaugh?!”

“Yup, the paralysis seems to work just fine.”

“Hey now...” Neil spoke up. He sounded a little mad, honestly. What? I had to test it, didn’t I? Stun mode dulled the blade, so there was no harm done. Well... thrusting the spear would probably still hurt. I had set the paralysis to a weak effect, too, but it would still be about an hour before Lyon was able to get back up. I didn’t want to wait that long, so I dispelled it with [Recovery].

“Hey, what was that for?!”

“Sorry, had to be sure it all worked right.” I apologized to the complaining Lyon as I returned the weapon to blade mode and handed it over to Neil.

“It’s hand-crafted, so the balance isn’t especially good, but I think it should handle just fine after you get used to it.” Neil took the spear from me, spun it around, thrust it forward, and did a sweeping strike. His motions were both clean and swift. Guess I shouldn’t have expected anything else from a deputy general.

He cycled through the different transformations, performing similar clean motions with the dagger and sword forms. He then transformed it back into spear mode and pointed the tip toward Lyon.

“Stun Mode.”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute!”

“Heh, I’m just messing around.” Neil gave a short chuckle and returned his weapon to its dagger form. Seemed he had no problem getting the hang of it.

“The paralysis effect in stun mode won’t do anything to an enemy with a protective charm on them, so keep that in mind. Oh, and be careful where you swing it. Anyone affected won’t be getting up for about an hour at least, so it’d be troublesome if you hit one of your allies.”

“Very well, then. Thank you.” Neil gazed at his dagger, seeming quite happy all the while. I was glad to have been of service.

“You sure are lucky to have such a thing, Deputy General.”

“Hm? I can make one for you too, Lyon. If you’d like one, I mean.”

“Really, Sir Touya?! You really mean it?!” I quickly whipped up another weapon of similar design and passed it over to Lyon. He started to cycle through the forms and swung the weapon around a bit. It looked like he was enjoying himself.

“Truly, this is a splendid job. How much do I owe you?”

“Nah, don’t worry about that. Just help me out if those jokers ever give me trouble again.”

“Very well, then. It’s a promise.” Neil let out a gentle laugh as he spoke. Well, I’m sure those guys won’t be stupid enough to try anything again.

“...You guys were warned about this yesterday!” I was wrong. They were stupid enough.

The moonlight illuminated the garden outside my home, highlighting around fifty armed intruders who were now flat out on the ground. Blondie, Brown-hair, and Redhead were with them. The rest were fairly large, well-built men. Probably mercenaries or personal soldiers.

Lapis had informed me that a mob of suspicious individuals was making its way toward my home, so I had Tom pretend to be asleep at the gate. Lapis was a member of Espion after all, an elite spy that answered directly to the royal family. Her information was bang on the mark, so I was ready when the mob swarmed through and spilled into the garden under the cover of night.

They were surprised to see me waiting for them, but it didn’t take them long to try to jump me at once when they realized I was all alone. At that point it was a simple matter of firing off fifty paralyzing rounds. Honestly, I was extremely disappointed. Even Lone-Horned Wolves had more impressive movements than those chumps.

“Did you just completely ignore what Neil told you?” I approached Blondie, who was practically glued to the ground. I then squatted down and smacked his shoulder with Brunhild a couple of times. He couldn’t move due to the paralysis, but he was still conscious, so he’d be able to hear my words. That much was clear by the fear I could see in his eyes.

“Do you even understand your situation? You’ve got your weapons hanging right there on your sides. This is clearly a raid, isn’t it? So what you’ve got here is attempted robbery, attempted assault, most likely attempted murder, right? Well, not like that matters now.”

“Is everything alright now, Touya?” Yumina walked out on to the terrace, and Blondie’s eyes went wide with confusion. Heheh... I’m glad that even a moron like this guy can recognize Yumina. That’s good, it’ll make things go much smoother.

“Well, do you get it now? What you’ve committed is high treason, an act against royalty! And because of your idiocy, your noble houses are all going to come crashing down. Beheadings for all! Good work, guys. Really. You nailed it.” Blondie listened to me until he could bear no more and passed out, frothing slightly at the mouth. It was just a threat, but... I still couldn’t believe he’d reacted like that.

I asked Tom to take the bicycle and forward a message to the knight order on my behalf.

“What are you going to do with them?”

“Well, nobody got hurt, so I don’t think executing them is really justified... Still, this crime will definitely follow back to their families. They may even be stripped of their noble status. Regardless of what happens, these individuals will never see high status or praise again in their lives.” If you asked me, they got what was coming to them, and their families would too. The fact remained that their parents knew about their misdeeds and kept protecting them regardless. Neil even tried to warn them, but they ignored him completely... They really should never have tried attacking me again. Bunch of morons.

I figured that they’d intended to strike in the night and outnumber us to gain the upper hand. Then, come morning, they’d pretend what happened was just a robbery gone wrong or something... It really irritated me to think about, actually.

They were like petulant kids who couldn’t see consequences past their own actions. Didn’t their parents ever teach them any respect? It was probably their fault for raising such trashy kids. If they’d been better parents, maybe their kids wouldn’t have turned out to be such idiots.

All of the intruders were apprehended when Tom returned with a group of knights. Good riddance, I thought. Hope I never see you again.

A few days later, some of the noble houses were stripped of their lands and status. It was a direct decree from the king, apparently.

The knight order was shamed by the incident, and pledged to crack down with disciplinary measures. From that day onward, social status was irrelevant within their ranks.

◇　◇　◇

“Hm... it didn’t turn out 3D after all, then?” I pensively looked over the projected image. I had expected a three-dimensional image to come up, but it wasn’t to be.

It was the product of a recently acquired Null spell, [Mirage]. To sum it up briefly, it was a spell that allowed me to conjure illusions.

I had first tested it out by making an illusory version of Kohaku, and it actually looked like the real thing from every angle I stood at. I was also able to control the movements of the image, but I couldn’t physically touch it. It was just light, after all. I thought about using it to project a ghost, but that would’ve been way too scary. It would’ve been creepy if one of these peeked at you through a wall, too.

I was curious about what would happen if I enchanted my smartphone’s video player with [Mirage], so I gave it a shot.

“Hmm... well, it’s fine from the front.” My phone was now magically projecting a cartoon into the air in the middle of the room. When I looked at the projection from the side, it was no good at all, though. Just a flat bit of light. It seems like enchanting my phone’s video app with [Mirage] only served to turn it into a projector. But still, that was an impressive feat in itself.

“Hmm... so it doesn’t scan the whole video and make it a 3D scene or anything... That’s a shame. Guess it’s just a regular old projector, then.” Just as I was losing myself in thought, I heard a loud rapping on the door.

“Touya, bruv. I brought you some lun— What the bloody hell is that?!” Renne came into the room, suddenly stopping in her tracks to stare wide-eyed at the cartoon suspended in the air. Kohaku came up alongside her, and he too seemed curiously amazed. Well, I wasn’t too surprised by their shock.

“Oi, oi. Bruv, what’s that thing?!”

“Oh uh... It’s a moving picture show. I’m projecting it into the air with magic.”

“Wow...!” I could almost see the stars in Renne’s eyes as she gazed at the hologram. The cartoon on show was an old foreign show about a pair of animals that chased each other around. It had little to no dialogue, so it was simple enough to just sit back and enjoy.

Renne sat down on a chair, her eyes transfixed on the cartoon. She’d already slumped down into the “I’m not moving from this position any time soon” posture. The episodes were brief, so it wasn’t like I minded her taking a little break from things. I suddenly turned to find Kohaku, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, gazing over at the cartoon as well. What a silly tiger.

They seemed to be completely fine with stuff like vacuum cleaners and refrigerators showing up in the cartoon, but I guess they didn’t need to know what they were to understand. The people of this world would probably just consider them to be “magical tools” or something to that effect.

Before long, just as the episode was drawing to a close, I heard another knock at the door. I’ve got a bad feeling about this...

“Heyyy sir. Have you seeeeen sweet little Renneeee around— Wow! Wooow! What is thaaat?!” Cecile opened the door and quickly came barging in. Well, this can only end well. Just as I’d expected, Cecile plonked herself down next to Renne and began to watch the show.

After the episode finished, it was Kohaku of all people who turned to me with a pleading expression. It was a face that said “More please.” I reluctantly set the phone to automatically play new episodes when the previous finished, then went to fix up some lunch. I was fine leaving my smartphone alone, because I’d applied a [Program] to it that allowed me to recall it to my hand at will. It’s a combined enchantment that makes use of [Gate] and [Apport]. A simple, but effective anti-theft measure.

Everyone out on the terrace had already started to eat. The lunch of the day was onion soup, club sandwiches, and a veggie salad with cheese.

I arrived at the table and prepared to eat. Sure looked tasty. First thing I grabbed was a club sandwich, which I stuffed into my cheeks, savoring the flavor. It tasted as excellent as it looked. The chicken was juicy, and the tomato was flavorful. There wasn’t much more I could ask for, really.

“What are Renne and Cecile up to?” Lapis pondered the whereabouts of the two absentees as she poured juice into my glass. I didn’t want her to get mad at them, so I decided I’d have her fall into the same trap that they had succumbed to.

“They’re currently helping me out a bit with my magic. Actually, Lapis, since you’re done here and all... you should head over to my room and see them.”

“Hm...?” Lapis headed back inside with a curious look on her face. I knew that as soon as she laid eyes upon the cartoon, she’d be unable to escape its snare.

“So Touya, what’re you doing today?” Elze cut in, talking to me while sipping her post-meal tea.

“Well, I’ll be heading to Eashen in a bit because Yae’s weapon should be done today. I’ll go and speak to her parents while I’m there, as well. After that, I’ll be going to see your uncle.”

“Oh, you can feel free to put off going to see our family, Touya. If our aunt found out we’d be getting married to the same man as the princess of Belfast she’d have a heart attack.” Elze and Linze hailed from the Refreese Imperium, a country just west of Belfast. They were raised on a farm by their aunt and uncle in the village of Saletto, in the eastern part of Refreese. As I understood it, their real parents died of illness when both of the girls were young...

“Don’t be silly, I’ll have to talk to them eventually. We’ll take some flowers to the grave of your parents while we’re there, too.”

“...Th-Thank you, Touya.” Linze smiled from across the table, apparently feeling both timid and happy.

“Now, shall we check up on our lovely maid trio?” After the meal, I took the others up to the bedroom. As I had expected, all three of the maids were completely engrossed in the cartoon. Kohaku was curled up in Renne’s lap, purring gently as the action unfolded.

Elze and the others became glued to the screen pretty quickly too. I turned it off after the episode finished running. It did have to end sometime, after all.

Everyone started to complain, but I quickly diffused the growing storm by promising to put it back on after dinner that evening. That, thankfully, appeased them.

It became increasingly clear to me that the people of this world were starved for entertainment. Indeed, after one reached adulthood, it was a considerably larger amount of work, and a considerably lesser amount of play. But, in a world like this one, there were a lot of things that needed to be done in order to survive, so it might’ve just been that they simply didn’t have time to enjoy themselves.

After that, I took Yae off with me to Eashen, and we approached the smithy that we’d visited the last time.

“Hey there, we’re here to pick up a katana?”

“Oh, hey there! Yup, as promised, your order’s ready and waitin’.” The smith came out from the back of the store, holding a katana in one hand and a short blade in the other. They were both sheathed in beautiful crimson sheaths.

Yae accepted the weapons, then swiftly unsheathed them. It seemed like she was eager to look them over. The blade shone a brilliant silver, and I could see a finely adorned pattern dancing along it.

“It is extremely light... I suppose that is what you would expect from a mithril weapon, yes.” Yae made a few standard swings with the weapon in order to get a good feel for it, and then she sheathed the blade. She suddenly crouched down, gathering her center of gravity, and drew the blade from her hip with a slash. She’s fast!

“It flows very well. This is a wonderful blade, it is.”

“Thanks a bunch.” The smith smiled a bit at Yae’s compliment. It seemed that he was a very talented man after all.

I cast [Storage] and pulled out a hunk of mithril to pay him with. I pulled out around twice the amount of mithril I had initially given him to forge the weaponry with. As I moved to hand it over to him, the smith looked at me with wide-eyed shock.

“Hey, hey... ain’t this a little much?”

“Don’t worry about it. I might want to use your services again in the future, so just work as hard as you did this time and we’ll get along just fine.”

“...Fair enough. Well, if ya really don’t mind, I’ll be taking it, then.”

The smith let out a jovial laugh, his mithril chunk in hand. Yae and I bid him farewell, then headed off on our way.

Once we got back to the mansion, it was time for dinner. Once we wolfed down our food, it was holo-vision time. The girls all hurried me into my room, but I still had enough willpower to limit them to three hours.

I turned out all the lights so the audience could better see the projection. The show I had chosen this time was an animation, much like before, except this one was about an hour long. I chose a fantasy story rather than a modern-day drama, because it would be easier for the citizens of the other world to identify with.

Elze, Linze, Yae, Yumina, Lapis, Cecile, Renne, Cesca, Julio, Crea, and Leim were all packed into my room. My beastly trio, consisting of Sango, Kokuyou, and Kohaku, had also decided to attend the screening. I found it almost cute, like a little cinema. Sadly, Tom and Huck had to stay on guard duty, so they were unable to attend. I made a mental note to make it up to them both later.

Everyone was completely captivated by what they were watching. I had always figured that this other world had little in the way of entertainment, but I never stopped to think about it, really. They probably didn’t even have team sports like soccer or baseball. They certainly didn’t have anything like video games or cartoons, for sure. The knights of Belfast had their mock battles, but that was more for training purposes than entertainment.

Come to think of it... if they don’t have a large sports culture, does that mean they don’t have athletic festivals or sports days, either? The kids in town race each other sometimes, so they at least know stuff like that as a concept... But I wonder if they’ve ever experienced a relay race, or an obstacle course, or a bread-eating contest! They could even do that game where three guys lift up another guy and try to knock down the enemy guy. Like a mock cavalry charge... Actually, the people here could probably organize a real cavalry charge. It’d be pretty nice if the townspeople could arrange something like that, getting everyone involved... We could divide the teams into red and white, too...

Before I knew it, I was absorbed in thought, watching over the captivated audience.

◇　◇　◇

“Our economy’s been in a real slump lately, yeah... We’ve lost a lot of visitors and haven’t had many guests to speak of. My dad was trying to get more business drummed up using shogi as an advertising point, but it didn’t really work out.” It had been a while since I last visited Reflet, so I decided to pay the Silver Moon Inn a visit. When I got there, Micah started counting her woes. I hadn’t been there in a while, but I hadn’t expected that they’d fall into financial hardships in such a short amount of time.

In order for an inn to profit, a guest has to stay overnight. In order for a guest to stay overnight, the town has to have some sort of attraction. I guess Reflet just... wasn’t all that interesting, it didn’t really have anything to make it stand out as a tourism hotspot.

Now if this place had a hot spring, that’d be another story entirely.

Maybe we could dig one up...? Nah, pretty sure you need to be in a volcanic area for a hot spring to even be possible...

“Are there no town events going on any time soon? A festival, maybe?”

“... Nope. What kind of festival do you mean?”

“Uhh, well... I can’t really think up a festival on the spot like that. My home country has the Snow Festival, or Tanabata... How about something like that?”

“It doesn’t really snow here... and what’s a tan batter?” Nah, this won’t work either. Even if we put on a festival, it’d be a temporary solution. Sure, the place would be bustling with tourists for a while, but that would only be for one short period a year. The rest of the time the place would be a regular ghost town...

I decided that the best thing to do to attract customers would be to give the Silver Moon something only it could have. Really, installing hot springs would be the ideal in this situation. With that in place, tourists from miles around would surely flock to the Silver Moon.

Can I make an artificial hot spring if I boil water with magic...? Ah, wait... I’d have to boil it every day, so that wouldn’t be very efficient. It wouldn’t really be much of a hot spring, either... Is there anything else I can do here? Wait... I’ve got it! “... A hot spring! I’ll make one for you, Micah.”

“Wh-What?” Yeah, I can make one. It’ll actually be pretty easy to make one! All I’d have to do is go to a natural hot spring, pull some hot water through with a [Gate], let it flow through, then drain it out with another [Gate]. No big deal at all.

“Can you really make one?”

“It should be possible, yeah. It probably won’t take a lot of time, either.”

“If you could make one, it’d be amazing... Uhm, what can I do to help?” Just as Micah started to fire herself up, Dolan wandered in. Dolan raised his brow in excitement upon hearing the mention of a hot spring, and quickly confirmed the story so far.

“So you’re saying you can make us a hot spring by connecting a far-off one to our little Inn?!”

“Well, yeah. Probably. I can definitely give it a shot.” I pulled up my smartphone and ran a search for “hot springs.” There was one on the outskirts of the Melicia Mountains, in a forested area to the south. I asked Micah, just to be sure, but she said she’d never heard of a place like that. Seemed like it was a secluded one that few knew about. That was more than perfect for me.

I used [Gate] to head back to the garden, taking Cesca along with me. Together, we sailed off in the skies toward the spot on the map.

“Master... you’d really go so far as to take me into a secluded mountain hot spring, just to see me in the nude...? You know that all you have to do is give the order and I’d drop my panties like they’re hot, right?”

“I don’t have any intentions like that! Stop lifting that skirt!” I karate chopped the robo-brat in a vain attempt to end her sexual harassment. That girl had too many lewd scenarios in her head, it was troublesome.

Eventually the garden arrived at its destination, I disembarked. Oho, I can smell it... This is the smell of a hot spring.

I made my way through the bushes and found the natural spring within a forest glade. The water looked great, it didn’t have any grime or impurities in it at all. I got closer and dipped my hand into the water. Ouch, it’s a little hot... but that’s still better than it being lukewarm.

I took a good look around, confirming multiple water sources for the spring. It seemed that quantity wouldn’t be an issue, either.

I decided to install a pipe enchanted with [Gate] connected to another enchanted set of piping at the Silver Moon. This would allow water to flow from here to there, and back again. The Silver Moon would become the “space” between the two pipes.

I cast [Storage] and pulled out a hunk of mithril. I decided to use that rather than iron, because the mithril wouldn’t rust up. Then I created a few pipes around ten centimeters in diameter, and thirty centimeters in length. Then I set to work installing the piping in various areas. I used [Modeling] to install the pipes, so they seamlessly fit together.

“Alright, everything seems ready.” I used a [Gate] to return to Reflet... before promptly remembering that I’d left Cesca behind again.

Quickly, and thankfully, remembering my mistake, I stepped through another portal and came out in the garden. I reported back to Cesca on my success.

After I made it back to the Silver Moon, I walked around their backyard looking for a good spot. I dug out a water channel with magic, it was about 30 centimeters deep. It was also about one meter long in total. I reinforced the waterway with stone to prevent the water from getting all muddy and gross.

Then, using [Storage] again, I pulled out some mithril and began work on the next pipe. I then crafted an ornate lion’s head and fixed it over one end of the waterway, its mouth serving as the spout. I realized that if I enchanted it with [Gate] right away, then water would come flying out of it uncontrollably.

To counter that, I used [Program] to set the portal to open or close based on whether a nearby person gave the keyword “Open” or “Close.” That way the flow of water could easily be controlled. I kept it closed for the time being, and lodged another mithril pipe slightly higher up on the other side of the little hole I’d made. The hot water would flow into the spring from the lower pipe, and then flow out through the higher pipe, heading through a portal back to where it came from. One would supply the water, the other would work as a drain.

“I think everything should be in order now.” I spoke the keyword “Open,” and hot water began to flow out of the lion’s mouth. Micah and Dolan looked on with amazement. “Whoa!”

“Wow! It’s really a hot water spout?!” The hot water spilled from the ornate lion’s mouth, and began to fill up the little waterway. When the water level reached the hole on the other side, the depth remained level. The hot water that poured into the hole on would flow back into the springs near the mountains, creating an even loop.

I kicked off my footwear and splashed my feet around in the water a bit. Yowch, a little hot, but it actually feels pretty good. “Whoa... that’s amazing...”

“But does our property even have enough space for a big hot springs bath?” Dolan gazed over at the water with a look of sheer awe on his face, while Micah pondered a serious issue. Luckily for her, I’d already pondered that for her.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but that plot of land with the two homes on it is vacant, right? The ones right behind your inn.”

“Er, yes it is... but what does that matter?”

“I’ll buy it, then.”

“What?!” It was the simplest solution, after all. I went off to the estate agency to check how much the properties were going to cost. The agent told me that the homes were eight platinum coins apiece. I paid immediately.

I had sold the broken fragments that I’d taken from the Mithril Golem, and found myself with an absolute wealth of cash as a result. I didn’t need to worry about finances all that much anyway, especially when it was for a good cause.

I purchased the properties, signed the contract, and made my way back to the Silver Moon.

“Didja seriously buy those places?”

“Yup. Now, want me to renovate it all in one go?” Micah was surprised, but I still had work to do. I summoned a [Gate] on the flat of the ground and both homes sank into it. I had just dumped the whole lot back on my floating garden. With a swoosh, two houses vanished in an instant.

“What?!” The two were stunned. Ignoring their surprise, I continued to take out the wall that was dividing the property from the Silver Moon in the same way.

I prepared the rough outline of a bathing area using Earth magic. I spread it out pretty widely. After that, I applied some of the finer touches using [Modeling].

“So what about a woman’s bath and a men’s bath? Want me to split it into two pools?”

“Hm? Ah, yes! Can you divide it?”

“No problemo!” I divided the bath right into two halves. I surrounded them both with a rock wall, a stone pavement that leads into the washroom, some tatami mats, a roof and set of pillars made of cypress. Then I set up a dividing wall between the two pools. I enchanted the divider with [Paralyze]. That was for a little divine punishment in case any peeping Toms were skulking about.

I finished off the exterior by creating two dressing rooms and erecting long curtains for the entryways as well.

Finally, I enchanted the upper area of the bath with [Mirage], preventing any of the hotel guests from peeking down on it. All they would see was an image of rustling treetops. The people in the baths would see tree canopies as they looked up, as well. Nobody wants to look over and see people walking about as they bathe, after all.

All-in-all, it had become a pretty nice Japanese-style bath.

I felt a sense of pride wash over me, nodding in confirmation at my own work. Then I noticed Dolan and Micah out of the corner of my eye, both were slack-jacked and staring.

“G-Goodness... you’re just full of surprises, huh...”

“You built it in no time at all...” Well, maybe I overdid it a little. I thought it’d be a really nice idea, so I just went and did it right away. I made everything right down to the bucket and stool.

“So wait, can we even use this bath as a business? The land and stuff is yours, right?”

“I’ll lend it to you for the foreseeable future. If the place profits well enough, I’ll let you buy the deed from me. It’ll be sixteen platinum coins, though.” I held out the proof of purchase, highlighting the amount the deed was worth. Well, the title deed was for a household property, and I had gone and replaced it with an open-air bath... I didn’t think too hard about it.

“Hmhm... not bad at all. Now I can make a profit from both the lodging and the bath house... I’ll make good use of it, thank you.” In a world where bathing was a luxury for the upper classes and the rich, the poor were lucky to scrub themselves with a wet towel every so often. I was sure that the common folk would be extremely happy to get such a nice bath on the cheap.

“The bath won’t do anything for diseases, but it should treat physical ailments pretty effectively. Bad eyes, back pain, even poison if you soak in it long enough. They should all be taken care of.”

“The water really does that?” The water really did that. I had used another [Program] to imbue the springs with [Recovery]. It would cause too much of a stir if people’s injuries were healed right away, so I made the spell infuse with the water, gradually applying itself over time.

We decided to open up the springs for a test run. I said the “Open” keyword for both baths, and the water began to flow. As I set everything up, Micah and Dolan went to get their friends. Today’s test run would be free of charge for them all, of course.

Other than Dolan and myself, the men’s bath contained Barral, the owner of the Eight-Bears Weapon Shop. Simon, the pawnbroker, and Zanac of “Fashion King Zanac” fame. The ratio of old men to young men is way off in here! As I was soaking up the water and getting lost in thought, the men brought a table near the water’s edge. Dolan and Barrel then started to play shogi on it. Geez, they’re even playing in a place like this?

On the women’s side, other than Micah, Aer and her employees from Parent were also enjoying the soak. To my surprise, Cesca decided she’d take a dip too. Is a robo-girl like her gonna be okay in all that water? Well... I’m sure it’ll be fine, that pervy doctor wouldn’t make an oversight like that.

“Master, shall I wash your back?”

“Don’t say stupid stuff! Just be quiet and enjoy the bath!” I angrily yelled over the wall at Cesca. How inappropriate does she want to be?! “Now now, don’t be so shy, master...”

“C-Cesca! What are you climbing up there for?!”

“Fhgyh?!” I heard Micah call out for that idiot, then I heard Cesca’s muffled voice, shortly followed by a “splash” as something fell into the women’s bath. That was interesting, so [Paralysis] even worked on a being like her. Then again, she did mention having biological parts.

“If you try to scale the wall for some peeping, there’ll be a world of hurt in it for you. Just so we’re clear.” I explained the system to the men who were in the bath with me, they all nodded their heads in obedience. That said, I never expected the first offender to come from the female side...

With the pest out of the way, I was free to enjoy the relaxing hot water. Ah... feels so good.

Afterword

Hello there. Patora Fuyuhara here.

For no good reason, the third volume ended up being full of undead. Really, how did this happen?

I thought this when I finished the second volume too, but I can’t believe we’re at the third volume already.

I introduced a lot of characters that are going to become important in later volumes here. They probably won’t have a chance to shine in the near future, but I’d be happy if you at least kept them in the back of your mind somewhere as you continue reading.

I’m sure most of you have guessed, but Eashen, which makes an appearance in this volume, was based off of Japan’s Warring States Era. However, while some of the characters’ names may resemble those of famous historical figures, there’s no direct relation between them whatsoever. Sorry about that.

Oh yeah, I think I already mentioned this back in volume one, but I write this whole thing on my smartphone. Even when I pass the manuscript off to my editor, I check over everything on my smartphone. Plus, all of my submissions to the website, Shosetsuka ni Narou, were done on my phone as well. And when I stop for a break, I just play mobile games.

Honestly, staring at my smartphone all day puts a lot of strain on my eyes. I should probably look into getting some good eye drops. Or eat more blueberries. Though apparently studies on how antioxidants affect sight aren’t conclusive… Too bad.

Alright, enough with the rambling and on to the acknowledgments.

I’d like to thank my illustrator, Eiji Usatsuka. Those swimsuits you drew for this volume’s color pages were amazing. Thank you so much for all your hard work.

I’d also like to thank my editor, K. Thanks for putting up with all my phone calls. Sorry we always end up getting off topic…

And a big thanks to everyone at the Hobby Japan editorial department, along with everyone else who had a hand in the publication of this book. Without you, I would be nothing.

Last but not least, thank you to all of the readers on Shosetsuka ni Narou that gave my story a chance in the first place.

Patora Fuyuhara

I’m not a pyromaniac!

It was end of a certain year. A friend was moving, and I’d gone along to help out. Long ago, the friend had moved from the countryside into Sendai. It turned out that the apartments we rented were close by, so we hung out a lot.

It was a weekday, so I was the only one who went to help. Back then we were still students, so we had no money to pay for professional movers. All we could do was handle it ourselves, but naturally that took a lot of time. In the end, it grew dark before we finished, so I decided to head home for the day.

It was only a thirty minute walk back to my apartment. Just as I was about to head off, my friend asked me a question.

“Will you take this? I just bought a new one.” He held out a red canister, half-filled with kerosene.

The winters in Sendai could get pretty cold, and the oil for kerosene lamps got pretty expensive as a result. If a student wasn’t careful they could end up with a massive hole in their wallet.

I gratefully accepted it, having no reason not to, and began my journey home.

However as I walked down the road, I began to regret taking it. Our apartments were located atop separate hills, meaning you always had to climb a hill to get to the other one. Walking up the steep road with a canister weighing more than ten kilograms was really tiring, which got me sweating despite it being a winter’s night.

The road I was travelling down was a back street, so few cars used it, if any. I came across a single street light, standing all alone, almost apologetically. I was exhausted, so I put the canister down under the street light, then sat on top of it to take a rest.

A car was coming toward me from the opposite direction. I wasn’t really paying it any mind, just staring up at the night’s sky, but it came to a halt in front of me. I wondered what was going on and looked over to see it was a police car. Two policemen exited the car, then called out to me.

“Good evening.”

“Oh, yes, good evening...”

“Do you live around here?”

“Oh, yes. I do.”

“Are you on your way home?”

“Umm, yes, I’m on the way back from a friend’s house.” I smiled as much as possible as they grilled me. What on earth is going on, I wondered, my head full of question marks.

“Are you a student?”

“That’s right...”

“Well, you see, there have been a lot of fires around here recently. We have reason to believe they may have been arson attacks. That’s why we’re on patrol.”

The moment I realized what was going on, the policeman shifted their attention to the item by my feet. Yes, the red canister.

“Ah?!” How did this happen? What in the world had led me to getting mistaken for a pyromaniac, and subjected to police questioning? I frantically tried to convey that it was all a misunderstanding. Thanks to my efforts (well, probably thanks, I didn’t really know), they let me go. After looking at my student card and checking my full name and address, anyway.

Moral of the story: be extra careful when walking around in the dead of night holding a canister.

Short Story: A Day in the Life of a White Tiger

My name is Kohaku. I am a white tiger, a Heavenly Beast, serving my most esteemed liege, Mochizuki Touya. I woke up in the morning to find that he was no longer in bed, already having gotten up. It is pathetic for a servant to wake up later than their master, I know, but Touya didn’t mind it, always telling me to sleep as long as I need. Before long this became the natural order of events. The first thing I did after waking was head to the kitchen.

“Here you are, Kohaku. A steak from the large deer the master hunted yesterday.”

“You have my thanks.”

I bit into the meat on the plate that Crea had presented to me. The perfect seasoning on the steak drew out an exquisite flavor. The taste of her cooking had me no longer caring for raw meat. That was a bit worrying, honestly.

With breakfast over, I decided to relax in the garden. I found a nice bit of shade under a tree on the lawn, then curled up beneath it. I was just dozing off when I heard someone cry out.

“Oh, it’sss darling little Kokaku. Taking a nap, are we?”

“You’re one to talk with how much you sleep.”

“...Give it a rest. It helps us maintain our wisdom.”

The Black Monarch... Well, Sango and Kokuyou, were floating in the air. I looked at them as they came over to me and noticed that they were dripping wet.

“What were you two doing?”

“We were cooling off in the water fountain. We like being by the waterfront.”

That made sense. I glanced over toward the small water fountain in the garden. The two of them also decided to curl up under the tree. Though actually, Sango was lying in the sun. Was he sunbathing, perhaps? I wasn’t sure.

“I didn’t think you’d sssspend your dayss kicking back like thisss, darling.”

“Hmph, this is only for now. The day where my master and I must take to the battlefield is drawing near.”

“When that happenss, I do hope you’ll call on the remaining two asss well.”

I frowned as I listened to Sango speak. The Red Monarch was fine, but the Azure Monarch... Was that disgusting, quibbling lizard really going to come here? Grrr...

“Eehehehe. You don’t look too happy, darling.”

“He’s probably thinking of the Azure Monarch. They really don’t get on well.”

“Give me a break.” My master’s power would have let him summon all of the Heavenly Beasts, but it seemed he didn’t intend to. That was good, as I’d rather have had my tongue slit than ask him to call on that lizard-brained bastard.

I glanced over at the other two who shared my master, before shutting my eyes once again. I’d never have thought I’d spend days relaxing with them. That was thanks to my master too. I supposed the day might come when the remaining two were brought here as well.

...As long as that lizard didn’t come here. That pathetic one and its ilk make me sick, all talk and no guts... Just imagining them made my blood start to boil. Those conflicted feelings remained within me as I once again drifted off to sleep.

Short Story: The Intentions of the Gods

“Hmm, it seems he is doing quite well.” As I gazed at the TV I had here in the divine realm, I took a sip of my tea.

The youth known as Mochizuki Touya was a good person at heart. No trips to other worlds could change that, so there was really nothing for me to worry about. However, I was glad to see that he adapted to his situation. After all, the moment I accidentally dropped my divine lightning and realized that it hit a person scared me to death. Though there were some exceptions, we gods could not use our powers to meddle in mortal affairs.

It made me feel bad for the boy when I thought this, but I was glad it was a small lightning strike that hit him. If it were any larger, it might have sunk the entire island. Nothing could be done if that were to happen, so I was fortunate that it only killed a single person, no matter how unfortunate it was for him. Nevertheless, my carelessness caused his life to end, so I wanted him to at the very least enjoy his new life in a whole new world.

“This one’s pretty interesting. I like him.”

The one who said that was the god of love. The way she chewed on the castellas placed on the table was quite discourteous.

“I like how he’s so dense despite being such a hit with the ladies.”

“Really? I’m more interested in his swordsmanship. It could really shine with a bit of polish, and I’d really like to see it at its best.”

As he took a sip of the tea he’d just poured from the teapot, the god of swords replied to the god of love. Whenever they had the time, they would come and see what was happening in Touya’s current world. The gods of agriculture, hunting, music, alcohol, and war would also pop in every now and then.

“Should you not be working?”

“My underlings do all the legwork for me, so there’s no need for worry there.”

“Same here.”

“And by the way, World God, you were the one who told us to not overdo it and take a rest every now and then.”

Indeed, I did say that, but I did not think it would result in my TV getting occupied. It made me consider giving them a holiday and letting them go on a trip somewhere. We’d been working for tens of thousands of years nonstop, so we didn’t even have the time to see the happenings down there, and it seemed that it got to us sometimes.

“He really is interesting! Look at him panicking after getting a marriage offer!”

“What? Wahahah! He really is! I have never seen Touya so flustered!”

Peeping on people was not a good pastime, but I couldn’t help but be amused by such happenings... Or perhaps I could merely say that I, being the one who’d wasted his life, had a responsibility to observe him and make sure that everything went smoothly.

“If he’s getting married, perhaps I should attend as his sister.”

“As family?”

“He doesn’t have a single relative in this world, right? It’s a big problem.”

“That is true. Then perhaps I should take the role of his grandfather. It would be a chance to walk in the mortal world, too.”

We all got excited over it, so I decided to congratulate Touya with a phone call. If that girl he’d marry would brighten his life, then I could not have been happier for him. I could hardly wait to see what would happen next.

Short Story: The Child of Babylon

My new master was a young boy. Apparently, Doctor Babylon learned about him by using an artifact that allowed her to see the future, but she refused to give any details and merely laughed about him in a discomforting manner. I could now understand why, for my new Master was a person who gave interesting reactions. I liked how he would retort to my minor jokes. Though, his shyness was something worth complaining about. I wondered if Doctor Babylon actually made the Babylon Numbers and the nine islands for his sake. The Doctor’s happy expression as she made various artifacts was burned into my memory.

“I have made you some black tea.”

“Hm? Thanks.” When I brought the tea to the living room, the young boy, my new Master, was doing something with his strange little handheld artifact. That was the object that the Doctor was the most interested in when peering into the future.

“What is that artifact of yours?”

“Hmm? It’s a useful multipurpose tool. For example...” He turned the artifact toward me and made it release a strange sound and a flash of light. It didn’t seem like I was attacked, but I had no idea what he just did.

“Here, take a look.”

“...I see. A image recording feature.” The artifact’s screen portrayed me, looking all confused. I could recall that the Sacred Empire of Partheno, which existed when Doctor Babylon lived, had similar objects. Was Master’s artifact from that era as well?

“That’s not all. It can also record sounds and moving pictures, too. Plus, these days it helps with my magic, so it’s a useful buddy of mine.”

As I looked at Master joyously explaining the artifact’s functions, I suddenly felt an urge to mess around with him.

“Could you take another one, Master?”

“Hm? Sure.”

I walked away from him, pulled one of my legs a short distance backward, took a light hold of the two sides of my skirt, and went into a courteous pose.

“Okay, here we go. Three, two, one...”

The moment I heard the shutter sound, I raised my skirt upward.

“BHHGHT?!”

And a flash. He took the picture. It seemed wearing fancy underwear that day was the right choice.

“Wh-Wh-What the hell are you doing?!”

“I thought it would help sate your carnal impulses.”

“Are you stupid?!”

Red to the ears, Master became loud and angry. However, it had little force to it, for I knew that he was shaking with joy deep inside.

“What are you doing...?”

“My, if it isn’t one of the ladies of the house.”

“Ah, Yumina?!”

One of the Master’s wives, who was here for a short while, looked at him with inquiring eyes. He wasn’t aware of her presence because she was behind him.

“...Why exactly were you taking pictures of Cesca’s underwear?”

“But I didn’t! She did that on her own, and...!”

“Well then, I shall take my leave, Master. Feel free to call me whenever you have other orders.”

“Ah! Hey! Don’t you dare run away now!”

I hastily bowed and left the room. No one, not even a maid, should get involved in a lover’s quarrel. Strange, considering I would later be involved with him in a physical manner.

He was quite different from Doctor Babylon, but I liked my new master quite a lot.