Chapter 421: Not the past, not the future
After getting out of the bath, we all ate the rest of the silver pears that Fennel had cut up.
“I’m extremely uncomfortable with the fact that we are naked in front of only Smithson-san dressed……”
In the pavilion, sitting in a circle eating the silver pears, Neia gives me a resentful look. However, only Naris has the same face. She seems to enjoy Tetes and Sharon more like a picnic, she doesn’t seem to mind that she’s completely naked with only one collar and even Fennel serves me from the side saying 「Ah」in the middle of the day.
“It can’t be helped it, I took my clothes off at the entrance to the village”
Apple looks a little annoyed, but still says to follow me.
“I guess the question is, why can’t we all just put them on afterwards……”
Neia sighs with a red face. Next to her, Almeida was flickering at my gaze and she dared to sit with her back straight.
“There’s not much difference in and out of the bath. And……this time it’s different, but when I’m holed up in this village, I’m more likely to do things outside the bath.
“O, Outside……?”
“In the house, in the shade of a tree or in the middle of the square……taking advantage of the fact that this is an enclosed space, female slaves, as well as newly brought cat beast girls and female blue dragons, are randomly and uninhibitedly seeded”
“……Y, You can’t……do that”
“The problem is, though, that I don’t have the numbers or the vigor to run out of partners”
“I don’t think that’s the problem. They all got fucked at a leisurely pace and none of them had a problem with it♪”
“Tetes, you might want to think about what you’re saying before you say it”
For some reason, Almeida seemed to recognize the abnormality of such behavior itself. No, Tetes probably understands and enjoys it.
“W, Well……if they are satisfied with it, then maybe it’s okay……”
“I’m at a loss to comment on that, as a woman”
“You’ve adapted to it, Naris-chan”
“No, well……even, instead of being naked over here, you soaked in the hot springs all day, napped with impunity and drank alcohol and no one complained”
She’s making excuses, but if that’s the case, she probably doesn’t have a choice.
Then, we all got dressed in the hut at the entrance to the village. And then I give Sharon the ordeal of getting dressed while stroking her selfish body to her heart’s content.
“Yaah……I can’t put on clothes……if there is a hand there……♪”
“I wonder what would happen if Grand Knight Chief Felios saw this scene”
“Wouldn’t he die?”
“No, he might be rather unmoved. He may look soft on the outside, but he’s a serious man at heart……”
“No, Al-chan, that man almost died in a normal way. Because of Knight Chief Sharon’s declaration of her as a female slave”
“What……”
“The only person I’ve ever seen who would call Grand Knight Felios 『Soft-looking』 before that was Almeida-san……isn’t that thing super-coy?”
I was a little blown away when I heard the Red Arms’ hilarious conversation.
“……Neia. The flash sword is glowing”
“It’s a natural phenomenon. It’s a treasure sword, so it happens”
I witnessed the flash sword being cloaked at the end of the hilt and the rainbow-colored light shimmering as if in protest. ……I wonder if you can’t see it in that state.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been in a hot spring and it felt really good”
While being comforted by Apple’s pure smittenness, Fennel leads the way out of the forest.
—————————————
And as it was, I stopped by the bar and found Savory and Cute running around despite the fact that it was night business.
“Welcom……ah, master……and Renfangas’s”
“I’m back♪”
“Welcome back……is that right? Anyway, welcome, Tetes-san. What would you like to drink?”
“I’m sober”
“I’ll have one”
“Here also. What about you, Naris?”
“I’ll have a drink. What kind of training is it to go back to Polka and not drink?”
The four gauntlets quickly took their seats and got ready to drink.
“Hey, Apple-chan, how about a drink over here?”
“Hey, old man, you have a bad habit. I’ll buy you a drink”
“What do you mean by bad habit?”
“I can see you sometimes pretend you’re drunk and try to touch Cute’s ass. I always know you’re a terrible actor”
“What?”
The old drunkard is laughed at by the regulars at the bar.
“Hey hey, Cute is mine, so please don’t mess with me”
When I gently nailed him while laughing, he turned the tables on me.
“Don’t tell me he’s mine! Savory-chan, Oregano-chan from the clothing store and Marone-chan from the doctor’s office are all in your hands!”
“N, No, well that certainly true”
“But when it comes to sleight of hand, there’s no one more stupid than Andy”
“He’ll get stabbed someday”
“At this point, I’m wondering why he hasn’t”
The drinkers all nodded at each other. A carefree voice came from the valley.
“The female slave was only supposed to be a token game, but the custom of calling Smithson-dono master has taken root among the women. By mentally placing Smithson-dono on top, it may be easier for them to subconsciously accept his actions”
The one sitting at the top of the drinking table eating a sausage was Irina. ……How familiar are you with this?
“No, what are you going to do with it? Isn’t it the worst?”
“You’re a victim too, aren’t you, Irina? More like this, that kind of idiot is a bang”
“I’m not so sure about that. Polygamy is not uncommon among elves”
It flows while mumbling. No, then don’t say strange things.
“He’s a Trot person!?”
“No, well, he’s a Celesta soldier”
“Oh, he was a soldier? I thought he became a blacksmith in Celesta”
“I thought he was the son-in-law of a landowner”
“Why?”
……The old drunkard’s guess is not far off the mark, in a way. I’m not married yet, but the land I own at Dianne’s and Aurora’s seems to be very large. I don’t know what would happen to the clan leaders if we start talking about it, but here it is.
“That’s right, everyone is an ambiguous, half-baked existence. That is why Smithson-dono obeys no one. He has no obligation to follow anyone”
Irina gulped down her beer and stood up from her seat. She strode up to me, turned her back to me and caught my hands in hers like a child does to a parent and hung on to them like a child on a swing.
“So, no matter what the law of the land is, everyone thinks……that there may be something that is allowed only under the protection of this man. It is tempting to believe in the possibility that each person’s desires, lust, sins, strengths, weaknesses and loneliness……can be forgiven by this man’s heart and not by the law and that they can live in peace”
“I don’t know if Andy is such a big deal. I’ve heard he’s good friends with dragons, but……”
“Huu”
Irina laughs like a king, in a childlike pose.
“This man’s peculiarity itself may not be a big deal. It may be nothing more than a sweet wish. He is the one who makes all the beautiful and gorgeous women happy and keeps them smiling……. But perhaps by coincidence, this man is calmly mastering the enormous power that it has created.
Irina looked up at me, somewhat proudly.
“I am tempted to bet on him. What this man is building is my destiny……that it is not a 『Normal』 destiny that others have built up until now, but a new destiny that will be decided from now on, from scratch. If you think of misogyny as one aspect of that……well, it’s not as offensive as it sounds”
“You’ve been exaggerating Andy. That perverted kid”
The drunken old man said that in a shady, teasing way.
“Well, I guess you’re right”
I hug Irina, affirming her words.
“Why did you imprison this white clan chief without being prepared for it?”
“No”
I sniff Irina’s hair and laugh at the old drunkard.
“As you say, it may not be a big deal, but……I’m sure I’m in a place where I can do what Irina says I can do. I want to make pretty girls happy. I can do that. Of course, it’s not up to me”
“Even so, you’ll have a different lifespan than an elf after all. Isn’t that just irresponsible?”
“But I don’t think it’s wrong to even try to make them happy”
Before I knew it, all ears in the bar were on me. Fennel, Apple, Neia and the two waiters, as well as the owner. The old tavern is not that big, so it’s not surprising.
“You know those holy beasts. They have eternal life. So only those with eternal life are allowed to approach them?”
“……Don’t go to extremes”
“It won’t change. No matter how different our lifespans are, we are now in the same time period. It is someone you can fall in love with. I don’t want to think it’s wrong to love them, fall in love with them and make them happy. I’m not going to hold back. My father died before I was your age. It’s no mystery that the living will die tomorrow. You don’t want to regret it at the moment of your death by not doing what you can do now, because you’re worried about a hundred or a thousand years from now, when you may not be able to get it”
“……Tsk”
The old drunk man takes the mug roughly, drinks the small remainder and holds it up lightly to Savory, demanding a refill.
“You’re making things difficult for my drunken head”
“……Hahaa”
That’s not something you say after you’ve deliberately drunk all your booze. But, well……that means he’s given up on the rebuttal. That means he’s acknowledged me somewhat.
“Savory, I’ll have a drink too”
“Yes, yes, Cute, please”
“Nyaa”
“It’s not nyaa”
“Y, Yes”
“I’ll have one of those”
“You order yourself”
“Sharing a drink is a sign of friendship, isn’t it?”
I can’t help it, so I let her drink the first sip.
“……Just a little”
Neia sat down next to me and gently placed her hat on the table.
“I understand why you all feel the way you do”
“?”
I stare at Neia as she doesn’t say the subject and she smiles vaguely as she goes on.
“Shall we drink?”
“Y, Yes?”
The first time I saw her, I was not sure what to think, but I took the mug back from Irina on my lap and lightly matched it with Neia’s. Kang, the sound of the ceramic mug was distinctive and pleasant.