Chapter 229: Pionia’s younger sister

Early in the morning, the ship secretly landed on the western coast of Deijima. Apparently, the region around there was made up of steep cliffs and rough waves so people and fishing boats rarely came near. We hid the ship behind a rock, disembarked and moved to a nearby cave.

The interior was a little dim as it was not a dungeon.

The transaction was not going to be done there but their plan was to transfer the goods to that location for now.

While the smuggling crew was transferring the goods, we were led to a room inside the cave. It was called a room but it was actually just a dirty space with some thin bedding laid on the floor. There was a door installed but it didn’t have a lock either.

“It’s amazing, I can’t remove all the dirt even after using 「Clean」.”

It removed the moldy stench but the brown fabric remained the same.

“It was probably that color from the beginning. I agree that this is a little tough for a former Japanese.”

Suzuki sighed as well but he didn’t seem to find it as tough as I did. The difference probably stemmed from the various experiences he had in this world.

After all, I could count the number of times I camped outside and just like before, I always used 「Clean」when doing so.

“Well, let’s take turns to rest for now. Oh right, let’s decide that nobody will be allowed to enter the room while either one of us is resting.”

Strangely, Suzuki added a condition which was obvious.

… Fuu.

“Do you have tissue boxes? Here are ten boxes. The ones in this world are rough.”

When I asked after taking ten out of the two hundred 400-sheet-tissue boxes that Miri bought for me from my item bag, Suzuki was unusually flustered.

“Hn … yup, thanks. That helps.”

He said as he accepted the tissues. The virgin Hero sure was honest.

Although I didn’t have any erotic books in my bag, I did have a few volumes of comics with suggestive drawings so I passed those to Suzuki too.

He let me take my break first maybe as thanks for that.

Our break times would be three hours each so my first task was to transfer to My World.

After all, I could not check up on Pionia and Sheena No.3 when I was on the ship.

After transferring to My World, I noticed a large change.

There was a huge mountain.

“Master, welcome back.”

Pionia welcomed me with her usual voice which lacked any intonation.

“Pionia, what is that mountain?”

“It’s a silver mine.”

“Silver mine?”

It seems that Carol mentioned that the price of silver had gone up recently so she consulted her on the possibility of creating a silver mine.

“We have already mined about 500 kilograms of it.”

” … Ah, thanks.”

Five hundred kilograms was amazing even if it was just ores. I guessed that I would have to make use of my alchemy skills which I have been neglecting for a long time to refine them.

Oh right, since I was at it, I could dabble a bit in silver crafts.

I will be able to increase my Alchemist level and also create some crafts from silver and gold.

Naturally, I still couldn’t process mithril so the mithril I snatched from the bandit in Florence was still buried inside my item bag.

“Hence, Master, I wish to receive a bonus.”

“Bonus? You’d like more magical power? All right, face your back to me.”

“Negative. Magical power is not a bonus, it is something like a salary. The bonus is something else.”

“Something else?”

Heh, it was rare for Pionia to state her desires.

Well, from before, she has always had quite a few wants even though she never said them out loud so I wasn’t that surprised.

“What do you want?”

“I want a younger sister.”

“Hurk.”

I inadvertently choked even though I wasn’t drinking anything.

What did she mean by wanting a younger sister?

Was that perhaps an indirect request for me to make a child with Haru?

N-no, it’s still too soon.

Incidentally, we did still make sure to use contraceptives when Haru and I do the deed.

“Master, what are you misunderstanding? I am asking you to create a homunculus.”

“Oh? Homunculus?”

“Affirmative. Master should have received a homunculus seed from Goddess Torerul-sama in the past.”

“Hn? Ah, that’s right.”

I totally forgot about that.

Previously, I received three test tubes from the Goddess Torerul-sama.

Pionia was born from the tiny egg that was inside one of the test tubes.

And I still have two of those test tubes remaining.

“Is it necessary?”

“Affirmative. Shipbuilding in the shipyard, management of the alcohol brewery and the hot spring facilities, working the fields, mining work, and taking care of Fuyun, I am about to reach full capacity.”

I see. But in that case, can’t Sheena No.3 just help out when she’s free? I thought to myself but,

“In addition, if you order me to manage the newcomer Sheena No.3, it will truly be over my capacity limit. She actually caused a cave-in at the mine and we were buried alive.”

So Sheena No.3’s presence was not a benefit but in fact, caused harm. That girl once managed the man-made labyrinth on her own for decades so was she actually so useless?

No, maybe Pionia and Sheena No.3 just have bad compatibility.

Homunculus and Automata are similar but different entities after all.

However, just what are homunculus?

I was a little apprehensive to the prospect of another being like her appearing.

However, I certainly needed to reflect on how I have been pushing too much work onto Pionia.

“All right.”

Well, if I prepared another homunculus, Pionia wouldn’t get bored even when I’m not around.

I took out a test tube from my item bag.

Then, I opened the lid and let the egg within fall to the ground.

It’s been a long time since I felt this feeling of apprehension.

Eh? I feel like I’m forgetting something?

The egg that fell onto the grass grew at an alarming rate.

“Ah, I remember now, this is bad!”

It was too late by the time I realized it.

The egg grew into a girl with cat ears and long green hair. However, she had the exact same appearance as Pionia below the neck. Just like Pionia when I first met her, she was completely naked.