CH 88

Sponsored chapter (2/2)

I was going to talk about a cure for Emilia’s phobia of men, but Mifa, who is expecting to have many children, and Iris, whose thirst for knowledge was whetted by the medical talk, got carried away and we ended up talking about ovulation and semen. It has developed into a story about sperm.

I went off on a tangent, but in the end, Emilia decided to get stronger and fight back even if she was attacked! I was happy to see that her expression softened and she seemed very pleased with my simple and easy-to-understand idea.

Since there was a little over a month before summer vacation, we agreed to buy weapons and armor for Mifa and Emilia, register them with the Adventurers’ Guild, and do other preparations so that they would be ready for battle by then, and then spend the summer vacation raising their level as a group.

“Luke-sama, just because I accept Emilia and Iris doesn’t mean I’m allowing a harem, as I told you earlier.”

“Of course I understand.  In the first place I think it’s good to have only one wife. But I don’t know how to say this now, but I don’t know what ‘love’ is.”

“”Eh?””

“It would be rude to say this after we got married but I don’t know what the criteria are for ‘love’ or ‘romance. I’d like to ask Iris a question, is her love for me ‘like’ or ‘love’? Or is it simply because I’m better than other men, so you’re willing to ‘compromise’ and marry me?”

“I’m not compromising!”

As expected, I was glared at by an angry Iris when I said something like “compromise”.

.“I’m sorry …… but there are many kinds of favors, aren’t there? Affection, grace, humanity, love, charity, and respect are all similar with the word “love” attached to them, but I wonder where and to what extent they can be called “love”? Iris would give up on me if her parents disapproved of our relationship, wouldn’t she?”

“I wouldn’t give up just because my parents disapprove.”

“Then, what if it’s Zeno-sama who is against it?”

“The king? If that’s the case, I’ll have no choice but to give up.”

“Yes, that’s it! That’s the thing if you can give up for someone else’s reasons and not your own, I wonder if that’s true love.”

Iris choked on her words and fell silent. Mifa asked instead.

“Luke-sama you’re in love with Lulutier-sama, right?”

“Well, you know. I still feel a thorn in my heart, but I gave up on her and came to this country, making excuses to myself that ‘it can’t be helped’ and ‘she’s too good for me’. I’m keeping a lid on my true feelings, but I’m wondering if that means I didn’t really mean it.”

“What do you mean that it can’t be helped?”

“If I did something stupid and let my partner, a mounted dragon, die, and I lost my place at the dragon knight school and expected that people’s reputation around me would deteriorate further, I felt too sorry for her, like marrying me like that. When I was thinking about that, I was told to go to a neighboring country to be groomed by the king’s order, and I thought I had no choice but to do this. ……”

“It’s a difficult point…. If you can’t give up because you love her, or you can’t stand her, eventually you will ignore reason and attack her like a beast. You don’t care about what’s going on around you or how they feel.”

“I think that’s what happens in the end when you push the envelope of ‘like. Most creatures other than human beings do so in order to survive in the competition for survival in the natural world, where the law of nature is weak and strong. In the end, if you only let your ego get the better of you, the feelings of the other person become of secondary importance.”

“But didn’t you say that earlier, Luke-san? The difference between humans and beasts is whether they have “reason” or not. People use their intelligence to make laws, and by binding them with laws, they can use their reason to suppress their emotions. If you don’t want to become a criminal, don’t you have to give up on your partner?”

“Then can I say ‘no thanks’ to Mifa and go back to Lulutier?”

“No, you can’t do that! I will make sure that Luke-sama marries me! If you don’t marry me, I’ll die!”

“Wow~! That’s the level of “mad love,” isn’t it? I’m not talking about the level of reason or giving up. …… Well, I love Mifa, so I’m going to marry her, but you’ll have to wait a little longer for procreation and such, okay?”

“Yes, but I’d like to know more about the days when I’m most likely to have a baby.”

For a while, the maids were enjoying tea and sweets together while talking about ‘pregnancy’, but the door was knocked and the maids’ faces turned pale.

“Emilia-san, may I come in?”

“Please do.”

It was the voice of Pamela-san, the head maid.

“Emilia-san, is His Highness Prince Luke here?”

“Yes, he is. Please come in.”

The maids have already left their seats and were standing by the wall, looking as if nothing had happened.

They didn’t make a single sound of footsteps, and they moved really quickly.

Pamela-san was surprised for a moment when she saw Emilia exposing her true face, but after making a happy face without saying anything, she started talking to me.

“Your Highness Luke, the mistress’s hair has been cut and trimmed. She said she was feeling fine, so what should we do now?”

“Natalie and Erica will help her with the bathing. Emilia and Mifa can go with her if they want to. I will give this to Natalie. You can give the rest to Sasha.”

“Your Highness Luke, do you really not need any of our servants to help her bathe?”

“Yes, there is no need. Oh, by the way, does Sasha-san usually have a helper when she bathes?”

“Yes, she has one with her to take care of her personal needs.”

“Then, would you like her to join them this time and learn from Natalie how to use the various detergents?”

“Yes, I will make arrangements immediately. Also, if you would like, Orc would like to take you to the treasury later on.”

“I’d love to.”

Pamela glanced at the table.

“─ You two will have a few words with me, so please come to the office after this.”

There are enough teacups on the table for the number of people, including the maids here. …… Pamela, you are a very talented person. With just a quick glance, she seems to have an accurate grasp of Emilia and the slacking off of the maids.

“Pamela-san, I had something I wanted to ask the maids, so I kept them back and let them have tea with me, so please don’t be mad at them.”

“I see… if they weren’t slacking off on their work, that’s not a problem.”

I’m sorry I lied again. …… Well, it looks like she knew I was covering for them and she forgave me.

* * *

The family butler, Orc-san, who was waiting outside the room, took me to the Forrest family treasury.

It’s something different from what I expected …… there’s not much stuff.

I was a little disappointed because I went in there with maxed out tension.

『♪ Unlike the historic and famous family, it has only been a short time since Guile took over, so I guess this is about as good as it gets. 』

Apparently, the assets of the former duke’s family were confiscated by the state, so the items in this treasury have only been acquired since Guile’s generation.

“The master has told me that If there is anything in the treasury that you want, Luke-sama, you should let me know. Please take your time to look.”

There are various swords, armor, and magic tools that I don’t know what they are, but there’s nothing in particular that I want.

『♪ Oh! Master, it’s from the dungeon, but I want that fire dragon and water dragon magic stone! 』

“What are you going to do with them? 』

『♪ I want to use them in the Navi workshop. If possible, I also want A, B, and C grade magic stones. 』

Apparently, she’s going to take up her hobby again…. Navi has been taking care of me a lot, and if there is something she wants, I will get it for her on a priority basis.

The stone of the dragon of the S-class magic beast is said to be quite expensive because it is an S-class magic stone, but I was able to get it with two replies saying that it is something that regularly drops from dungeons and is easy to obtain.

“Your Highness Luke, how about some mithril weapons and armor?”

“I don’t need them right now. With my skill level, this sword is more than enough, and even if I got good armor, it would be too heavy and I wouldn’t be able to move.”

“I see. Please let me know when you’re in need of it.”

Apparently, Guile-san said that he was thanking me for treating Sasha-san and would give me anything I wanted. He said that this includes the treatment of the child family members and their vassals.

Navi is happier than I am that she got a good one.

After receiving the mithril ore from Orc-san, I immediately went to my room to start work.

First up was the conversion magic device for Diana’s clothes when she was humanized. I decided to leave this to the Navi workshop and only grant it to me at the end.

In terms of size, earrings would save the most amount of mithril, but I wasn’t sure if I could pierce Diana’s skin, so I ended up using rings.

Even so, it was going to be quite large.

Next was Iris’s wedding ring.

I don’t know what will happen when I meet with her parents, but even if I can’t marry her, I’m going to give her a ring with a grant.

If I’m going to give her something anyway, I want to give Iris something that suits her.

[Magic Recovery Speed Increase] [Shattering Level 2] [Alchemy Level 3] [Personal Authentication]

Instead of the promised [increased speed of magic recovery] and [increased magic effect], I gave Iris the [smash] and [alchemy] magic she wanted as an experiment as well.

By using the effects of the ring repeatedly, she would learn the characteristics of the magic she used and a sense of the flow of magic power, and if she had even a slight aptitude for it, she might be able to self-learn the skills.

And Iris’s ring was perfectly sized and useful without the [automatic size adjustment]. I’ll do the same with everyone else’s later. It would be a shame to waste one slot with [automatic size adjustment].