Side: Yuki
Right in front of me, the Jilva Empire's trump card—the Magic Sword wielder Olive, who had been stopped and questioned because she was acting suspiciously outside—was eating hamburg steak.
No... She was practically 'devouring' it.
"As always, your food is absolutely delicious. Ah, could I have another one?"
It was hard to tell whether that was actually a compliment, but she immediately requested another hamburg steak and sent it straight into her stomach.
"Ara? This one has a refreshing sauce. It suits my taste perfectly."
The one she was eating now was topped with grated daikon and ponzu sauce. A classic Japanese-style hamburg steak. I like it as well.
But the question remains: why did Olive come here?
I really wished she would stop eating for a second and start talking...
"Ah! Olive-neechan, that one is super spicy~!!"
"That's right! It's super spicy nodesu~!!"
"I think it's quite spicy too."
"...That's poison."
Since all the little ones were happily eating together, it was hard to complain.
Also... Labyris, stop calling spicy food poison just because you don't like it. You'll end up spreading bad rumors.
"I think spicy is good in its own way, but I guess it really doesn't suit Labyris's palate."
"Indeed. Different people have different tastes."
Riel and Tori happily munched away on the spicy-sauce hamburg steaks.
"...If only there were fried tofu."
"No, I'm pretty sure fried tofu wouldn't pair well with hamburg steak..."
"Who knows? Knowing Yuki, he might actually have a recipe tucked away for just such an occasion."
Kaya was pushing her usual love for fried tofu, while Ria said it was impossible with hamburg steaks.
And then there was Jessica, who apparently mistook me for some kind of miracle-working jack-of-all-trades.
Wait. A breaded hamburg...
It doesn't necessarily have to be fried tofu. If you wrapped it in batter like a pork cutlet and fried it, the coating would keep all the juices inside... That might actually turn out pretty well.
"This hamburg steak is magnificent! To think you could make such delicious food from old cattle meat!!"
"Indeed~ This could become Betan's signature dish. We should start purchasing the cattle that farms would otherwise dispose of. That would also give the farmers additional income."
Horst and his family were enjoying it as well.
His wife seemed quite capable herself.
"Now, now. This dish was invented by Yuki-dono. You shouldn't make such decisions on your own."
"Oh dear, look at me. My profound apologies. I certainly meant no disrespect to you, Yuki-dono."
"No, no, it's fine. Please feel free to use this dish."
It's a dish that will be made eventually anyway. If it helps increase food supply in the Betan area and boosts our reputation, it's all good.
While chatting about such things, we decided to talk about Olive's business after dinner and continued our relaxed evening meal.
"Phew... So, is there any dessert after the meal?"
This Magic Sword wielder, having finished hamburg steaks, is now demanding dessert.
"No, it's about time you tell us why you came here. You didn't come just to hang out, right?"
Since the conversation wasn't progressing at all, I absolutely could not afford to grant her dessert yet.
Though, judging by how little urgency she showed, it probably wasn't an emergency.
"Very well. Though I'm not entirely sure how to explain this... We reported everything to His Majesty, and we've received his reply."
"Wait, isn't that actually incredibly important? Shouldn't we have gathered at the fortress for something like that?"
"I came precisely to discuss the scheduling for that gathering. A messenger has already gone to Mist as well. The reason I personally made the trip out here was because there is a matter regarding which we must align our stories beforehand."
"Align our stories?"
"Yes. At first, after receiving our report, His Majesty intended to implement a scorched-earth strategy and withdraw."
"Yeah... With that difference in military strength, I can understand why."
"However, after learning that the enemy had disappeared because of the cave-in, he changed his plans. He decided to divert reinforcements from other fronts instead. As a way to buy time in case those reinforcements don't arrive in time, the Fifth Princess will be coming here."
"The princess, huh? Isn't that basically just sending her in as a sacrifice?"
"Exactly. Even if another outstanding commander joins us, it won't overturn such an overwhelming disadvantage. But if that person is the kingdom's representative—a princess—then it's a different matter."
"If the enemy agrees to negotiations, it'll buy time. If they refuse, Eneria gets condemned by the other nations and becomes hesitant to act."
"Precisely. Just like Hivia said—you understood everything from a simple explanation. That makes this easy. And that's where the story we need to coordinate comes in."
"What exactly do you mean?"
"Do you recall the rather reckless audience you forced upon the King? Can you guess the fallout?"
"Ah, so she's furious about it?"
"No, quite the contrary. In order to bypass the troublesome explanations, the King successfully persuaded the Princess by claiming that Yuki and your entire mercenary band are actually the long-lost descendants of the royal lineage that set out on a journey four generations ago and vanished."
"...So that's why we need matching stories."
While Olive and I discussed the details of our cover story, the wives had already moved on to enjoying tea after dinner while casually chatting among themselves.
"Yuki-san really has it rough, doesn't he~? Now he's suddenly a descendant of ancient royalty."
"He really has so many titles, it's quite amazing."
"...Too many to remember."
"Let's see... 'Hero' for example."
"That's only what Ria calls him. On the continent where I was born, he's simply the leader of a mercenary company. But on the continent where Weed is located, he really does have quite a long list of titles."
"That is true. Setting aside whether his ancestors were royal, since Seraria-san, myself, Rurua-san, and Derieu-san are his wives, he has technically already married into royalty in the present day. And above all, he's a Messenger of a God, so such titles are insignificant."
While I certainly have a lot going on, no matter how anyone looks at me, I firmly belong in the category of an ordinary, everyday guy.
Back on Earth, I was indisputably just a regular citizen. If I were to somehow return to Earth at this point, I would be completely ruined socially, without a shadow of a doubt.
"—So that's the situation. Please make sure to treat Her Highness properly."
"Got it. There's no benefit in having internal conflicts anyway."
I understood Olive's concerns.
The last thing anyone wanted was for us to end up at odds with the princess who had come all this way, only to leave ourselves unable to deal with the real enemy.
The fact that even the King's letter specifically included an explanation for us made it clear... He considered the possibility of us turning against Jilva to be a major headache.
"Phew. At any rate, I shall return to the fortress tomorrow. I expect your group to arrive at the fortress three days from now."
"Understood. For now, why don't you head to a room and get some rest?"
"...I shall gladly take you up on that. Tomorrow will entail an entire day of traveling on horseback, after all."
Olive, having completely forgotten about dessert, leaves the dining hall guided by a maid.
Spending an entire day riding a horse... that had to be exhausting. Even driving a car all day was tiring enough.
"Well, Olive's gone to rest, but we still have dessert. Everyone's going to eat it, right?"
"""Yes!!"""
Whoa. That enthusiasm was overwhelming.
"Hahaha... Women truly are remarkable..."
Horst, sitting beside me, was slightly taken aback while looking at my wives.
After eating that much... I guess desserts really do go into a separate stomach.
That's one thing I could never imitate.
* * *
"So, what was the dessert you served over there?"
Seraria asked in the banquet hall.
Unfortunately, Sakura and Sumire were already at bedtime, so they weren't here.
"Let's see... It was pudding. Though that's not what you really wanted to ask, is it?"
"Indeed. The upcoming council at the Jilva fortress is essentially a strategic planning meeting for our future countermeasures, correct?"
"Yeah."
"I'm coming along to that meeting as well."
The moment Seraria dropped that bombshell, every single wife present in the banquet hall froze completely solid.
Of course they did. It had only been about a week since she gave birth. Her body still needed recovery. And the babies weren't even old enough to support their own heads.
"Ah! I'm coming too!"
"Indeed. We've been pregnant all this time and haven't been able to properly observe Yuki-san's situation on the field. We will take full responsibility for watching over the children here. Seraria, Rurua, please look after Yuki-san."
Following Rurua's instant declaration to tag along, Eris—who was fast approaching her own due date—voiced her support.
"I see! The moment I give birth, I shall immediately rush to Yuki's aid as well!"
"Hmm, I'm perfectly fine waiting my turn. I'm sure everyone wants to spend time with Onii-san, so I'll just relax here with my own child for now. It's not as if I expect Onii-san to pull off a blunder at this stage anyway."
"I, too, hold absolute faith in Milord's safety, so I believe it is best for me to remain behind and look after the children."
Derieu firmly aligned herself with the deployment faction, while Ratz and Killue chose to remain behind...
"Hey, don't you think you should focus on resting quietly just a little while longer?"
"Eh? I've already been resting quietly for more than long enough. I'm practically dying to move my body at this point, you know?"
"I, too, wish to get some physical exercise for the first time in ages. But please do not worry; it's not as if we intend to completely neglect Sumire and Sakura."
"Exactly. There is absolutely no way we would leave our precious daughters unattended. This is precisely what the effective utilization of Doppels is for."
"Yes. By utilizing our Doppels, we can instantaneously return to our children's side whenever necessary."
Ah, right. Since they've already given birth, and the children themselves are safely removed from the equation, we don't need to worry quite as drastically about the immediate physical strain on Seraria and the others.
"I've been buried under nothing but paperwork lately myself, so I would highly like a chance to move around after so long."
Milly chimed in. It seemed she had accumulated quite a bit of stress from managing all of Weed's internal affairs by herself.
"The timing is perfect too. Enemy reinforcements are coming, aren't they? Sounds like good exercise."
"I should probably focus on recovering... But I do miss fighting with my staff."
"Then shall we charge in together?"
"I'd like that."
The two novice mothers were casually discussing such bloodthirsty matters while wearing perfectly radiant, gentle smiles.
Seriously, stop having such violent conversations right after giving birth, you two.
"Even so, we don't know if it'll actually turn into a battle. They may prioritize searching for the main enemy force. And even if fighting does break out, the princess will be used to buy time first."
That's right. No matter how fired up Seraria and Rurua are, the people around them are moving to prevent a battle.
We won't be openly moving out and crushing a large army.
"That's true. But when people say 'battle,' they mean large-scale one, right? Small-scale battles will obviously happen with such a large army, won't they?"
"Well, there will be small skirmishes like eliminating scouts, I suppose..."
"Then we might get attacked while taking a leisurely stroll."
"Indeed. Legitimate self-defense."
"...How is it legitimate if you're intentionally marching out to collide with them? Besides, we've expanded the dungeon underground, so we can see everything within a 10-kilometre radius. There's no way we'd just run into them on a walk..."
"Surely you're not planning to create an unnatural situation where our scouting soldiers don't encounter the enemy even though they're nearby?"
"Ah, no, I was going to leave that to the goblins..."
"Was his name Horst? Judging by what I've heard, he seems to be a remarkably capable commander. If left to his own devices, he will likely conduct reconnaissance on his own, stumble into an encounter battle with the enemy, and throw away the lives of his men, wouldn't he?"
"The Goblins will accompany them..."
"Ara? If the lord is sending out his precious soldiers, it would be strange if we didn't send appropriate forces too, wouldn't it? Goblins are somewhat recognized here, but over there they're treated like pets. They'll probably think this: 'So the mercenary commander values our lives the same as goblins.'"
These wives are really itching to fight.
"Alright, alright. I get it. So we'll be doing our jobs properly, and we'll send the goblins along with you, Seraria."
"As long as you understand, that's perfectly fine. That way, even though our numbers are few, we won't cause any unnecessary anxiety to our allies, and it will look as though we are executing our duties flawlessly."
Seriously... Why were my own family the ones getting all fired up?
Stories like this are supposed to have the enemy unveil some grand strategy, legendary general, or terrifying new weapon that puts the protagonists on the defensive...
Sigh... I suppose I'll just have to pray that the enemy doesn't end up completely wiped out.
I found myself offering a silent prayer for the sake of the yet-unseen enemy reinforcements.
"......"
Isn't this story going in the wrong direction somehow?
