Volume 7 - CH 8

Chapter 8 – Love? And Steady Operations

Onboard the Stronghold, leaving the dark elf island for the Southern City. I have a serious problem now.

On the dark elf island, there was no problem. At a meeting with all the dark elves, they decided to gradually become one, with the village chief Federico continuing as village chief and the village chief of the lake village settling in as vice-chief.

They also discussed what was needed in the village, and there were various requests, but it was a simple job; I just had to throw them all to Camille-san and have her bring them to the ship.

The migration of the dark elves was almost over without any friction, and as I was slumped over in bed, Ines’ comment to me earlier brought up a serious concern for me.

“Master, what’s wrong with your difficult face? Did I say something so strange?”

“Hmm? No, well, it’s something I hadn’t thought about, so I was puzzled. Why did you bring it up in the first place?”

“There’s no particular reason. I’m just asking because I thought you were thinking of marrying everyone at Girasole since you’ve been talking so much about your secret and getting along so well with each other.”

Marriage? I’d forgotten that word.

“Hey, Ines, can you marry more than one person in the first place?”

No, it’s a standard thing in otherworldly stories, and there are royalty and nobility, so I suppose it’s possible. I had never thought about marriage, so I didn’t care about it.

“Yes, it’s possible. But it’s different in your world, isn’t it?”

“Yes. In my country, you could only marry one person.”

But I’m thrilled to hear that I can legally create a harem. Huh? But why not just buy a lot of slaves without worrying about the Girasole? No, no, those breasts are non-negotiable.

“Heh, I see. But if you weren’t thinking of getting married or anything, why were you trying to be so friendly with them?”

…As I recall, up until about halfway through, I was thinking that it would be nice to have a romantic relationship with someone or something, and I was thinking about romance. …But before I knew it, I thought I was only looking at their bodies.

Of course, I think I know their good points and bad points. But when I think of them, all I see in my mind are their service shots. Especially the feeling of being hugged by a drunk Ilma-san and her raw breasts burned in my mind.

Thinking about it, I must have seen them as nothing but breasts. Before I knew it, I was thinking of them not in terms of love or marriage but only in terms of wanting to see them in a sexual or, if possible, physical relationship. Then I wondered why I was trying to be friends with those girls…

“Because they’re big-breasted beauties?”

“…Master, maybe it’s not for me, a slave, to say, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

She is absolutely right. But I want people to understand that I, an average college student, who has never been particularly popular in Japan, and who has never been told that things are all done, can’t help but think about marriage.

Well, since she doesn’t know anything about Japan, she wouldn’t understand if I told her that even at my age, I am still a student and not actively involved in society.

No, the problem is that I forgot about love and other things in the first place. I’m surprised by such a casual question because all I think about is carnal desires. I’m only thinking about likability and other things that have no sense of reality, like a love game.

Especially since I came to this other world, I feel like my sexual desire has directly connected to my brain before the formal procedures of love and marriage. Is it because I’ve lost the fences I had, even though I’m a student, like society or something?

…That’s possible. Maybe it’s because I have become arrogant, especially since I started earning money. Instead of thinking about how cute that girl was when she was in Japan or how much I wanted to be friends with her, I’m going straight to eroticism.

“Master, Ines and I are your slaves. We will stay by your side no matter what. But the members of Girasole are different. They are trustworthy people, but if you don’t engage them with proper consideration, you will get into trouble.”

“…Yes.”

Felicia is right. But you know, Ines and Felicia are slaves, so it makes sense for them to be by my side, but… I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in a relationship with a bunch of beautiful women with big breasts like Girasole.

I’m sure Girasole is pretty fond of me too. They wouldn’t take a boat trip with someone they didn’t like, and they wouldn’t bathe with someone they didn’t like. It’s possible that it’s for the purpose of the ship summoning ability or to return the favor for saving Lucca, but I can hope.

Well, to be honest, I don’t mind if they join my harem, whether it’s for my ability or to return the favor. That thought made me greedy. If things go well, all of them will become my wives…

“Hey, Ines, Felicia, do you think I could marry everyone at Girasole if I tried hard enough?”

“Well, I don’t know. From my point of view, I think they have a liking for you, but I don’t feel that it has gone as far as love or romance. But Master, is it okay for us slaves to advise you on love?”

“…I feel like I’m not supposed to, but Ines and Felicia are the only ones I can talk to about it.”

“Rimu, too.”

Rimu bounces on my head and appeals to me. …I love Rimu, but I think it’s tough to ask him for love advice. It should be good because I love Ines and Felicia so much, although I’m not sure about romantic advice to a woman bought with money. Asking for love advice from a slime is too sad.

“I would be happy if Rimu would support me.”

“Support?”

“Yeah, it’s really cheering me up to have Rimu tell me to do my best.”

“I’ll support.”

Oh, I can feel how motivated Rimu is.

“Wataru, do your best.”

“Yeah, I’ll do my best. Thank you, Rimu.”

I hug Rimu and stroke him around. Rimu is the best, isn’t he? He probably doesn’t know what he’s cheering for, though.

“So, back to the point, is there anyone else you can talk to about this besides us?”

“I don’t have anyone.”

“Come to think of it; I haven’t met any of Master’s friends.”

“I don’t have any.”

I’ve been in another world for quite some time now, and I haven’t made a single person I can call a friend. I’ve already made up my mind.

“If I had to say, I would say that everyone in Girasole is my closest friend.”

“…Master, you should get to know people a little better.”

“Creator God-sama said the same thing to me as Ines. I answered, “It’s just the beginning; you’ll see.” The result is as you can see.”

I’ve expanded my relationships a lot since Creator God-sama told me, so I think I’m okay.

“…I don’t know what to say, but I think you should try harder to make friends before you think about romance with Girasole. Also, I didn’t hear you mention Creator God-sama.”

“I agree. I also didn’t hear about Creator God-sama either.”

“…You know, Creator God-sama said I should think of a way to make friends…”

It seems that they are going to pretend that they didn’t hear about Creator God-sama. But a harem with Girasole is more important than making friends now.

“But when I say friends, I don’t want to bring people on my ship unless there’s a reason to. That way, since we’ll be at sea most of the time, we won’t have time to get to know each other.”

The only people I let on my ship in the first place, other than for migration, were the guild master and the others at the time of the experiment.

“…Master doesn’t intend to tell your secrets to men?”

Felicia, I wish you wouldn’t look so troubled.

“Hmm, I don’t mind telling them if I can trust them. It’s hard to get to know someone well enough to trust them, isn’t it?”

“You talked to the Girasole so easily, but that’s because they’re… beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yes, well, Felicia is right.”

I took the risk because Girasole was right in the middle of my tastes, but I honestly can’t imagine taking a risk and telling a secret to a guy I don’t get along with very well.

“Oh, but now that it is called the ship I bought from the mage, I can let it go by, thanks to the mage.”

“Then the ship summoning would be almost unusable.”

No, it is too inconvenient not to be able to use the ship summoning. I don’t like the idea of having to disguise the inside of the ship.

“…Let’s stop with that. Well, I don’t have to force myself to make friends; I can make friends naturally. Maybe.”

“Master, you won’t make friends after all if you keep talking like that.”

I hope Ines doesn’t look so dismayed.

“Well, if I find someone I think I can get along with, I’ll invite them out for a drink or something.”

It’s definitely better to have friends than no friends, so I’ll do my best if I get the chance. It’s fun to fool around with male friends.

“That’s right. Well, that’s a good idea. But Master is the center of attention, so you have to be selective about who you go out with.”

“…Ines, don’t you say things like that to demotivate me.”

I can’t judge people. I can only judge whether I like them or not.

“I’m sorry. But somehow, I had a feeling that if someone told you that they were going to introduce you to a beautiful woman, you might go with someone shady. There are always people who want to know about the mage. Schemes involving beautiful women are a common practice of people like that, so be careful.”

That’s a great lack of trust, isn’t it? Well, it’s shameful that I can’t say I’m absolutely sure I’m safe. I’m confident that if someone like Ilma-san comes along, I’ll follow her around in a daze. Come to think of it, Enrico-san would get mad at me too.

“Haha, I won’t act alone, so I’ll be fine. Ines and Felicia will stop me, right?”

“We’ll stop them, too, but we can’t help it if Master moves secretly. If someone you know a little better invites you two to go to a fancy restaurant, wouldn’t you give us the day off and sneak away?”

…I have a feeling that Ines knows my personality so well. As you can imagine, I was too scared to do such a thing in another world, but when I was in Japan, I used to go to such stores secretly. It was fun. I would check out the best times and get excited.

An Ecchi shop in another world… What kind of stores do you think? There are so many races, and the dreams are wide open. Oh, by the way, are there succubus?

“Well, I know I’m being targeted, so it’s okay. And you know I don’t have the guts, right?”

Ines and Felicia nodded at me instantly. I’m aware that I’m a loser, but it’s sad when they immediately agree with me.

In the end, it’s up to me to do my best for Girasole. As for friends, it also depends on my efforts. I have come to the conclusion that I should do my best. It’s only natural, but I would like some support.

I have to build up my relationship with Girasole. If it doesn’t develop into a relationship, I’ll catch them with something. A good drink, a good meal, a big bath, fun entertainment, a comfortable living space, a ship that reaches uncharted territory.

I heard that it’s hard to lower the grade of life once it’s been raised, and if I contribute a lot, they won’t be able to leave the ship summoning rather than from me… Is that too crude of an idea?

But hey, I don’t even want to think about all those beautiful women belonging to other men. I am confident that I would go crazy with jealousy. I’ll do what I can do, even if it’s a nasty thing to do.

It would be best if I could have a natural romantic relationship with one of them. They are so beautiful that I can’t even imagine having a romantic relationship with one of them. And if I want to have them all for myself, it’s… too difficult.

If it’s just one person, if I put in the effort to show that I like her, whether I succeed or not, she may be aware of me, but if she rejects me… it’s going to be tough for the other members of the group as well.

If it’s the protagonist of a novel, before he knows it, Girasole will like him, he’ll be pressured intensely, and I’ll be worried that I’m Japanese and married to a large group of people; that’s just not right.

Also, if it were an erotic game or something, a number of beautiful dark elf women would be coming onto me because I helped them emigrate, but that doesn’t happen in the slightest.

I knew I should have demanded physical relations by contract when I was in Lucca. If I hadn’t screwed up there, by now I… I like to start over.

As for friends, I want them, but I don’t want to put a guy on a ship and then have Girasole taken away from me. Let’s find friends that I can be friends with without bringing them on my ship. It should be okay to have friendships like that.

………………

We reached the open sea near Southern City. Since that discussion, I’ve been diligently preparing Girasole delicious food, evangelizing movies and anime, and steadily creating a comfortable and enjoyable life for them.

For now, I don’t know what to do in the area of romance, so I just proceeded with the strategy of making them depend on the ship summoning. I don’t know how effective it is. Overall, alcohol was well received. After that, let’s individually contribute what they like.

But I feel like our relationship has deepened if I’ve been actively talking to them and promoting interesting things. And they told me again to stop using polite language, which they had told me before. …But it’s hard to stop using polite language. It’s usually embarrassing.

Well, we’re getting to know each other better, and I’ll stick with this approach for now. For some reason, Ilma-san praised me for finally getting into the swing of it.

Is Ilma-san on my side? I’m afraid that if I soar, she’s going to take me off the ladder…