CH 7

Side: Kazuma

After managing to have Nobunaga-san return somehow, I, Elle, and the others proceeded to prep our newly rented home.

Ohashi-san seemed to have had the house cleaned beforehand, so that saved us some trouble.  It would be livable once we’ve finished organizing the futons and other luggage we unloaded from the ship.  However, even though the mansion was quite large, it didn’t have a bath.  I would like to extend the bathroom and renovate the toilet because it was a bit filthy. 

Ohashi-san did say we can use it however we liked. I think I’ll go ahead and look for a carpenter tomorrow. 

「Commander, can you give me a moment?」

「Sure. What’s up?」

「It’s about what we are going to do from now on.」

I was in the middle of thinking about adding a kitchen garden since the yard was quite spacious when Elle called out to me.  Come to think of it, we hadn’t discussed our future plans after this yet. 

「Commander, at this rate, we will end up being a part of recorded history instead of simply remaining as spectators.  I wish to ask about your thoughts regarding this matter.」

「Mm. I wonder. Should we just go back to the island before we get involved any further?」

I thought about discussing such things with Elle after we get back from Owari, but Elle bluntly pointed out our current predicament. 

「Hey, before that stuff, let me ask you something else, Commander. Do you actually want to return to your original world?」 

「Not really. I don’t even have family left in my original world.」

We were talking while drinking barley tea, and I was well aware that my current plans were half-baked.  I was honestly a bit lost about what to do next.  For real.

Melty asked me about my original world, but I don’t really hold any lingering attachments, so I think I would be fine with not being able to return.   After all, I should be able to overcome any hardship if I was together with everyone and the Silvern. 

I should have already told them about this before we went to the surface, but why were they acting all exasperated? 

「If that’s the case, then I think you should stop treating this as the past, Commander.  Rather, you should think of how we should live in this world from now on.」

「I think so too.」

I was preoccupied with thinking about whether or not we should get involved in feudal Japan further or just return to the island, but Melty and Katie seemed to have misgivings about my basic motivations for wanting to come here and see Nobunaga in the first place. 

It’s true that I was treating this place as something from ancient history.  I was a bit careless. 

「Since we have a massive technological advantage, I think we’ll be able to hold it for at least a thousand years even without us doing any further technological innovations.  But if we did that, Earth technology would be able to catch up to us eventually.」

「Commander and us don’t age, so unless we get killed by others, we would never die.  However, practically speaking, we should still establish an adequate living space for ourselves.」

「If you think about it, this era may be perfect for us to integrate ourselves.   There’s no need for us to have official citizenship records, and it’s also possible to rise through the ranks from below due to the feudal system.」

Elle and Celes remained silent, but Melty, Katie, and Julia started talking enthusiastically about the future.  

Organic androids didn’t age, and bio-enhanced players didn’t age either.  It’s already been confirmed that this still applied even if we’ve transitioned from a virtual world to a real one.  

It’s true that the space fortress and us were all aliens to this world.  Depending on the situation, there’s a chance that the people of this world might deem us dangerous.   But in the worst case, we still had the option of escaping back into space using the space fortress, so I suppose it wasn’t that serious of a matter after all.  

「Elle, Celes. What about you guys?」

「I think we should establish a place for ourselves.  However, I believe doing so will not be that easy in this era.」

「I think it depends on what you want to do, Commander. Honestly, if we just want to establish a suitable living space for ourselves, it might be easier to just leave the Solar system and search for an uninhabited planet somewhere.」 

It seemed like everyone had been seriously considering things.  Was I the only one who wasn’t really thinking ahead all that much? I really do believe that we’d be able to overcome anything if we’re all together though.  

「Alright then. Let’s hear everyone else’s opinions first and then hold a formal discussion. We’ll decided things after that.」

I already met Nobunaga-san anyway, so I suppose it’s time to think about what we’re gonna do from now on. 

This time, I had to listen to everyone’s opinions and make a decision.  After all, this wasn’t a game where the answers were already predetermined. 

After listening to everyone else’s opinions over a transmission, we finally came to a consensus come nightfall.  

There were various different opinions, but we mostly came to the consensus that there was a need to establish a place for us on Earth first.   It would be up to me to make a decision on anything after that. 

「Let’s just continue to pose as merchants then.」

I was thinking of challenging ourselves with it.  It wouldn’t be that easy, but I think we can do it.  Truthfully, I was feeling quite excited about the prospect.  After all, I’ll be aiming for something together with everyone again.  I personally think that’s more than enough. 

Elle, Melty, Julia, Celes, and Katie.  Each of them agreed to my decision as well.  I’m sure we’ll encounter various problems, but we should be fine as long as we endeavored to constantly aim for improvements. 

「By the way, Commander.  Do you plan on getting a girlfriend or wife anytime soon? It would be lonely being single forever, right?」

「Un? I have you guys, so I don’t think I need to. If you think about it practically, that would lead to a risk of our secrets getting exposed, and it would also be troublesome to deal with nosy in-laws and incompetent descendants.」

「Right. If that’s the case, then I’d like you to treat us as your real wives then, Commander.」

「Un. I suppose that’s okay. There won’t be any danger of our secrets getting exposed if that’s the case.」

For the time being, we decided to continue living as merchants in order to establish ourselves here on Earth.  However, to think that Melty was that worried about me. 

After all, I haven’t made a girlfriend for nearly ten years back in my original world.  I wasn’t that old to feel lonely though, and we had a lot of secrets, so it would be troublesome if I just carelessly welcomed a wife. 

I think it’s fine as long as I’m together with everyone.  There was no need for Melty to bother confirming things with me.

***

I’ll just relate what happened after that.  Simply put, I was tricked by Melty.  I had no idea that the gynoids had all gained the ability to give birth to children. 

They also decided the order among themselves already.  It looked like they decided to go by seniority – in other words, the length of time they’ve been serving me.  And then, I would be free to have relations with any of them after going through all of them once.  But if that’s the case, wouldn’t the number of times I have relations with each of them cause dissatisfaction among them in the long run? 

My family of gynoids gradually accumulating resentment due to jealousy was a scary thought. 

But y’know– It’s not like I had been thinking of refusing in the first place.  And here I was obliviously thinking of what to plant in a food garden until Elle came in and called me over. 

Also…… It’s not like I could have refused.  After all, they were all gynoids I made according to my tastes. 

In front of Elle and the others who had made up their mind and resolved themselves, there was no way I could refuse. 

The Three Laws of Robotics or anything of the sort didn’t apply to Elle and the others.  According to Katie, they were pretty much free of stuff like that as a result of being released from the virtual world’s system.   To put it bluntly, they were no longer obligated to follow my orders unconditionally. 

And as a result, everyone consulted with each other and decided on doing this in the end.   If that’s the case, then I had no choice but to accept it. 

The problem was how to make sure that I get along with all 120 of them without anyone getting dissatisfied.  Having a harem this large was seriously no joke. But hey, I didn’t make them for the purpose of marrying them all in real life in the first place. 

I guess I’ll ask the space fortress quantum computer secretly when I have the chance.  I’ll ask it for tips on how to get along with everyone smoothly. 

***

Side: Elle

Melty didn’t really have to use a trick like that. 

Commander was a late-bloomer and wasn’t very adept at socializing, so she said that we had to create a suitable opportunity as soon as possible, or things would get messy later. 

I wanted to be the one chosen first, and then gradually go from there.  I thought Commander would actually reject Melty’s proposal……

However, in truth, there were only two options for us to get ourselves a mate: either choose Commander or have a new male organic android created specifically to be our partner. 

As beings born in a virtual space, we had been brought up and lived in a special limited environment. 

If we told Commander we would like an android life companion, I’m sure he would give us permission to create one.  But I think something like that would make Commander feel lonely. 

Commander chose to stay with us instead of returning to his original world.  That’s why all of us also chose to stay with Commander of our own free will. 

Perhaps something like this was impossible for regular humans, but since we were originally made by the virtual space system to favor our creator, we didn’t find choosing Commander as our partner distasteful at all. In fact, we all welcomed it. Perhaps we were still being affected by the system’s former influence over us.   However, each and every one of us understood and accepted this. 

I knew that Commander wanted us to be free, so I thought that there was no reason to rush things and told this to everyone.  

We were not humans.  In that case, we gynoids agreed that we should live our lives our own way. 

The first step to living our lives in this world was to be together with Commander who treated us as real individuals and loved us. 

Perhaps Commander will never notice.  Our resolve, that is. 

No matter what kind of lifeform it was, there were things they would be bound by.  There were various forms, such as the rules that bound certain groups or individual fates.  We chose to live under the rules of us androids. 

That’s what we decided. 

But– I personally felt happy to be loved by Commander, no matter what reason or form that love might have resulted from or took. 

Commander, though inexperienced, I look forward to spending my life together with you from now on.