Chapter 53
“I hear the Hero is visiting the academy.”
A few days after Ian and I shared our first kiss.
Ian and I had gone to the academy as usual when we heard some shocking news.
“…The Hero?”
“Your father?”
The Hero was actually coming to visit the academy.
“Really, Uncle Luke? I hadn’t heard anything…”
“I only got the letter this morning, too. What kind of Hero shows up this quietly?”
“…Yeah.”
Normally, wouldn’t there be people keeping an eye on him wherever he went?
The Hero was one of only two Grand Swordmasters in the entire world, and he also had the Hero’s power, making him the strongest person alive.
I’d assumed they’d at least be keeping track of where he was and what he was doing, but apparently not.
Well, [Gaia Academy] doesn’t have a plot where the Hero gets cast aside after defeating the Demon King.
Or maybe they thought keeping watch on him was pointless. For someone like the Hero, shaking off surveillance would be child’s play.
“Phew… Anyway, he said he was visiting because he wanted to see how skilled the academy students are.”
“…Is he allowed to come for a reason like that?”
“He’s the Hero. Honestly. Getting married hasn’t changed his reckless nature one bit.”
Come to think of it, I wondered who the Hero had married.
[Gaia Academy] had four heroines in total.
The Hero’s classic love interest, the Saintess.
The dependable childhood-friend mage, as comforting as a bowl of gukbap.
The ever-delicious, devoted yandere thief who was always there to save you.
And the elf archer, the very definition of a tsundere.
…Seriously, who did he marry?
There wasn’t a harem ending, so you could only choose one.
I was on the thief’s route, so I always married her.
I wonder who the Hero in this world chose.
I should’ve looked into it sooner.
“Oh, by the way, the Hero’s wives are coming, too.”
“His mothers?”
…?
“Hm?”
“That’s right. Saintess Elisia, of course, along with Airi, Elpia, and Nia.”
“I see.”
The Saintess was the Saintess.
Airi was the red-haired childhood-friend mage, and Elpia was the green-haired elf archer.
Nia was the yandere, silver-haired thief…
…That bastard got the harem route I couldn’t even get?!
…
After hearing Luke tell us the Hero was coming, we took a walk through the academy park.
“…Plia?”
“Hm?”
“You’ve seemed a little down for a while. Are you okay? Is it because your father’s coming?”
“Ahaha… That’s not it.”
I just feel weird knowing your dad got the harem route I never could.
I couldn’t exactly say that.
And asking Ian directly would be…
‘Ian, what’s it like having four mothers? Must be nice?’
…No matter how I thought about it, it just sounded like an insult about his parents.
“Um… Ian?”
“Yeah?”
“I mean… um… Never mind…”
“Is it because of my mothers?”
“Yeah… Huh?”
What? How did he know?
“Your expression got kind of strange from the moment Uncle Luke said they were coming.”
“Um… Were you watching my expression this whole time…?”
“Of course?”
“Eek.”
That’s a little off-putting.
No matter how much he likes me, staring at my face nonstop… Isn’t that just stalking?
…I don’t really mind, though, so whatever.
“So? Did something bad happen with your mothers? Or is it because of us?”
“What kind of relationship are we supposed to have…?”
“The kind where we share a house and sleep together every night?”
…
He wasn’t wrong, so I couldn’t exactly argue.
“Ahem. It’s not that. Ian, can I ask you one slightly rude question?”
“What is it?”
“Um…”
Gah. It was really embarrassing to say it out loud.
“Is it true… that the Hero has four wives?”
“Oh, that’s what you wanted to ask? I guess having four wives but only one child is a little strange.”
“Uh…”
That wasn’t really what I was curious about.
From the way he talked, he didn’t seem particularly bothered or anything.
If anything, his expression brightened, so they seemed to get along well.
“Honestly, I don’t know why I’m the only child. I don’t think my parents are on bad terms or anything, but…”
“Haha… Really?”
I actually knew the reason.
The Hero’s power.
This ridiculously overpowered power had one drawback.
Namely, he couldn’t have children.
Or perhaps I should say that women couldn’t bear children conceived with the Hero’s power.
Fortunately, the Saintess had the power of healing, along with an overwhelming amount of holy power, so she could have a child with the Hero. But that meant the other heroines couldn’t have children.
That was why, if you chose a heroine other than the Saintess, the Hero had to give up his power before they could have a child.
It didn’t seem like the Hero had given up his power in this world. After all, Ian was his only child.
…Surely it wasn’t because the Hero was disappointing in bed.
How do you give up the power? You become a Grandmaster.
I don’t know how it works, but that does the trick.
“Anyway, I’ll convince my father and all my mothers.”
“…Convince them to do what?”
“To take you as my wife?”
“…Do whatever you want.”
Honestly. He was already getting ahead of himself.
Of course, even I thought I might give in soon at this rate, but you never knew.
Maybe some golden-haired playboy would steal him away.
…Wait?
‘If Ian got a tan, wouldn’t that make him a golden-haired playboy?’
I wasn’t saying Ian was a delinquent or anything… but that look might suit him pretty well.
“…Plia? What are you thinking about?”
“N-nothing!”
Ahem. Let’s move on.
“Well… The Hero. I do want to meet him.”
“My father?”
“Yeah.”
There were lots of things I was curious about when it came to the Hero in this world.
For starters, his name was Leon, the default name for the Hero in the game.
He also had the default appearance: a handsome man with golden hair and golden eyes. He was basically a carbon copy of Ian.
And apparently, his personality and everything else were just as good as you’d expect from a hero, but…
‘It’s suspicious how he managed to scoop up every single rare opportunity.’
If you thought about it, these rare opportunities were basically hidden achievements.
In other words, some were hidden in the ordinary way, while others could only be obtained through truly bizarre methods.
Apparently, the Hero got every single one of them.
Of course, maybe he’d gotten them ‘by chance,’ but…
‘The Pantena Elixir. He found that by chance? No way.’
The conditions for obtaining the Pantena Elixir were really unusual.
You had to stand on your head naked under the moonlight and dance the dance of the now-extinct Pantena tribe.
Then, within five minutes, you had to find a specific spot in a certain forest and stamp your feet to the exact rhythm.
A cave would appear. You had to wait five hours without going inside, and once its entrance closed, a treasure chest would appear on top of it. The Pantena Elixir was inside.
Its effect was simple: it increased all your stats.
But the amount it increased them by was enormous.
So it was an essential elixir to obtain as you progressed through the game, but…
There was no way you could get that ‘by chance.’ There weren’t even any clues or anything.
Well, it wasn’t as if there were no clues at all.
The problem was that they were split into five parts.
On top of that, the setting was that once you consumed one, the other four disappeared by magic, making it a hidden achievement that clearly encouraged multiple playthroughs.
If the Hero got it, then he was either a regressor, or…
‘He came from Earth, just like me.’
The latter seemed more likely than the former. That wasn’t something you could obtain just by regressing…
“There are so many things I want to ask the Hero.”
Just then.
-Tap
“Oh? If there’s something you want to know, ask me anything you like.”
“…!! Who are you!”
Someone put a hand on my shoulder and spoke.
…I hadn’t sensed them at all.
-Whoosh!
“Whoa there. Swinging something like that is dangerous.”
Startled, I swung my sword, but the stranger stopped it with one hand as if it were nothing.
…And I’d put quite a bit of force into that swing, too.
As far as I knew, only two people could do something like that.
“F-Father?!”
“Oh, Ethan. It’s been a while.”
…I knew it.
When I turned around, I saw a familiar, handsome blond man smiling at me.
He had my sword firmly gripped in one hand.
…Good grief. I’d put real effort into that swing as a Swordmaster, and he blocked it like that. It was a little hard on my pride.
But there was no point complaining, given who he was.
“…It’s my first time meeting you, Hero. Please forgive my rudeness in swinging my sword at you.”
“Oh, of course. I wasn’t going to hold that against you. More importantly, I’m curious about you. Are you Plia Jegen Whitewolf?”
“That’s right.”
“Haha! I knew it. You look just like Plien and Lauren! Anyone could tell you’re their daughter.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Did I look like Plien and Lauren?
…That might be a little annoying.