Side: Yuki

Yeah. Once vacation ends, you return to the daily grind of work.

Looks like that's the same no matter which world you're in.

And when you return from break, work is piled up...

"So Taiki-kun, did you seriously capture another Holy Sword wielder?"

On top of that, we'd gained another headache.

Though, depending on how you looked at it, one problem had been taken care of. But when things kept coming one after another like this, sorting everything out, dealing with paperwork, and all the other miscellaneous tasks made things incredibly busy.

Do these problems ever think about giving me a little breathing room?

"Hey, I already sent you the report. Why are you asking me again?"

Taiki-kun and I were having this conversation on the terrace of a cottage along the sandy beach in the Special District.

By the way, I had opened this place up for Taiki-kun and his group's vacation. I wanted to hear opinions from other people, after all.

However, since Taiki-kun went and captured a Holy Sword wielder, I ended up having to confirm the details right in the middle of his time off.

"...Even if I don't want to, I have to ask. Once I get back to work, there's going to be a mountain of paperwork waiting for me."

"Ah, well, I guess that makes sense."

"I seriously don't understand how that much paperwork can accumulate in just one or two days."

"Well, I captured a Holy Sword Wielder and had to write a report. Then there were countless procedures for sending her to Weed. Everything requires paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork."

"To think I'd hear those words coming from you, Taiki-kun, considering you came straight here as a student."

"Well, I'm a king over here, you know? Being a hero was so much easier..."

"Good for you. You'll do just fine as a working adult back on the other side, too."

"...Living is tough, isn't it?"

What is this? A conversation between exhausted, drunk salarymen?

"Well, setting that aside, what did you think after actually fighting her?"

"Hmm, personally, I find it baffling how someone who has lived that long still has such naive thinking. 'We aren't wrong. It's everyone else who's bad. That's why we'll destroy everything.' That's all there is to it. For someone with such set ways, their thinking feels remarkably shallow. Am I overthinking it?"

"No, I think the same way. All six of the ones we've captured have the same mentality. You'd think at least one of them would have defected by now. After all, they've lived long enough to actually take action."

"Right? I don't want to think about it, but there might still be something going on behind the scenes."

"Well, there's also the possibility that they killed their predecessor and backed themselves into a corner, so they had no way of turning back."

"We still don't have any proof either way. And honestly, whether there's something behind it or not, it's going to be a pain in the ass regardless."

We exchanged bitter smiles.

Problems really don't get solved easily, do they?

"Taiki-samaaa! It's amazing!"

Airi's voice reached us from the sea.

Well then, I've heard what I wanted to ask, so it's about time this intruder takes his leave.

"Go on, Taiki-kun. Go play with Airi-san. Sorry for bothering you during your vacation."

"No, no—I'll leave the academy side to you."

"Not at all. I'll leave things at the Academy in your hands."

"Got it."

* * *

And so, I returned to the Academy to report to the Headmaster and Vice Headmaster...

"Damn it. Why does so much stuff keep happening...?"

Back when I was just an ordinary salaryman in Japan, I would never have interrupted an acquaintance's vacation like this.

But given my position, I had no choice... Maybe I should extend Taiki's vacation by another day or two?

As expected, I'm really not suited for a high-ranking position. That underdog mentality is just too deeply ingrained in me.

"Um... Is there some kind of problem?"

Poppuri, the Headmaster, asked timidly, seeing my exhausted expression.

Right, now that I'm back at the Academy, the official story is that I'm reporting back after delivering the personal letter. Eoid had already finished his report and stepped out, leaving behind the true purpose of my visit.

On paper, the Headmaster is above me, and I am below him. In reality, however, I'm the superior and Poppuri is the subordinate. For Poppuri, I must be an incredibly uncomfortable person to deal with.

"No, it's not your fault, Poppuri. It's a problem on our side. Still, you're doing a good job with all that paperwork."

As I said that, I pointed at the stacks of documents piled up on Poppuri's and Lara's desks.

Parchment was the norm here, so it smelled overwhelmingly of animal hide.

"Ah, then I'm sorry to hear you're having such a hard time."

"...Even a Dungeon Master isn't exempt from this, it seems."

"Yeah. Like Lara said, we're operating as an organization, so this kind of thing is inevitable."

"If I remember correctly, you're letting people live there, correct?"

"That's right. Killing people and collecting DP from them once is terribly inefficient. It's much better to provide them with a safe place to live, right?"

"Certainly, that's an ideal arrangement. But how did you manage to get people to live there? Neither my predecessor nor I ever imagined people living inside a dungeon. Back then, a dungeon was simply a place where people risked their lives."

"That's easy. I took in a large number of slaves. There was a war going on at the time, so there were a lot of slaves on the market, which drove the price down."

"I see. So that's where you got the people. Thinking about it that way, she could have used the same method... Ah, no. She was completely obsessed with her research."

...Huh?

Somehow, this conversation had turned into casual small talk.

"Anyway, we're getting off track. We can talk about Weed another day."

"Ah, sorry."

"My apologies."

"No, no. It's only natural that you'd be interested. Once things settle down, I'll give you a proper tour. There's no need to apologize. Anyway, what we need to discuss now is..."

"Taiki-dono, or rather, the Holy Sword wielder captured by the Hero Taiki-sama."

"And the travel permit for Cleana's country, right?"

"Yeah—and confirmation of the five Holy Sword wielders we captured."

Just putting it into words made it clear that these matters were a mountain of trouble, requiring a massive amount of reports.

On top of that, everything had to be kept strictly confidential, adding the extra nuisance of having to process it all in secret.

"...Things certainly move forward at a breath-taking pace, don't they?"

"Even so, thanks to Yuki-dono and the others, my homeland was saved. You have my deepest gratitude."

"—Hah~ hearing words of gratitude from Lara alone makes all this worthwhile. We don't usually get thanked."

"—That's true. We generally work completely behind the scenes and let others take the public credit, after all."

"...Even so, receiving the achievements is troublesome in its own way."

"Just as Cleana-san said. Considering our objective, attracting attention would be very undesirable."

"Exactly. If people start dumping even more troublesome jobs on us, we'll never be able to keep up."

My escorts joined the conversation.

As Jessica said, we generally tried to hand our achievements over to other people.

However, the King of Jilva went and dumped Betan on us without permission, and since there was a raid on the capital in Enaria, we took advantage of that situation, which ended up getting our names out there quite a bit.... Well, it gave Samantha's father and his people a positive evaluation, so it wasn't all bad.

Still, as Cleana said, if we accepted the achievements head-on, things would become exceedingly troublesome.

- We had conquered the fortress protected by the Holy Sword wielders in Enaria in less than a day—or rather, less than half a day. In fact, it was practically instantaneous.

- Taking advantage of that momentum, we incorporated Betan and another city into our territory, then used a massive pitfall—commonly known as the "staged collapse accident"—to stop nearly 100,000 troops from Enaria's Demon Sword Wielders.

- We then defeated the rescue force that had come to save them, went to Enaria for peace negotiations, prevented an attack on the royal capital, and succeeded in capturing the minister who had been pulling the strings behind the scenes.

If we seriously accepted the rewards for all those achievements, we'd become major figures in both countries. And as Samantha had said, we'd end up in positions where we couldn't move freely at all.

In our current situation, where we need footholds in various countries to prevent the covert operations of the Holy Sword Users, we absolutely cannot afford to be tied down. Furthermore, as Ria pointed out, we'd have to manage our position alongside those rewards... We still have our work in Weed, so there's no way I'd have the time to deal with all that.

Before building Weed, we needed to demonstrate our strength to those around us, so we used heavy-handed tactics with Seraria as general and clashed with Rithea, but that was pretty much the only thing that could truly be called a battle. Ever since then, it had been nothing but domestic affairs.

Anyway, enough of that.

I need to wrap up this confirmation quickly and move on to the next step.

"As Poppuri said, things are moving at a tremendous pace, but if we don't do it, nothing gets done. We'll just have to do our best while avoiding actions that would leave us unable to move freely. So, to start with, have you looked over the reports with photographs of the six captured Holy Sword wielders?"

"Yes."

"I have reviewed it. Still, to produce such a detailed document in just a few days... Weed's technology is truly magnificent..."

Lara held the only white sheets of paper among all the parchment.

Well, they didn't have photographs here, and handwritten parchment is the standard, after all.

"Eris worked through the night on them. If you see her later, make sure to thank her."

"Ah, Eris-san. If it's her, I can see how she accomplished it."

"I see. That makes sense."

By the way, these documents are written in this continent's language... In other words, we had to register all the characters into a computer and create them from scratch.

Right after arriving on this continent, Eris, Ratz, Rurua, Labyris, Sheila, and Zargis and I had been extremely busy with this task.

While translation is possible via skills, translating Japanese to English and English to Japanese often leads to subtle shifts in nuance. So, we created this system based on the idea that records should be kept in their original text.

"Since you've looked it over, there's something I'd like to ask. Are all six of them definitely the real deal?"

That's right.

I need to confirm whether those Holy Sword Wielders are the ones Poppuri knows.

We could invite Poppuri and Lara to Weed, but the new continent is still unstable; if trouble were to arise while Poppuri was away, our response would be severely delayed.

That's why we're streamlining things through reports and back-and-forth exchanges.

Poppuri and Lara re-examined the report on the spot before speaking up.

"Without a doubt, all six of them are genuine."

"Yes. I recognize all of them as well... However, something bothers me. The claim that they gave up a Holy Sword—the keepsake of their comrade—and made a young Enarian girl into a Holy Sword wielder doesn't sit well with me."

"Just as Lara says, that part feels a bit off to me too."

The reason we had to make this confirmation is because there had previously been a girl claiming to be a Holy Sword wielder during the fighting between Jilva and Enaria.

If there really was a next-generation Holy Sword wielder, then the Holy Sword wielders we'd captured could have been fakes or decoys, even if they really were former Holy Sword wielders.

However, in that case, it would be unnatural for them not to deploy the next-generation Holy Sword Wielder to defeat us.

"...Looks like we'll have to ask the captured women themselves. And if they were decoys and the real operation is taking place somewhere else, the important question is where. That's the crucial part."

"Even so, Taiki-san already stopped their activities in the Forest of Monsters before they could get started. That leaves Cleana and the demi-human country, doesn't it? We can fly to every other country except one almost immediately, and that remaining country is an ally of Jilva. We can get there quickly through King Jilva."

"Yeah, those two countries are the suspicious ones. There were already Holy Sword wielders operating in the Forest of Monsters. I'd like to visit both countries as soon as possible. Poppuri, what's the situation there?"

"Hmm, as for Cleana's side, there's no issue. I've already prepared a suitable formal letter, and Cleana's master, much like Samantha's father, was a former student of mine. He's a court magician now, isn't he?"

"...Nn. That's right. But he usually shuts himself deep in the forest, doing nothing but researching magic."

"And as Cleana says, it will take some time to get in touch with him. I've contacted the royal court, but word reaching Cleana's master will likely be delayed quite a bit. Well, we've settled things with the royal court, so leaving right away won't be a problem. However, officially speaking, it would be problematic if you didn't meet with Cleana's master."

"Figures. We're supposed to be delivering a letter at Headmaster Poppuri's request. If we ignore that and start running around doing our own thing, it'll look suspicious."

"That will delay establishing a base there. We do not even have any connections there, so leaving someone behind would be difficult."

"...Even so, we can't just leave for another country on the same day."

"Exactly. It's just a letter. If you start rushing around all over the place, you'll actually look more suspicious. Even if we call it Amanda's introduction as a Dragon Knight, what's the point if we spend almost no time anywhere? That's hardly an introduction."

"It would probably be safer to wait a little. Even if the trip is officially described as Amanda's introduction, we also have to consider Amanda's physical condition."

We could handle it, but Amanda wasn't accustomed to traveling through the air.

On top of that, she had recently come to realize her delicate position back in Rhodei. Having made up her mind to live peacefully with Eoid, she was currently in the middle of intense training alongside my wives. Naturally, she was exhausted.

While we were at the sea, it seems she and Eoid couldn't even move from their bed... Not in some steamy, romantic way, but physically—from muscle soreness and all sorts of fatigue.

Eoid was undergoing intense training from me and Taiki-kun too, so the two of them were resting together in bed. There wasn't a shred of romance to it; they were in a state where just moving their bodies made them yell out in pain.

"Well, as frustrating as it is, I think we should exercise patience for now and focus on organizing the information we've gathered so far."

Poppuri said, waving the documents slightly.

"Yeah. We might have overlooked something, so let's make good use of the time we have. 'Haste makes waste,' as they say."

"What does that mean?"

Poppuri asked curiously about the meaning of the idiom I used.

Do they not have a proverb like this here?

"It means that if you rush, you'll make some stupid mistake and fail to accomplish what you set out to do. Rushing isn't necessarily the fastest way to achieve your goal. 'Going quickly' and 'going fast' aren't always the same thing."

"That's very true. I think it's a wonderful saying."

"So the continent where Weed is located has sayings like that, huh? How fascinating."

"Well, let's do everything we can now so that we'll be able to take our time and talk like this later. Depending on how we organize and review the information, we might see things from a completely different perspective."

And so, we decided to put things on hold for about a week, spending that time organizing information and digging through the Academy's records.

If the remaining Holy Sword Users were to make a move during that time, it would give us a legitimate reason to act, and the thinning of mana in the Forest of Monsters was progressing smoothly anyway. In terms of quantity, we were reducing mana equivalent to the reserves of an entire country.

According to reports from Kirika and the others, apparently Amanda's wyvern had still only been the beginning—there were numerous genuine dragon-type monsters there as well. Around 20 of them, in fact... While not quite a Kaiju King, it was practically the exact scenario I had feared: a dragon army on the verge of appearing due to scattered mana.

Naturally, we forced every one of them to choose between obedience and death—and, about half chose each. We left the negotiations to Ta-chan and the rest of the Ten Demonic Beasts. We could have simply killed them and thinned out the mana even further, but the monsters might possess information that we didn't have.

If they were willing to cooperate, all the better.

...However, things didn't go quite that smoothly.

Plans are, after all, just plans.

If an unnecessary trouble pops up, you're forced to make changes.

Or rather, I had completely forgotten.

—This is the Academy. A school.

It's a complete parade of cliches.

Even though Taiki-kun and I had been desperately plotting to break those flags, there were so many main events that I had completely forgotten.

The only stroke of luck was that our discussion was already wrapped up, and we were preparing to leave the Headmaster's office.

BAM!!

Without any warning, the door to the Headmaster's office was thrown open, and walking through it was a handsome blond guy wearing the Academy's uniform.

"Headmaster!! Ranked 13th in the Academy, Ardes Gues, has just returned!!"

"Hey! Who enters without knocking!? I'm with guests! Get out!!"

Poppuri called out his rudeness, radiating anger to make him leave immediately, but the handsome guy paid no mind and walked straight up to the Headmaster's desk with brisk strides.

"Shall I kill him?"

"Please don't."

This is an academy; stuff like this is a daily occurrence.

Just as Ria implied, if we killed people over every little thing like this, how many would we have to end up killing?

"Are you listening, Ardes? Even if you are Ranked 13th in the Academy, I cannot overlook such impoliteness."

Lara spoke quietly as she stood up.

Her magic power converted into a chilling draft, causing the temperature in the Headmaster's office to drop... Ah, so Lara is fundamentally an ice-type?

"Please calm down. Headmaster, Vice Headmaster, there is a reason for this."

"I understand that. However, this is not something to discuss in front of guests, so get out at once."

Poppuri pointed toward the exit as he spoke, but the handsome guy made no move to leave. Instead, he looked at us for some reason and opened his mouth.

"No, I will not leave. Because a thief stands in this very room. You over there. You're Yuki, right?"

Calling me out out of nowhere—do you have a death wish or something?

Look... my wives' eyes were already shifting into killer mode.

"Hey!! What kind of way is that to speak to a guest?! Retract that!!"

"Headmaster, please open your eyes! I heard that you lost to a woman brought by this man. But that was a clever trap!! Look, Ranked 3rd and Ranked 10th of our Academy have already been taken in by him! He is a spy who came from Jilva and Enaria to weaken the Academy's fighting force!!"

...Why the heck would I be?

Although, considering the circumstances, I could understand how someone might come to that conclusion.

However, the reality was completely different, so the bloodlust around us continued to surge upward.

Yet, completely oblivious to this, the handsome idiot, Ardes, declared:

"Yuki, you do not fight yourself; you make women fight in your place!! That is something a man should be ashamed of!! As a human being, and as a man, I will defeat you and demand their release!! They are not tools for war!!"

It was a reasonable argument.

It was genuinely reasonable.

But the problem was that he was completely missing the point.

If this were peaceful Japan, Ardes' opinion would probably gather quite a lot of support. But this was a continent where the wars had never truly ended. Naturally, you used whatever resources you had available.

For someone living here to say something like that...

"And you true motive is?"

"I'll defeat you and make them fall for me!! I'm jealous as hell, damn it!!"

Yep.

That made perfect sense.

It was an incredibly youthful story.

"Well, I get what you're saying, but for now, take back the part about me being a spy. You're seriously gonna get killed, you know?"

"Eh? Ah, yes!! I went too far, it was a joke!!"

"So there you have it. Headmaster, Vice Headmaster, please calm down."

"...Ardes. You insolent bastard, stay right where you are. Got it?"

"...This is a massive issue on the level of severing your head to apologize, but Yuki-dono has interceded for you. You had better be grateful for that."

The two of them had completely dropped their formal personas.

Women really are scary, aren't they?

"...Ardes, thank Yuki. If he hadn't stopped us, I would have turned you to ash."

"Indeed. Right after Cleana-san charred you to a crisp, I would have turned you into an ice sculpture."

Cleana and Samantha, who knew him personally, also radiated blatant hostility, speaking in low, threatening voices toward Ardes.

"So, I understand you're jealous. But what's the resolution? Even if you talk about defeating me..."

"Naturally, a magic duel!! You're a student of this Academy too, aren't you?!"

"...Hah, and? A duel is fine, but I'm not making any wagers other than ranking changes, okay?"

"Why not!? Set those women free!!"

"Set free? Where do any of them have slave collars?"

On this continent, slaves are controlled via collars.

However, in a place where magic has regressed this much, it's a mystery how the method of binding through spells still remains. It seems the fluctuations in magic power don't affect casting the spell versus using it as a tool. In short, if you have a slave collar inscribed with the slave spell formula, you can use it as is.

Still, unlike the ones in Weed, the slave collars here used simplified magic formulas, and their restrictions were limited. You can't set detailed parameters.

'Don't run away, obey orders, don't commit suicide'. That's all.

So, my wives—who aren't wearing slave collars—are following me of their own free will... Well, I do have them under designated protection, though.

"No, no, we are with Yuki because we want to be. There is absolutely no reason for you to meddle." (Jessica)

"That's right. We love Yuki-san, so no matter what happens, there's no way we'd ever leave him. Are you stupid?" (Ria)

"...Besides, Yuki is the commander. Fighting on the front lines isn't what a commander should do."

"Indeed. While a commander who leads from the front isn't necessarily bad, from a military standpoint, it's an action we'd prefer you refrain from. Yuki-sama is doing nothing wrong by upholding that principle."

And after the four of them said their piece, they spoke in unison:

"""Not even a one-in-a-million chance, so get lost."""

Whoa, even I felt like backing away from how terrifyingly deep their voices were.

Ardes actually stumbled backward until he bumped into the Headmaster's desk.

"...Well, giving you the benefit of the doubt, let's say I wagered the release of my wives—even though it's meaningless. What are you going to wager on your end? A bet isn't approved unless both sides are equal, right?"

I turned my gaze toward Poopli as if seeking confirmation.

"It is just as Yuki-dono says. In the first place, a bet cannot be established. Their talents are extraordinary. Ardes, what do you intend to bring to the table to match their worth?"

"Ngh... T-That is..."

Did he seriously not think that through either?

"N-No! If you lose pathetically, seeing that should open their eyes!! Accept the duel!!"

Ah, taking that angle, are we?

Hm?

Wait a second... couldn't I actually use this to my advantage?

"Alright. If there's no wager, I'll accept the duel."

"""""EH!?"""""

My wives, the Headmaster, and the Vice Headmaster were all immensely shocked.

"W-Wait a moment, Yuki! I don't think for a second you'd lose to a small-fry like this, but as your guard, I cannot allow this!!"

"She's right!! Guys like this are guaranteed to play dirty!!"

"...Nn. Agreed. Yuki, there is no benefit in agreeing to this duel."

"Indeed. We cannot turn a blind eye to the possibility of our husband getting pointlessly injured!"

Well, under normal circumstances that would be true, but if you shift your perspective a little, there's a way to make use of this.

"Hmph, it seems you at least possess the manhood to accept this challenge. The duel is tomorrow!!"

"No, wait a second. I want to add some conditions."

"Conditions?"

That's right, conditions.

There's no way I'd accept this duel for nothing.

""""......""""

My wives grew quiet the moment they heard the word "conditions"... They really get me, don't they?

"It's nothing disadvantageous to you. The motive for this duel is because you aren't popular with girls, right? So, this duel shouldn't end with just you."

"...Well, that's true. Hey, it's not because I'm not popular!! It's to free those ladies...!!"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. That's why I'm going to bring two acquaintances of mine, so you bring two other guys who have a problem with us on your side, too."

"...Who are the other two? Fighting meaningless opponents is..."

"One is Taiki-kun. Just like me, he has wives. And the last one is Eoid. You know who Eoid is without me explaining, right?"

"That... perverted man?"

Yeah, let's use this event to advance Eoid and Amanda's relationship.

Though, for even Ardes to recognize him as a pervert, Eoid must have been triggering lucky pervert events constantly.

"A battle of elimination is fine, or a 3-v-3 works too. How about it?"

"Fine by me! That actually works out conveniently. I have plenty of comrades. And naturally, skilled ones at that!!"

"...Comrades who aren't popular?"

"That's right—Wait, no!! They are men who agree that these lovely ladies need to open their eyes!!"

"Well then, I accept the duel. So, Headmaster, please handle the procedures for the match."

"Eh? Ah, alright... But are you sure about this?"

"Well, it's a good opportunity to show off a bit in front of my wives. I'll give it my all."

I could hear voices behind me talking about recording the match and contacting everyone else, but oh well, it can't be helped if it's to keep my wives satisfied.

"Alright then, um, Ahodes. The date doesn't have to be tomorrow, okay?"

"It's not Ardes!! It's ARDES!! ...Wait, why would I need to push the date back...?"

"—Obviously because you won't be able to move tomorrow."

"H-Headmaster!?"

"Well, I'll go easy enough on you so that you can move by the day after tomorrow. Lara, prepare the arena."

"Yes, right away."

"Ardes, this isn't just punishment. As you are now, you wouldn't last a few seconds against Yuki-dono. That would be rude to Yuki-dono and the spectators alike. I'm going to train you until you can at least hold out for a minute."

* * *

And that was the last time anyone saw Ardes, the unpopular man.

...Wait, isn't that just going to ruin the duel?

The unpopular man, Ardes, would gain even greater power and stand in my way once more.

...Hm?

Doesn't this make me sound like the bad guy here?

Oh well. Anyway, I've gotta go talk to Taiki-kun and Eoid...