CH 296

Chapter 296 – Harpie Shock

When I left the living room where Ellen and Amalie-san were spending their time and moved to the castle courtyard, I immediately found my escort, harpy-san. When I waved my hand in the courtyard, harpy-san, who was my escort, noticed it and came fluttering down to the courtyard with her winged arms outstretched.

“Danna-san, what’s wrong?”

“Pessar.”

Descending in front of me was Pessar, a brown harpy of a small bird species. She is a sweet-natured harpy with a cute personality and has been a member of the harpy bombing squad ever since we left the Black Forest.

“I want to ask you something.”

“Y-yeah?”

Pessar is a bit taken aback, perhaps because I unintentionally made my voice sound serious. But now is not the time to worry about that.

“Harpies are a short-lived species, so you should be able to have children just as easily as humans, right?”

“Y-yeah. Well, we are a little harder to have children than humans, but we are much easier to have children than elves or the single-eyed race.”

“Right. So, I’ve been on good terms with the Pessar and the others since very early on, and I don’t think anyone was on birth control or anything, but why haven’t I heard a single report of a child being born?”

“Eh, should we have told you?”

“Eh?”

“All the girls who have been with us since we left the Black Forest Elven Village have already had a baby. And I’ve already given birth once.”

“I didn’t hear anything! You didn’t tell me!”

“Ueee? S-sorry!”

I unintentionally grabbed Pessar’s thin shoulders and shouted. However, I immediately cooled down as Pessar looked up at me with teary eyes. Calm down, me. Calm down. Be cool.

“For now, go and gather up all the harpies who are available and can come to the meeting. I want to hear what everyone has to say. If there are any of you who are pregnant right now, tell them to take it easy. The child is the first priority.”

“Y-yes… B-but I’m your escort…”

“I’ll be right here. I won’t be moving.”

“O-okay.”

Pessar flew out of the courtyard, called out to the others on the roof of the royal castle overlooking the courtyard, and scattered all over Merinesburg. I set up a large table in the courtyard for the time being, prepared an appropriate number of chairs, and took a seat.

“Why…?”

Why is that…? No, it would be better to ask after the harpies have gathered, but all I can think of is the feeling of why. If only I had known, I could have done a lot of things. Oh, I wonder if the children are safe? Are they sick or injured? I don’t think I have shown them that I am worthy of being called a father, though their wages are not cheap, or rather, they should be well paid among the soldiers. I wonder if life is difficult for them. I am worried. I am very worried.

No, it’s a little late for that now that I think about it. I have known for a long time that harpies are a short-lived species. If I had thought about it, I would have noticed it. I was probably naive in thinking that they would tell me when they got pregnant.

While I was sitting on the table with my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands, the harpies, who seemed to have received a call from Pessar, came down to the castle courtyard one after the other.

“Um, Danna-san…?”

“Oh, yeah. For now, just take a seat anywhere you like. Let me know if you need more chairs.”

“Y-yes.”

After saying that to Pirna, who came down first, I took out a cup with two handles for the harpies from my inventory and poured cold tea into it. It’s getting pretty hot. It’s time to enjoy cold tea.

While I was preparing the tea, other harpies gathered around. Fronte, a blue-feathered harpy; Fitch, an orange-feathered harpy; Rey, a jet-black-feathered harpy; Capri, Flamme, and Pessar, all brown-feathered harpies; Ygrette, a white-feathered harpy, Eyja, a reddish-brown harpy, and other harpies, a total of 15 people gathered at last.

“Uh… wait a minute, wait a minute. The ones you called here are the harpies who gave birth to my child, right…?”

“Yeah, some of them can’t come because they’re pregnant or have kids to take care of, so not all of them.”

“Oh, so… there are still others.”

I’m spreading my seed around too much, aren’t I? No, the harpies have been mobbing even in a situation where it could be called violence in numbers, and to be honest, it’s often hard to tell who’s who. Oh, my head hurts.

“Um, you all had my kids, right…?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ve only done that with Danna-san.”

“It’s the same for everyone, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, okay. So, why didn’t you tell me that you had a baby?”

“Eh? Should I have told you…?”

“In fact, I don’t know why you didn’t tell me.”

“It’s a woman’s job to raise children.”

“That’s right. It’s not for men to raise children.”

“Okay, perhaps there is some major cultural discrepancy. I would like to know your view of life, marriage, and family once again.”

After listening to their story, I found that the harpies have an eccentric and unique view of family, ethics, or reproduction… whatever you want to call it… Anyway, I found that they have a culture beyond my imagination.

First of all, there is no such thing as a male among the Harpies. They only have females. Therefore, they need males of various races to reproduce. I wonder how they have not perished with such an ecology, but since that is how they have survived to this day, I suppose it is an acceptable survival strategy for one life form. At least in this world.

They basically work in groups and basically form a harem by accepting a single male of a variety of species into the group. The male that is accepted is taken care of by the harpies and devotes himself to reproductive activities. Yes, it sounds like an erotic game, doesn’t it?　I can’t help but think that, but there is no point in being stingy about it. They have such an ecology or culture, and they have done well with it, so it would be arrogant to be stingy with it.

So, here we go. Basically, male members who are welcomed into the group do not have the time to participate in child-rearing. Why? The size of the flock formed by the harpies is said to be a little less than ten at the smallest and up to fifty at the largest.

Among them, there is only one man. Let me say it again, there is only one man. That’s what I mean. The strength to participate in child-rearing is usually squeezed out of them, and there is not a shred of strength left to participate in child-rearing. Therefore, there is no room for men to intervene in the parenting of these harpies. In fact, it is normal that they do not even communicate.

I have to deal with all of them and have other wives, and yet my vitality is still strong, which is not normal.

“In that sense, too, Danna-sama is out of the ordinary, isn’t he?”

“T-that’s right. Normally, you’d be bedridden…”

“Stop saying scary things.”

As I thought, you girls are sucking on my life force or something together, aren’t you?

“Anyway, I understand what’s going on. From now on, if you have a child, you should tell me. I want to at least be responsible as a man.”

“Yes, I understand. I’m sorry, Danna-san. We should have made it clear to you.”

“By the way, me, Ygrette, Rey, and Capri are all pregnant right now.”

“Hey! You’re flying when you’re pregnant! Or rather, you’re working!”

“Yes, because even though we’re pregnant, we can still move around just fine.”

“Harpy can fly when being pregnant, and we don’t have morning sickness or anything like that.”

“If we can’t fly when we’re pregnant, we’ll die.”

You guys are really amazing creatures! Actually, aren’t you more mysterious than the elves and the one-eyed race?

“And anyway, you’ve got to put your children’s safety first… And if there’s anything else I can do, just let me know. Are you in need of a place to live or money to live on? Are the children hurt or sick?”

“No, they’re not hurt or sick. They’ve relied on Danna-san a few times.”

“Eh?”

I don’t remember.

“You gave us magic medicine a couple of times because we said the kids were injured or sick, right?”

“That being said, I’ve given you Life Potion and Cure Disease Potion several times… Wait, did you mean those were our kids …! You said they were your friend’s kids!”

“Friends!”

“Friends!”

Fronte and Pessar say this and point at each other with their winged arms. Oh, yeah. Yes, that’s right. They’re not mistaken. They are friends, aren’t they? I’ve heard they’re not sisters. Well, they are sisters in a way. Oh, my head hurts.

“We don’t have a problem with the salary, but we do need to find a place to live.”

“Oh, that’s true. It’s hard to live in a one-story house.”

“Okay, I’ll go to Sylphy and Melty and build you a house in Merinesburg. I’ll build as many as I can. What would you like?”

“Let’s see…”

The next day I started to build a housing complex for the harpies based on their opinions.

It is a high-rise building with 20 floors above the ground, which is unprecedented in this world. The balcony is wide enough for harpies to fly directly in and out. I was worried that a child might fly from the high-rise and die in an accident, but I was told that there would be no problem, as harpy children learn to fly as soon as they can stand up. I was still worried, but they pushed me away, saying it would be alright.

“If harpies can’t fly, they will die. Flying is instinct.”

It was impressive that Rey, a jet-black winged harpy, said so.

Author Note:

The high-rise building built at this time was later called the Harpy Tower and became a tourist attraction.

Incidentally, the danger level for single men approaching the Harpy Tower is 150%.

50% chance of being caught and taken in at the approach stage.

50% chance of escaping after being taken in.

And 50% chance of escaping from Harpy Tower without being caught again.