Side: Yuki

"Sorry for calling everyone together when you're all busy. It looks like the conflict between the Jilba Empire and the Holy Kingdom of Enaria on the new continent is finally heading toward mediation, so I thought we should hold our own meeting first."

I assembled everyone in our usual banquet hall.

I gathered members including Mobu, who is protecting the demi-human village dungeon (seemingly useless but actually very useful), and Zargis, who somehow ended up also teaching magic in the Jilva Empire, along with other members I was starting to forget.

"First, let's all report on our current situations. This is so we can think carefully about our next course of action on the New Continent."

Everyone nodded.

"Alright. Let's start with Weed. First, let's make sure everything back home is doing alright."

At my words, those who had remained behind began handing out documents.

I'd already informed everyone beforehand that we'd be holding a report meeting, so preparations like this had become very... Weed-like—or rather, Earth-like.

Not that I minded. They were easy to read and well organized.

"Please excuse me for remaining seated, but I'll begin."

Eris said this while gently rubbing her large belly.

She's pregnant, and she's my wife. There's no reason to make her strain herself.

"Currently, Weed's population is approaching thirty thousand. The residential district we prepared beforehand is almost full, so as planned, we've begun using the remaining residential floors to construct apartment buildings modeled after the ones already standing, with workers specializing in civil engineering and construction handling the project themselves. Tax revenue has increased accordingly, but with more residents comes more household registrations and administrative paperwork. As a result, City Hall is beginning to suffer from a manpower shortage. However, the department representatives have already decided to address that by expanding hiring. Other than that..."

Listening to Eris's report and scanning through the documents, Weed's internal state seemed completely fine.

People were flowing in constantly, and the city only looked like it would become livelier from here on. Public safety had declined slightly, but that was mostly confined to the Adventurers' Guild district. Everywhere else remained generally peaceful. Even the reported "problems" amounted to little more than occasional fistfights.

Weapons couldn't be drawn or used anywhere inside Weed, and since children frequently visited the Adventurers' Guild, strict rules were enforced. According to Aslin and Filia, Vilia and Hiiro had recently begun actively exploring the children's dungeon to earn money as well.

"Now then, I suppose Sheila, Seraria, and I should report on diplomatic relations next?"

"Yes. Though, truth be told, we've left almost everything in Ratz-san's hands..."

"It can't be helped, Sheila—you were busy exploring the new continent alongside Onii-san. Of course, having you and Seraria present made negotiating with high-ranking foreign officials vastly easier."

"But I'm grateful Ratz-san handles all the trade goods. I mostly deal with the big shots."

"You're amazing too, Seraria. I mostly do desk work, but while carrying Onii-san's child, I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable speaking with people I couldn't trust."

"I was worried too, but it also served to let everyone know that I was pregnant. Besides, security around me was absolutely airtight."

The three of them laughed together.

Strictly speaking, diplomacy involved several other people like Rurua, but these three served as the core team.

Even with Millie's help, managing diplomacy while pregnant couldn't have been easy.

"Anyway, enough chatting. As for diplomacy, everything's stable. Almost every requested dungeon gate has now been installed. Just as Big Brother predicted, the gates keep every nation watching one another, preventing anyone from starting a war. Prices have also stabilized within a reasonable range. The only concern is that some financially weaker countries are beginning to struggle economically."

"Of course, even if they're struggling, they're no longer in danger of being conquered through military force. However, if they continue relying on financial assistance from stronger nations, some of them may eventually end up being peacefully absorbed."

"It may sound unpleasant, but compared to endless wars and meaningless deaths, this situation is far better. Under normal circumstances, most of these countries would already be fighting. Since the gates were opened, every nation has been using joint monster-subjugation forces formed with their allies to expand residential areas and farmland. With no wars left to fight, they've even reassigned surplus soldiers to help develop those new lands. Overall, habitable territory has expanded, crop yields have increased, and every country is more stable than they were during wartime."

Everything was progressing right according to plan.

Anyone with half a brain could understand that starting a war now would only lead to their own destruction.

As for countries suffering financially... There was no reason for us to interfere. Even if they asked Weed for economic aid, that decision belonged to the representatives—not me.

"That said," Seraria continued, "even though things have stabilized, many generals who built their careers on warfare aren't exactly happy with the current situation."

"Well, yeah. Their stage for glory was wiped out. Are any of those guys trying to raise a rebellion or something?"

"No. Considering that eighteen nations—large and small—have already joined the alliance centered around Weed and the Three Great Nations, openly declaring war would be suicide."

"Ah... So there's a chance they'll try to orchestrate something behind the scenes..."

"Exactly. And for that sort of thing, Weed is the perfect place."

"Gates that allow instant travel to other nations, the hub of all global trade... Weed is absurdly convenient no matter what scheme someone wants to pull."

"Even so, increasing security any further won't accomplish much. Just keep your ears open."

When Seraria and I said that, everyone nodded.

Every society had its troublemakers. Still, tearing apart such a massive alliance wouldn't be easy. Even those war-hungry generals benefited from Weed's trade network.

As Seraria said, we'll just stay alert and listen for information.

"Then it's my turn."

Narjia-san smiled.

"Thanks to the enormous amount of knowledge Yuki provided, we've successfully developed both gunpowder and firearms powered by magic instead of conventional explosives. However, they won't be made public for quite some time. Now that the world is stable, there's no reason to hand dangerous weapons to fools and risk disrupting the peace. For now, we'll continue producing ordinary weapons and armor. Naturally, Yuki and the others may use them freely. Besides, I developed them personally, so there's no risk of the information leaking."

Narjia-san is as incredible as always. Her craftsmanship was second to none.

She also fully understands the dangers involved.

With this, we no longer need to spend huge amounts of DP to obtain rifles. I'll need to ask about material costs in detail later.

"Finally, from me. The Adventurer's Guild is generally settled. We have a Grandmaster, and the dungeons in Weed are functioning normally. However, as mentioned in the first report, the influx of adventurers is high, so visiting adventurers cause some problems. The worst were some idiots swindling children out of money; they were banned. Ah, and of course, the children who were victimised were properly protected and received care afterwards. Actually, the ones who reported it and beat up those malicious adventurers were Vilia-chan and Hiiro-chan."

"Seriously? They're that strong?

"Of course they are. Those two are the top students at school, and they've already begun exploring regular dungeons. The safest ones, of course."

"WHAT?! H-Hold on a second, I need to go talk to those two right now—"

Hearing that alarming report, I made a move to rush over to Vilia and Hiiro, but Seraria promptly grabbed and held me down.

"Yes, yes, calm down. Those children are doing it because they want to. Don't interfere."

"B-But, in a normal dungeon, there's a risk of death..."

"They'll be fine. I was one of the people who gave them permission, and Vilia's sword skills are remarkable. Besides, even if the absolute worst happens, it's their own personal responsibility. That is the resolve required of anyone who steps inside a dungeon. Both Vilia and Hiiro fully understand that."

"...Resolve or not, they don't need to do something so dangerous when there are safe ways to earn money! I made that children's dungeon so they could learn without facing real danger..."

"I understand how you feel. But you don't need to overprotect them to that extent. Those girls are thinking and acting for themselves. Interfering with the path someone chooses to walk isn't like you, Yuki."

Ugh... That's true, but treating them like helpless kids is just me imposing my own selfish mindset.

"I don't blame you for feeling that way, though. Now that you have your own child, it's only natural to be against your kids doing anything dangerous. But even so, those girls were completely serious about it."

"...Alright, fine."

For now, if Seraria and Millie gave them the green light, it should be fine.

I'll casually ask them about it next time I drop by the school.

"Sorry, I lost my composure for a second. Anyway, that wraps up the report for Weed. Next, let's hear from the new continent team—Mobu, you're up."

"Gotcha."

Move began reporting on the Demi-human village.

Since we relocated our primary base to Betan, we've left Mobu's team entirely in charge over there.

I haven't received any urgent reports, so there probably aren't any major issues, but the conflict between humans and demi-humans is severe on the New Continent.

There was bound to be something worth mentioning.

"Well, as written in the documents, the demi-humans are using the fact that they repelled the Jillva Empire to gather demi-humans from various places. I don't know the details, but the number keeps increasing, so it feels like the forest is the demi-human highway."

"So they really are mostly living deep within the forests, huh?"

"Yeah. Our demi-human village sits between Jilva and Enaria. Geographically, crossing the wasteland isn't realistic. It's easy to get attacked and movements would be noticed. So they're probably coming from the mountainous forest regions north of Jillva and Enaria. In terms of numbers, we've gathered nearly 5,000. I don't know if that's a lot or not, but we're desperately expanding living space. The village — well, it's basically a town now — is working hard. They seem to be preparing for battle, but with the current ceasefire, they should be safe as long as the demi-humans don't start anything."

"I see. How are they treating your group, Mobu?"

"Hmm, the hostility is still strong. Especially the ones who arrived later and didn't see the battle against Jilva — they often pick fights. But we lightly beat them up and then the village chief and villagers scold them thoroughly, so it's stable for now. Also, since we're supplying goods from Weed, they can't act too strong."

"A 5000 strong force is basically a bomb waiting to explode. We'll have to negotiate that eventually. I've already spoken to Jilva, but Enaria needs to be informed too. Keeping quiet about five thousand armed demi-humans would be a problem."

For now everything was stable.

But it wasn't something we could postpone forever.

"Then it's my turn."

Zargis adjusted his glasses.

"Regarding the investigation of the royal archives in the Jilva Empire's capital, I've covered about half of the material so far. It should take another three months or so to finish everything. At present, I haven't uncovered any information that serves as a direct lead regarding the mana depletion, the Holy Swords, or the Magic Swords."

"I see. So it's not going to be easy, huh?"

"Indeed. Also, while it may have been included in previous reports, I somehow ended up acting as a magic instructor over there. And that led me to notice something interesting."

"What is it?"

"Well, as you know, casting magic on the new continent requires roughly 20 times the usual amount of mana. However, despite those conditions, the number of individuals capable of manifesting magic has been increasing under my instruction. To begin with, given the general level range on the new continent, there's no way they possess 20 times the mana pool..."

"So... people born on the continent naturally consume less mana?"

"Presumably... Or perhaps it should be called an environmental adaptation. If they can manifest magic after just a brief lesson from me, they should have logically been able to use magic all along."

"I see... What about you, Jessica?"

I turned to ask Jessica, the only person in this room originally native to the new continent.

Naturally, she and Ria were flanking me on both sides even during this meeting.

...Seriously, just sit in a normal chair already.

"No... My training was focused entirely on the sword, so I know nothing about magic. I never possessed any talent for magic to begin with."

"I see. Then starting now, try learning it. Of course, stop immediately if you feel anything strange in your body."

"But how exactly do I learn it...? Is the recovery magic I received from Lilishe-sama no good?"

"Ah, there was that too."

"No, that wouldn't work. Magic acquired through a divine blessing cannot be used as standard research data."

"Zargis is right. In that case, I'll teach you personally. I can monitor your condition, and we're always together anyway."

I said that to Jessica, but... there was no response.

Huh?

"...Yuki and I, training together... He'll teach me personally...."

"Yes, yes, Jessica-san. We're in the middle of a meeting, okay?"

"Eek, Ria?! N-No, that's not it!! I was just thinking how intense the training would surely be!"

"Yes, yes. I'll join in too, so don't worry!"

Saying so, invisible sparks practically flew between the two of them.

"Alright, then I'm last. Report on the battle between Betan and the Enaria army. Betan is providing what they can recreate themselves from Weed's technology. Things that can only be made with DP are useless to them. Even so, the city is quite lively. Thanks to that, even we former enemies have been accepted. The successful repulsion of the Enaria army has everyone excited."

"It felt great to cut loose after so long."

"Yes, I'm happy I could be useful to Danna-sama."

Seraria and Rurua smiled as they spoke, but the enemies blown away for stress relief were quite unfortunate.

"As for the combat report itself, there isn't much to say. When the enemy's 80,000-strong reinforcement force split up, my wives went wild and wiped them out, just as Seraria and Rurua mentioned. For the main host, Steve took down their reinforcement commander, causing their morale to plummet through the floor. Meanwhile, Mino-chan's cave-in unit negotiated with the enemy rescue force, taking one Magic Sword wielder inside the dungeon as a prisoner of war."

"...You say that so casually, but hat's an absurd list of accomplishments."

Zargis interjected with a deadpan retort.

However, since my report wasn't finished yet, I put off replying to him.

"Also, regarding the 120,000 Enaria troops trapped inside the dungeon, I've observed them for the past month, and they aren't drastically different from Jilva's forces. The only ones who stand out are the Magic Sword wielders, but even those can be handled by Steve without much trouble."

"Wait, why am I the standard-ssu!? You're not gonna tell me to go suppress them or something, right!?"

"What are you talking about? Officially, Mino-chan's army has nothing to do with us. The general, Mino-chan, can't go as the negotiator, right? So you'll go as the representative to negotiate with Enaria. Conveniently, you're also in charge of taking care of the captured Magic Sword wielder."

"Waaahhhhhh!! Word's gonna spread through Enaria that I'm a total pervert!! They're gonna look at me like I'm some indiscriminate predator just like the Boss!!"

"Hey! Don't make me sound like one!"

"You totally are! Just look at your wives!! You have your pick, big breasts, small breasts, everything!! Die, you normie!!"

"Guh... But there's genuine love behind it, so it's fine!!"

"So you're admitting it now! Yay, you trashy eroge light-novel harem bastard protagonist!"

"Quit shouting that with tears streaming down your face!"

"Shut up! These are tears of the heart!"

Damn, Steve's stress has really built up. He didn't used to bite back this much.

Still, I need to make sure Steve doesn't say things like this outside... My reputation would plummet if people started calling me some harem bastard protagonist.

"Alright, alright. Both of you calm down. Steve, you got to grab a handful of breast too, so isn't that enough?"

"Ugeh!?"

"And as for you, Yuki, it's about time you accepted that you have a harem. It's not inherently a bad thing, you know."

"...My pride as a Japanese man is at stake here..."

"Good grief, you stubborn fool. Tonight, those of us who are free will thoroughly blow that pride away for you."

Seraria declared with a radiant smile.

The other wives' eyes instantly sharpened as well.

...I have normal work tomorrow, you know.

"SEE!? YOU HAREM BASTARD!! GO EXPLODE ALREADY!!"

After taking a brief break, we proceeded to hash out the finer details of our upcoming strategy.