Side: Yuki
『Alright, men who want to peek at the women's bath — are you ready?!』
Ratz shouted at the top of her lungs, paying no mind to her pregnant belly.
"""OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"""
The men, ever faithful to their desires, roared back in unison.
『Now, I will explain the rules. If you do not follow them, you will be turned into dragon food. Keep that firmly engraved in your minds. If you break the rules in a situation where you can legally peek on a women's bath, then that's exactly what you deserve!』
As Ratz spoke, a tremendous roar echoed all the way to where we were.
'ROOOAAAR!!'
『For that reason, I've summoned Dark Dragon-kun, the hidden boss of the dungeon I manage. If you think you can get past him, then by all means, try.』
『Also, from my dungeon, I've stationed Liches for defense. Please try to defeat them too.』
As Eris says that, multiple pillars of fire erupt simultaneously from the direction of the women's bath.
Fire Tornado—A Lich's signature spell.
...She didn't bring out her favorite Named Lich, did she? I want to believe it's multiple Liches using Fire Tornado together.
『With things set up like this, it is physically impossible for anyone other than Onii-san to break through by brute force, so we highly recommend taking the official peeping route.』
『Furthermore, elite female knights selected from various nations are stationed for defense. Anyone who wishes to die either physically or socially, please step right up.』
Eris... Dying physically is usually the end of the story...
Wait... Is she thinking something along the lines of, "After you die, your tombstone will be engraved with 'Died from Peeping'" or something...?
What a cruel girl.
Also, Ratz, please stop publicly advertising how amazing I am. It's bad for information control and my personal safety.
"So your wives hold you in rather high regard, Yuki. Or do they simply mean they'd let you pass through the front entrance?" Teak asked.
"I believe both are highly likely, Prince Teak. Yuki-dono is just that extraordinary."
"Hoh... He already demonstrated remarkable strategic brilliance in Gartz, but to think there was even more to him."
See? Now Prince Teak is staring at me with genuine interest.
I am definitely not down for being dispatched to Gartz later. My wives, starting with Seraria, are about to give birth soon, and I'm busy managing the town on the new continent. Going out of my way to visit Gartz on top of that would be sheer madness.
Besides, an event centered around peeping is completely meaningless to a guy like me who already has plenty of beautiful wives. I never imagined I'd be dragged into an event like this myself.
『Now then, enough with the intimidation. Let's explain the rules.』
『Right. Well, I am sure you all understand, but we shall clearly outline the rules here on the spot. Claiming you didn't hear them later, or trying to look for loopholes, is strictly forbidden. Please act within the boundaries of the rules and common sense.』
『Then, let us declare the ultimate objective of this festival: It is to peek on the women's bath! The women, on the other hand, will use this opportunity to slaughter the scumbags who come to peek.』
...Don't say 'slaughter'.
Having casualties at a festival would be the worst.
『Therefore, the setting is that the men are trying to peek on the women's bath from the rear.』
『Under normal circumstances, unbreachable traps would be installed, but for this event, the layout varies by country, and the total number of traps has been restricted so that they can be bypassed.』
『As such, the men—the peeping team—will start from a point three kilometers behind the women's bath. If you can break through that path within thirty minutes, you will beautifully succeed in peeping on the women's bath!』
『Rest assured, you won't be kicked out the exact millisecond you catch a glimpse. You will have about thirty minutes. Of course, if anyone lays a hand on the women, we will throw you straight into a dungeon cell and execute you in accordance with the laws of Weed and the respective nations.』
Yeah... do we even need to consult the law at that point? You already flat-out said "execute"!!
『You are free to take a detour or march straight ahead. However, please be careful as there are traps everywhere. The teleportation traps are set to send you right back to the starting point, so if you keep getting caught in them repeatedly, time will get incredibly tight.』
『Still, if you're entering a peeping competition, I'm sure you've got stamina to spare. That much shouldn't be a problem. Also, don't sabotage your fellow peepers. That's no fun to watch, and anyone who does will be immediately disqualified. Goblin monitors, along with Ria and Jessica, will be watching, so I doubt anyone could get away with it anyway. Please keep that in mind.』
I see. I wondered why those two weren't nearby; it turns out they were on monitoring duty.
Well, it's been a while since I've been off the hook, so I think I'll just take it easy and relax.
"Uh... Boss, I'm supposed to be your bodyguard-ssu."
"Good. Then pretend to guard me while secretly letting me slip away."
"No way! Your wives will kill me!"
"It's fine. You're strong. You can still hold your own against Seraria or Derieu. You might even win once in a while. So you won't die."
"Only if we ignore all the rules and my salary!! That would be the end for me-ssu!! Also, those two are on monitoring duty, but they're properly watching you, Boss. Escaping is impossible, right?"
"That's exactly what you need to figure out, Steve. Think carefully about your own name."
"Huh? Why does my name have anything to do with this-ssu?"
"According to the rules—or rather, by Weed's general laws—carrying weapons is strictly prohibited. Neither I nor you have a weapon for this event."
"Well, yeah."
"Listen carefully. Your name, 'Steve' belongs to a legendary craftsman who can cut down trees, excavate the earth, and fashion tools out of nothing using his bare hands."
"Nope. That's impossible-ssu."
What a dull fellow.
『The rule explanation is over. Everyone, please return to the Adventurer's Guild. The women will now begin setting up the traps.』
As Eris announced this, the participants took one last look at the path they'd soon be traversing before returning to the Adventurers' Guild.
Since most of the general participants were adventurers, the guild had agreed to provide a place for everyone to rest.
Though, truth be told, the Adventurers' Guild probably wanted to take part in exhibiting and selling the traps themselves.
"Ah, Yuki-san."
As I entered the guild, Orvic noticed me and walked over.
This remarkably refreshing, incredibly handsome, and highly skilled adventurer has recently settled down permanently as an exclusive contractor for Weed. After all, this place was a unique region packed with dungeons, and the Adventurers' Guild wanted dedicated personnel besides Mobu's group.
Orvic and his companions had also been looking for somewhere to settle, so the timing had worked out perfectly.
"So, seeing you here, does that mean you're participating in the peeping tournament too?"
"No way. I'm on the Adventurer's Guild's operational side. Besides, I literally just married Lallie. There's no way I'd do something like that."
Tch. And here I thought the number of married men participating in the peeping pool was going to increase.
Just as he said, Orvic recently married his partner, Lallie.
After seeing our wedding ceremony, Orvic went out of his way to dress Lallie up in a gorgeous wedding gown and hold a proper ceremony. I have to admit, the guy is a class act.
"That's right. Orvic would never do something so perverted."
Appearing from the side, Lallie gracefully links her arm through Orvics.
At that moment, a question pops into my mind.
In this world, as long as you have no financial issues, you are legally permitted to marry multiple people. Therefore, Orvic shouldn't have any financial constraints preventing it.
Yet, Orvic doesn't look like a guy who is married to multiple women.
"Hey, Orvic, do you not have any other wives?"
I asked casually.
From the vibe between Orvic and Lallie, they seemed lovey-dovey as a couple.
It's actually me with multiple wives who's the weird one.
"Huh? I have two more. Lallie is an adventurer so she's always with me, but the other two handle the housework."
"Oh right, I hadn't introduced them to you yet, Yuki-san. Both of them are very reliable and handle the house perfectly. Their cooking is delicious too."
"......"
Huh?
He really has other wives.
"But it'd be nice if they could fight like Tori and Riel. Though I guess that's asking too much."
"Yeah. But you know, since those girls got pregnant, our party's gathering rate has been a bit poor lately..."
"Exactly. Weed's public security is shockingly good, so we never have to worry about the house, but when you look at our raw combat output, I really want a combat slave. Recruiting other adventurers is pretty much out of the question given our current rank."
"Yeah. Dedicated adventurers need decent skill, so it's tough to strengthen our forces unless we buy slaves and treat them as our own."
"Once this festival's over, let's go pick one out. Someone Orvic can enjoy at night too. Of course, she has to have a good personality."
What? They are casually discussing the option of getting a female slave.
Furthermore, Lallie isn't opposed to expanding the household women at all.
"Um... Excuse me for asking, but Lallie-san, are you okay with Orvic having many women?"
"Hm? I think it's fine. It's proof he's a good man, right? He's not harming the women he takes in, and he'll provide for them. It would be narrow-minded for me, his wife, or the other two to reject that."
"W-Well, what about male slaves?"
"Hmm... if Orvic preferred men, I wouldn't really mind. But everyone besides Orvic is female. That'd just create awkward relationships in the household. Think about it—if there were only one man among all of Orvic's wives, he'd be left out. That would be pitiful, wouldn't it?"
Ah, so that's another reason why households usually consist of one man and multiple women.
Makes sense. There's no reason to deliberately create an environment that invites conflict.
"And eventually you'd have to help the men become independent. I couldn't bear to keep them around forever without giving them wives of their own. That'd be cruel. But with women, they can simply become Orvic's wives."
When she puts it that way, it sounds natural.
"Also, Orvic. I think a rabbit-type girl like Ratz-san would be nice. I want to touch those ears."
"Ah, you've been saying that for a while. But we're working right now, so let's talk about that during break time."
"Ah, sorry. Please excuse us, Yuki-san."
The two of them walked away together, arm in arm.
...Looks like I'd been underestimating this world's common sense.
I already understood that having multiple wives also served as a form of social support, but hearing Orvic and Larly talk about it made the reality of it sink in.
Up until now, the only people I'd personally known with multiple wives were myself and a few kings. And by purchasing slaves, money continued circulating through the economy as well.
Weed bought slaves on a national scale and freed them, but there were still combat slaves intended for adventurers who slipped through those efforts.
"—Lallie-san made an excellent point."
"—I agree. It was a wonderful perspective."
My two monitoring wives approached from behind.
"So, as you can see, surrounding yourself with many women is not a bad thing at all."
"Right now, Steve is looking after you because we've had to leave your side. Why not follow Lallie's suggestion and keep a combat slave with you?"
"No, I already have plenty of wives."
"...Which is an absolute form of torture for us, considering our own pregnancies are still a long way off."
"...Furthermore, if you were to increase our numbers just a little bit more, we could achieve a much smoother rotation for pregnancies, nightly activities, and the division of workload."
No, wait, if the head count increases, nightly activities actually get harder to manage... Wait... since some of them are currently pregnant, they've factored that into the equation too. With nearly half of them pregnant right now, I do end up spending a lot of time with the ones who aren't.
As for the workload... Yeah... I couldn't deny we were short-handed.
But it can't be helped. While Weed's administrative overhead might decrease in the future, the mana depletion issue remains our absolute top-secret priority.
We can't just carelessly bring in unvetted outsiders. The Designated Protection system kept things safe enough, but even so, this wasn't something I could casually entrust to just anyone.
"...After hearing Lallie's reasoning, I understand your point to some extent. I'll at least give the slave idea some thought."
"Yes!"
"We did it!"
The two of them high-fived each other beside me.
Even if it's not a slave, what we really need is capable talent we can trust with actual work.
...Yeah.
That's easier said than done.
In fact, finding someone who meets the criteria of being able to handle all kinds of complex tasks is a pretty high bar to clear, isn't it?
"Well, more importantly, what are we going to do about the peeping event?"
"Just take it easy and waste thirty minutes, I guess-ssu."
"That seems like the most reasonable approach."
"No point peeping around and making your wives jealous-ssu."
"So, Steve... what do you think about Orvic?"
"Life's so unfair-ssu!! Damn it all!!"
At a table in one corner of the Adventurers' Guild, a goblin broke down in tears.
