Book 8: Chapter 12: Wives On the Go (9/9)

“Halt, can you hear me?”

Elmia talked to the bracelet on her right hand.

“Elmia. I can hear you. What’s up?”

Halt’s voice resounded from the bracelet.

The bracelet that Halt gave to all his family members had a calling feature.

A gigantic device was necessary in order to communicate over long distances in this world.

That device was extremely expensive, and only the royalty and part of the nobility, as well as the top-class guilds possessed it.

The Elf King showed the real long distance communication terminal to Halt back in Alheim.

It was really huge, occupying almost all of an entire room.

Moreover, a colossal amount of mana was needed to operate it, so they only used it to communicate with allied kingdoms for very urgent matters.

Halt invented his own by making a magic device.

He made it into a bracelet that wouldn’t look odd even if a girl wore it for fashion — well, making it into that size was just a bonus.

Communication was done using Halt’s teleportation magic, so it would also require a massive amount of mana.

However, Halt regularly replenished those bracelets with mana so that Elmia and the rest of his wives could contact him without having to shell out mana.

“Seira and I are in Sanctum, but we’re already done with our business here, so can you come pick us up?”

Elmia and Seira rode on Hakua’s back until they reached the Holy City of Sanctum.

Their purpose was to check the documents and books for any information regarding Bunshin Magic. 

Thankfully, they did find some plausible clues, so they decided to return to Halt’s mansion.

Their initial plan was to contact Hakua so that she could pick them up, but for some reason, they couldn’t get ahold of her, so they turned to Halt, instead.

Elmia and Seira didn’t notify Halt when they left the mansion this morning.

Halt would be suspicious if most of his wives went out.

They didn’t have the confidence that they wouldn’t spill the beans should Halt ask them about their purpose, so they decided to just leave without meeting him.

So, they left the mansion in silence.

And yet, they were requesting that he come pick them up.

Seira was hesitant about contacting Halt due to those two reasons.

She did try to contact him several times, but she would stop halfway through every single time.

Elmia became frustrated at Seira’s indecisiveness, repeating the same action over and over, so she decided to take the matter into her own hands and contacted Halt to request him to pick them up.

“Sorry, I’m in the middle of something right now… Just wait for me for ten minutes!”

“Got it. That sound… Are you in the middle of a battle?”

They could hear something exploding in the background from the bracelet.

“Well, something like that.”

“A-are you alright!?”

Seira anxiously called out to Elmia’s bracelet, clearly worried.

“I’m fine, Seira. Don’t worry, just wait for a bit, okay.”

The call was cut after Halt said that.

“Halt-sama…is he really alright?”

“He’s fine, he’s fine. You’re worrying too much, Seira. Halt’s a guy who could kill a demon instantly, you know? He’ll definitely win even if his opponent is a deity.”

“Isn’t it too much of a stretch to say that he’ll win against a deity?”

“Ahh, yeah. Well, how should I put this, it’s just an example of strength level!”

As expected, even Elmia didn’t really believe that Halt would win against a deity.

After approximately 3 minutes —

“Sorry for the wait!”

“Whoa, that was fast. Is it okay now?”

“Halt-sama, are you safe?”

“Yup. I’m not injured or anything.”

They could no longer hear any sound of explosion from the bracelet.

Seira patted her chest when she heard Halt’s cheerful voice.

“Alright, I’m going to pick you up now. Elmia, give me a kiss for your travel fare, alright.”

“T-travel fare?”

“Yeah! Teleportation magic uses up a ginormous amount of mana, you know. That’s why I need a travel fare so that I can go pick you up. I’m charging you with a kiss.”

“Eh, w-wait, w-why does it have to be me!?”

“Halt-sama, if it’s a kiss, then please allow me!”

Elmia complained with a beet-red face.

On the other hand, Seira volunteered herself, despite her cheeks being as scarlet as Elmia’s.

“You see, Elmia, you won’t kiss me on your own. Seira seems like she’s willing to pay the fee, so I’m going to get her now.”

The call ended, and in that same instant, the magical circle within the bracelet was activated, and Halt appeared from there.

“Thanks for waiting.”

“Halt-sama, thank you so much for the trouble. Ahm…t-this is payment.”

Seira kissed Halt.

“Yes, certainly.”

Halt patted Seira, who mustered the will to kiss him, and she narrowed her eyes in satisfaction.

“Seira paid the travel fee.”

“N-no other way?”

“Well, it’s fine by me, but… Elmia, this place is quite far from my mansion, right?”

“Y-you won’t take me with you!?”

“See, everybody else already kissed me when I teleported them. I can’t give special treatment only to you, Elmia.”

Of course, Halt didn’t have any intention of leaving Elmia behind, regardless of whether she did kiss him or not.

Halt already learned from Seira on how to handle Elmia, so she’s putting that into practice.

“If everybody else did it, then… I-I just had to do it. Y-yup, there’s no helping it.”

Elmia approached Halt, and she placed her trembling hands onto his shoulders and kissed him.

It was just a peck, and she instantly pulled away.

“I-is this fine!?”

“Hmm, actually, it would have been better if it was a bit longer. Well, everyone is waiting for us, so let’s go home.”

“W-wait! If you’re not satisfied, then…I-I’ll do it.”

Elmia placed her lips on Halt’s once again.

It was a clumsy kiss, quite unbelievable for a mature woman ten years older than him.

However, Halt was already satisfied precisely because of this.

“H-how is it? S-satisfied?”

“Thanks, Elmia. It was pleasant. I received your travel fee, so let’s go home.”

Halt touched Seira and Elmia’s hands, and the teleportation circle was activated once again, teleporting them to his mansion.

──＊＊＊──

“W-what’s this!?”

“H-Halt-sama, you were fighting with this?”

The first thing that greeted Elmia and Seira upon their return to the mansion with Halt was —

The figure of a black, charred, gigantic dragon.

–––––––-

E/N: What the heck happened -_-

T/N: Hello guys, sorry for the erratic posting schedule, got a new part-time job so been quite busy! It will still be a 3x a week posting, but no definite time (still mon, wed and fri), hopefully I can go back to my regular time sched once everything is settled down ???? Thank you so much for the patience!