Chapter 20
* * *
“Sis! Have a safe trip! I’ll wait while going on a date with Felix!”
“Okay!”
A month passed after that day without anything particularly noteworthy happening.
Every morning, I went to Acard’s mansion to train, then returned to the church around lunchtime to study doctrine; that routine continued.
By now, my body had become capable of movements that would have been impossible on Earth.
“Hmm-hmm~.”
As usual, I was cheerfully strolling down the street toward the mansion for training.
Finally escaping the long, long basic physical training and being told I’d learn to use weapons for the first time made me feel like I could fly.
It would be nice to swing a sword as stylishly as Acard and cut enemies down with a blue, moon-shaped slash.
Or fire dozens of strikes in an instant with a rapier like Karina, as though shooting a machine gun.
Or use all kinds of hidden weapons and techniques to bait out enemies’ openings and strike at their weak points like Vika.
Or use Mira’s astrology-based magic to summon all sorts of natural phenomena and sweep enemies away with ease….
“…Hehehe.”
Imagining myself becoming a human weapon incarnate put me in such a good mood that I giggled with a sinister little chuckle, thrilled beyond my wildest expectations.
I regularly indulged in fantasies of seducing women myself once I grew strong enough to travel alone, and before I knew it, I had arrived in front of the mansion.
“Hup!”
By now, I casually vaulted over the wall without even asking permission, slipped through the mansion’s open front door, and sneaked inside.
“…Yaaawn.”
“Acard!!”
“Whoa?!?”
I startled Acard, who had been sitting in the living room yawning, never imagining I would appear like this.
“Ria?! When did you get in!?”
“Over the wall!”
“You climbed over the wall…? No…! You can’t do that!!”
Although Acard had seen me climb over the wall and knock on the mansion’s front door several times, this was the first time he had ever had someone break into the building, and he grew irritated.
“If you don’t like it, hand over the key!”
But unwilling to lose, I stuck out my magnificent chest and haughtily demanded that he hand over the key if he had a problem with it.
“…Here.”
Swish—.
Acard stretched out his long legs, rummaged in his pocket, and actually handed me the key to the mansion.
“…?”
He’s really just going to hand it over?
We must really have a high level of trust…, huh.
We train together every morning, bathe together, and do all sorts of other things.
“Don’t climb over the wall from now on. You could get hurt.”
“Fiiine….”
Since I had been living like family with Acard and the others, we had somehow formed a relationship of trust strong enough for him to give me a key.
“….”
Having unexpectedly received permission from a friend to come and go from his home as I pleased, I became mute as though my mouth were stuffed with honey and fiddled with the key.
“I’ll give you a key pouch in a little while, too.”
“…O-kay.”
Once it became clear that he had truly intended to give me the key, rather than merely acting on a whim, I turned into an obedient Chihuahua.
“Come to think of it, Ria.”
“…Yeah?”
Acard stood from the sofa and stretched his long body until it grew even longer, then looked at me with softly shining blue eyes.
What was with this atmosphere…? Was he planning to go on a trip somewhere?
I’d feel a little lonely if he suddenly went off on some faraway adventure….
“You know Roxanna? I hear she’s heading to the royal capital this time.”
But the news from Acard was far more significant than that.
“Wait…, what?”
Roxanna was heading to the royal capital? Since I was with Roxanna every day, I had never heard a thing about it.
“This is top secret, so don’t tell anyone.”
“No, wait a minute…. Why do you know something even I don’t, Acard…?”
Now that Roxanna had been officially confirmed as the saintess.
In a way, it was only natural for the saintess to go to the royal capital, but I was thrown into a panic because I hadn’t expected to hear this news so suddenly.
“The church headquarters sent us a request this time. They asked us to escort Roxanna safely all the way to the royal capital.”
“….”
“Here. I brought the request too, in case you wouldn’t believe me.”
Acard reached toward the table in front of the sofa, picked up a sheet of paper with a texture different from ordinary paper, and showed it to me.
“….”
Judging by how confidently he showed it to me, it seemed to be genuine.
Unfortunately, the only otherworldly writing I could read was at about a kindergartener’s level.
The only thing I could recognize was the ornate seal bearing an intricate design stamped at the end of the paragraph.
“I don’t know what it says, so you read it to me, Acard.”
Naturally, since I couldn’t read the contents of the letter, I asked Acard to interpret it for me.
Acard made a stupid noise, never imagining that the beautiful woman before him might have a gap in her basic knowledge.
“Wait a second, Ria. You can’t read?”
“No. I don’t know anything beyond simple words.”
When I cheerfully told him that I couldn’t read, Acard sucked in a breath and—
“What’s written here… is….”
He personally read the request, covered in curly letters that didn’t exist on Earth, for the beautiful idiot who couldn’t read at all.
“An escort request for Saintess Roxanna: to ensure that the saintess newly blessed by the Lord does not come to harm, escort her until she arrives at the royal capital……….”
In short, it was a request to fend off the countless threats targeting Saintess Roxanna and escort her safely to the royal capital.
The reward for success was… a whopping ten thousand gold coins.
“…They’re paying a fortune.”
Considering that my daily living expenses amounted to only two copper coins, it was an astonishingly lucrative request.
“…So why did you tell me this?”
I demanded an explanation for why he had told me about a top-secret mission that no one outside the insiders was allowed to know about.
As I waited for Acard’s answer with my hands on my hips, puffing out my cheeks—
“Let’s go together, Ria.”
“…Huh?”
“We can travel together and earn money, too. What do you think?”
Along with that unexpected invitation, a hand came reaching toward my head to pat it, so I quickly caught it.
“Is it really okay for me to come along?”
I lowered the hand I had gently caught and asked in a tone that meant, Why add another person and reduce everyone’s share of the reward?
“You’ll be lonely by yourself in this city.”
His gentle voice, perfectly seeing through my true feelings, left me speechless and unable to come up with a rebuttal.
“….”
Just as Acard said, I’d be terribly lonely if I were left alone in this city without any friends.
Roxanna, who treated me like a real younger sister, would be gone, and I wouldn’t even be able to hang out at Acard’s place, where everyone was obviously around my age, even if I still didn’t know exactly how old they were….
I unconsciously tightened my grip on the mansion key in my hand.
“Mind your own business…! I’d be fine even by myself, you know?!”
Afraid that admitting I was lonely would scratch my paltry pride, I shouted at Acard as if to make a show of it.
“Really? Then we’ll go by ourselves. Oh, right! The escort will take almost four months, so keep that in mind, Ria.”
“W-wait…! I never said I wasn’t going!”
Acard deliberately exaggerated his voice, bragging about how long the escort period was, and I hurriedly wagged my tail, wondering if they really would leave without me.
If it were only about a month, I could wait while twiddling my thumbs, but if it would take four months or more, obviously it was better to go with them.
“You’re not coming?”
“No…! I’m going! Please let me come with you…!”
When Acard rolled his eyes as if teasing me, I clung to him, begging him to please take me along.
“Great! Then it’s decided—you’re coming with us!”
“W-whoa!! Put me down!”
“Your share of the reward will be 1/N! Food expenses will be paid separately at two silvers each, and you’ll receive five silvers a week as an allowance for maintaining your dignity, so keep that in mind!!”
As I struggled after he grabbed me under both arms and lifted me high, I thought—
What kind of benefits are these?
I marveled at the fact that even a famously employee-friendly company wouldn’t provide its workers with benefits this good.
“Put me down, you idiot!!”
“Ghk…!”
Furious at being treated like a baby, I drove my knee into Acard’s solar plexus, shoved him away, and landed on the sofa.
“Do this again and I’ll really kill you!!”
Pat-pat—. After lightly brushing off my armpits, I growled like a Chihuahua.
….
After joining Roxanna’s escort party, we proceeded with weapons training according to schedule, and later, while I was lying on the floor panting with my breasts exposed—
“Ah, it’s cold…!”
“Here. Limeade.”
“Oh… Thanks.”
Acard brought me a glass of limeade with lime slices floating in it and held it above my head, so I took the glass, sat up, and immediately drank a sip.
“Ghh….”
It was so refreshing that even one sip made my head throb.
I took another sip in the mood, and my body shivered as the accumulated heat was completely driven away by the coolness of the limeade.
“This is really good.”
I made the ice in my limeade clink loudly as Acard desperately tried not to look at my exposed breasts.
“Ahem.”
Karina, who had been quietly drinking limeade beside us, cleared her throat as a signal that I should cover myself.
Swish—. Since the heat had been relieved, I pulled down my top and completely covered my exposed breasts.
“Ria~. A woman shouldn’t show her breasts so carelessly~.”
Vika then sidled over to me and clung to my shoulder.
“Hehe…, my chest always gets so hot after training….”
“Is it because of the breast milk~?”
“…!!! No!! You can’t have it! I’m not giving you any!! Go away!”
But when Vika began licking her lips while staring intensely at my breasts, I hurriedly ran behind Acard and hid.
…I have absolutely no intention of giving my precious breast milk to anyone.
This was a vital taboo I had to protect at all costs.
Whenever pressure was applied to my breasts and even a single drop of milk leaked out, a deep, increasingly uncomfortable debate about my gender would begin in my head, so no one could ever touch them.
“You’re hiding behind him again? Do you like Acard that much~?”
“N-no, I don’t!”
“If Ria wants to, she can like Acard as much as she wants.”
“I’m not going to like him!!”
“Ohoho…, now that you’ve been caught up in fate, you can never escape.”
“That’s not it!”
While naturally talking back whenever they attacked me, paradoxically I clung even more tightly to Acard and gave him a look clearly pleading for help.
“Girls. Stop teasing Ria and let’s give her the present we prepared.”
Fortunately, Acard, true to his role as husband to three wives, deftly brought the situation under control and then…?
“…A present?”
What did he mean, a present all of a sudden?
Was it someone’s wedding anniversary today? Or a birthday?
“What day is it today, Acard? Why are you suddenly giving me a present?”
With everyone’s eyes fixed on me, I demanded an explanation, half excited and half flustered because I hadn’t done anything to deserve a present.
“Ria needs a weapon of her own by now, doesn’t she?”
“……!!”
Acard flashed a handsome smile and pulled a beautifully wrapped box from behind his back, making my eyes light up.
A weapon of my own…! It moved me the way getting my first personal computer had back on Earth.
“What should I do…! Is it really okay for me to accept something like this…?”
I hopped up and down adorably, my eyes growing moist as I thanked everyone.
“We’re friends.”
“Don’t hold back, Ria. We’re family.”
“Please take good care of us from now on~.”
“May fate keep us together forever….”
While listening to their various words of blessing, I set the weapon box on the floor and began tearing open the wrapping paper with eager anticipation.
What kind of weapon could be inside?
The box was thick, so was it a greatsword? Or just a regular sword? A longsword?
If not, it could be a bow, or maybe even a gun, right?
“The moment of truth— ……?”
To repay everyone for the love they had shown me, I dramatically ripped open the wrapping paper and opened the box, only to find—
“…A club?”
Nestled inside the box was a club that looked far more vicious than I had expected.
At first glance, it had the shape of a baseball bat, but past the thicker section, heavy iron plates and blades had been evenly attached to it.
“…Wow.”
It wasn’t at all the weapon I had expected, so I was a little deflated, but its appearance was far cooler than I had imagined, and a different kind of anticipation instantly filled the void.
“…Well? …Do you like it, Ria?”
“Yeah! I love it!”
After lifting the heavy club, I smiled with childlike innocence.
“You’re incredibly strong, Ria, so I was going to let you choose between a greatsword and a mace. But then I thought, why not make a weapon that combines the strengths of both? So I commissioned a craftsman to make it specially.”
And it was a one-of-a-kind weapon custom-made for me, no less.
“Thank you so much!!”
Unable to contain my joy in a situation that would make any man’s heart race, I carefully set the club back in the box, then hugged Acard tightly.
“I’m… glad… you like it.”
“Yeah…!”
You really are the best friend I’ve ever had, you bastard…!
“For the record, I designed it…!”
Mira timidly hovered behind us, going out of her way to make sure everyone knew she had been involved in the design.
“You’re the best, Mira-chan!!”
“Eek…! Wait…! My breasts…! Pyaaak?!”
I immediately rushed over to Mira too, slipped a hand beneath her clothes, and kneaded her breasts.
“You look happy.”
“Ria~. Aren’t you going to hug us too~?”
“I’m coming…!”
It was a little embarrassing to be so simply delighted by a present, like the stereotype that blond beauties were stupid.
But I had received an obviously expensive gift filled with thought, so I wanted to put on a little performance to show my gratitude.
Like when children receive New Year’s money and insist on showing off a talent, I wanted the giver to feel happy enough that the corners of their mouth rose too.
“Hehehe…! Thank you, everyone!”
“Mm! We love you too, Ria!”
“We love you, Ria~! Let’s live together for the rest of our lives!”
As I hugged Karina and Vika at the same time and did my best to entertain them despite my short stature—
“W-why are you grabbing my arms all of a sudden?!”
The two women I had hugged tightly grabbed both my arms for no reason, and—
Mira came rushing over and grabbed me around the waist, perfectly blocking my escape route, and I suddenly broke into a cold sweat.
…These women are plotting something…!
“Okay, Ria~. Guess how much this weapon cost~.”
“…W-what?”
“If you guess correctly, we’ll let you go.”
“Wait a second…? Wasn’t this a present?”
“Enough chatter and take a guess!”
Held so tightly I couldn’t move an inch, I was urged to guess, and just as I summoned Smart Ria from inside my head to figure out the price of my present—
…I’ve never even been to a blacksmith’s shop, so how am I supposed to know the market price of a weapon like this?!
Naturally, Smart Ria had no knowledge whatsoever of such things, so she was immediately retired and banished to the library in my head.
“…F-fifty silver coins!”
Deciding I might as well guess, I shouted an answer I thought was reasonably realistic, but—
“Wrong! The correct answer was ten gold coins~!”
Along with Vika’s incorrect-answer ruling, I learned that the weapon cost an absurdly expensive sum that a mere religious worker like me could never earn.
“T-ten gold coins?”
“It all came out of Acard’s own pocket, so don’t forget that.”
“…?!”
Ten gold coins could easily buy a house belonging to a wealthy family, if not the mansion where Acard and the others lived.
“So from now on, you’re going to show Acard your gratitude!”
“Kyaaah!?”
At Mira’s rough hands, the top of my training clothes was suddenly yanked up, exposing my entire upper body.
…This scene feels way too familiar…!
“Wait…! I’ll show my gratitude myself…!”
“Ria~! You know what’ll happen if you run away, right~?”
Even Vika had switched on, smiling mischievously just like before.
“Accept reality, Ria.”
“Hyaa…?!”
Karina gently stroked my waist, making my body shiver.
Escape…, I have to escape….
Because I had received a weapon worth ten gold coins, my eyes trembled as I wondered what I should do.
The dopamine from receiving the club had ended up outweighing my current panic, and my brain, unable to overcome the confusion, started spewing errors and left me defenseless.
“Girls…?”
Apparently this situation hadn’t been planned among them beforehand, because Acard looked flustered and—
“Ria doesn’t like it, so let her go! I’ve already received more than enough thanks…! Right?”
As expected of my reliable ally, who always took my side, he even rebelled against his own wives and tried to rescue me, but—
“Acard! It cost a whole ten gold coins! And you’re saying you won’t accept her thanks?!”
“That’s right~! Make Ria repay you with her body right now!”
“Let him suck on those milk-producing breasts as his reward!!”
Along with Karina, Vika, and Mira’s chorus—
“It was an expensive gift…, so I’ll do something for you….”
My voice, now thoroughly taken in by their gaslighting that I had to somehow show my gratitude, joined theirs as I mumbled with a flushed face.
“…I’m washing my hands of this.”
Giving up on rescuing me, Acard received my (semi-)forced repayment for the precious gift he had given me.