Side: Yuki

Now then, let's start with the conclusion first.

■ Report Regarding the Last Holy Sword Wielder

The last Holy Sword Wielder, Alfin, and her subordinate monster, the Ground Zero Dragon (known as Grad), have officially entered the dungeon's jurisdiction.

Labyris and Sheila—who had pursued Aslin and Filia—spoke with her normally. Upon learning that Labyris was the current Dungeon Master, hearing her ideals, and being shown Weed, Alfin immediately accepted designated protection, while Grad voluntarily chose to become part of the dungeon's forces.

There had been some concern that showing them around inside Weed would be dangerous, but I had already prepared a special passage with the skill-sealing magic that we use for situations like this, so we had them use that this time.

By the way, this was a facility prepared after Derieu's invasion.

It came from the recommendation of Derieu herself—who had invaded us due to a misunderstanding—suggesting that if someone attacks out of a misconception, showing them Weed would calm them right down.

Of course, John and Britt were there to guide them so that we could immediately suppress them with our strongest forces if necessary. Steve... well, forget about him being our strongest force. Although, in a way, Steve played a pretty major role in this too. I'll get to that part later in the report.

Anyway, from here on, I'll organize everything from the very beginning.

It all started when all but one of the Holy Sword wielders had been captured, leaving the final Holy Sword wielder, Alfin, waiting in ambush between Lancer Magic Academy and the Kingdom of August, intending to wipe us out.

At the time, we were planning various strategies around the Duel Festival so that we could keep track of the Holy Sword wielders' movements and make it easier for us to operate in the various countries.

According to the consensus among our dungeon core members, we had predicted the final Holy Sword Wielder's actions would roughly fall into one of three patterns:

- Avoid a direct confrontation with us and attack other countries.

- Realize she couldn't win and immediately go into hiding.

- Attack the Academy to crush us all in one fell swoop.

But Riel threw another possibility into the mix.

Since we were going to clash eventually anyway, why not crush the most troublesome opponent with our maximum forces?

- Ambush us in a place where there would be no interference and wipe us out.

Because this scenario posed the highest level of danger to us, so we immediately hurried confirmation of the air route that Dragon Knight Amanda and the wyvern would take, as well as reconnaissance.

The next morning, around 5:00 AM, the Holy Sword Wielder was spotted.

And then we confirmed a gigantic monster that appeared to be the enemy's greatest weapon. We immediately woke everyone except the children and called an emergency meeting.

First, we classified the monster summoned by the Holy Sword wielder as an unknown, highest-level monster. Based on the name of the adult form that we inferred from the monster that appeared to be a juvenile, we tentatively identified it as a Ground Zero Dragon. From then on, we referred to it simply as Ground Zero.

It boasted a height of 30 meters and a wingspan/width of 120 meters—a massive size comparable to a certain King of Monsters. Given that even the juvenile form was confirmed to breathe thermal beams, I summoned our modern weaponry unit from Weed, ordering them to inspect their armaments and stand by for deployment. This was born from the realization that swords and magic stood no chance against Ground Zero.

At this point, the option to negotiate was immediately rejected for the following reasons:

- Negotiating as the Mercenary Group: There was a high chance all of our faces were known to the enemy, making negotiations impossible. If exposed, they could take the initiative and deal us catastrophic damage.

- Sending a Neutral Envoy: This was also rejected because it would be painfully obvious they were sent by us, likely prompting the enemy to attack immediately. After all, we were the only ones aware of the Holy Sword Wielders and actively opposing them—meaning we were the only party with any motive to negotiate.

- Taking Other Holy Sword Wielders Hostage: If the enemy stopped upon seeing hostages, great; if not, she might wipe out the hostages along with us. Furthermore, taking hostages would drop the enemy's goodwill toward us to absolute rock bottom, meaning even if she surrendered, it would likely lead to a fatal betrayal down the line.

Yes, thinking back carefully, bringing negotiations—a simple talk—to the table was impossible from the very start. The odds were stacked too heavily against us.

Therefore, our strategy was to assess the enemy's abilities, trap it in a pitfall to restrict its movements, and, if possible, use that opportunity to start negotiations.

I remember talking with Taiki-kun about how, at least, the fact that there was still room for negotiation made it better than the Kaiju King. The Kaiju King was basically a natural phenomenon that transcended concepts like good and evil, after all.

To visually assess the opponent's capabilities, Steve and an elite goblin squad disguised themselves as local goblins to conduct reconnaissance on site. Naturally, wearing nothing but loincloths. While some suggested using Appraisal once she fell into the dungeon, if she happened to detect the Appraisal, she might perceive it as a hostile act and go wild. Thus, visual observation was deemed safest, and Steve's team executed the visual recon.

As planned, the pitfall strategy disguised as an underground lake collapse succeeded.

However, while we continued our observation, an anomaly occurred:

Aslin and Filia entered the operation zone.

I immediately dispatched Steve to stop them, but he couldn't convince them—or rather, the girls claimed they had come in response to a distress call from Ground Zero itself. Knowing the risks, but seeing that the opponent's movements were already sealed, we shifted to a negotiation-based strategy.

Call it luck, but the Holy Sword Wielder seemed entirely unaware of who the kids were. Mistaking them for fellow Tamers, she willingly accepted their treatment and, for some reason, ended up clinging to Steve in tears. Right on cue, Labyris and Sheila joined them. Afterward, they visited Weed, and her affiliation with the dungeon was decided.

By the way, we still haven't mentioned that the other Holy Sword Wielders are captured.

This is because Alfin herself doesn't know that the Mercenary Group and the Dungeon Master belong to the exact same organization. I plan to bring up the topic of the Holy Sword Wielders once she settles in.

Now then, the current debate centers around Aslin and Filia's unauthorized entry into the operation zone.

Under normal circumstances, entering an active operation zone is grounds for punishment regardless of who you are. However, this operation was top-secret, known only to the core members of the dungeon, and the operation zone hadn't been fully cordoned off. Of course, since Aslin and Filia are core members, their intrusion technically warrants punishment, but the circumstances this time were a bit different.

Since the two were asleep, I didn't wake them and left a written note instead.

Naturally, I conveyed this to Killue, who remained at home, and Kirika, who was conducting intelligence work in the city.

However, misunderstandings have a way of happening when least expected. Aslin and the other thought they had overslept, rushed out of their room, and in their haste, the note blew off the table... I really should have placed a paperweight on it...

Because of that, under the normal assumption of wanting to catch up with us, Aslin and Filia ate breakfast provided by Killue and left the kitchen, stating they were heading to where we were. Since Killue assumed they had read the note, she thought they were heading straight to the conference room rather than the Academy.

In reality, based on the original schedule, everyone was supposed to gather at the Academy before setting off, so Aslin and Filia used their Doppels to head to the Academy. On the way, they bumped into Amanda, who mentioned we were "in a meeting." Not wanting to interrupt, they decided to stroll around the Academy district instead.

Given the report that the innkeeper uncle gave them some fried chicken, there's no doubt about this part.

After that, they ran into Kirika. Upon hearing them say they were "killing time until the meeting ends," Kirika assumed they were staying within the city bounds.

Up to this point, everything was fine—it could be brushed off as a simple miscommunication.

However, the real issue came next.

Responding to Ground Zero's distress call transmitted via a specific telepathic frequency after falling into the pitfall, Aslin and Filia began moving toward the operation zone—complete with dragging along Steve, who had tried to stop them along the way.

While the end result was a fantastic achievement, the fact remains that they disrupted the operation and ignored Steve's orders to stop, which must be disciplined. Of course, as the one who created the cause for this miscommunication, I need to put measures in place for the future as well.

"...Hah."

My hands typing up the report come to a halt.

To take a breather, I reach for my cold cup of coffee and take a sip.

...The contents are completely wild, but at its core, I'm really just doing mundane paperwork, aren't I? What am I even doing after coming to another world?

...I feel like I say the exact same thing every single time.

Shifting my gaze away from the computer monitor, I see stack after stack of reports from Steve's team, Eris, and Ratz, along with budget breakdowns for this operation.

Yeah. It really never changes.

In fact, I feel like I have way more work now than back when I was just a low-level corporate grunt in my previous life.

"Dear, sorry to bother you~ Wait, what are you doing?"

The one entering my office with those words is the Queen of Weed—and my wife—Seraria.

"What am I doing? Despairing over this mountain of documents and taking a break."

"I see. While you're taking a break, want to sleep with me?"

"Pass. That'll just tire me out. If I had the energy for that, I'd already be doing it with those four over there."

"Yuki-san is so cold when he's in work mode~"

"Well, it is the proper attitude to have, but..."

"Nn. Proper, but dissatisfying. The break bed goes to waste."

"Indeed. Yuki-sama, please don't push yourself too hard. You can rest with us, you know?"

My four bodyguards voice their thoughts, but if I rest with them, my work will only pile up even higher.

Who in their right mind would dive into such a quagmire?

No matter how attractive my wives are, I'm in no mood for that under these circumstances. Even if I just try to sleep normally, I wake up stripped bare before I know it anyway...

"Fufu. I won't disturb a husband who's working hard."

"So, if you didn't come to disturb me, do you need something?"

"Yes, I came to check on this operation's report. There were a few details I wanted to get a handle on."

"Didn't a copy of the report get delivered to your side too?"

"I want to check your report. You're the one writing the final summary, right?"

"Ah, I see. But like I said, it's still in progress."

"That's fine. Yoisho~!"

Saying that, Seraria plops herself right down onto my lap.

She immediately grabs my arms, wraps them around her waist, and silently signals me to hold her tight so she doesn't fall.

"Mm. A very comfortable seat."

""""I'm jealous...""""

For some reason, the four bodyguards let out enviable sighs.

"You can all have a turn later. It's very relaxing."

"...It doesn't exactly help me get my work done, though."

Seraria is smaller than me, so I can still see the computer screen over her, but Jessica, Ria, and Ratz are taller. If they sat on my lap, I wouldn't be able to see a thing in front of me.

Or rather, even putting my hands on the keyboard would be a struggle.

"Let's see... This is it. Hmm..."

Ignoring my complaints, Seleria began reading the report I was still working on.

Gah, I want to say, "I'm gonna grope your chest!" But in this case, she'd just happily accept it, completely defeating the point and rendering my threat useless... So what's the best way to fend off someone with MAX resistance to sexual harassment?

...Wait. Am I technically the one being sexually harassed here?

Then again, we're married, so does this even count as harassment?

"I see. Hey, Dear."

"Whoa!?"

Seleria suddenly turned around to face me.

Her face was extremely close.

"Ara? How cold of you to look so surprised seeing your cute wife's face."

"Your face is too close. Move away to a proper distance."

"I suppose you're right."

Perhaps feeling it was hard to talk like that too, Seraria easily slides off me, pulls over a spare chair, places it right in front of mine, and sits down.

Now then, I've read through your report, and it looks like you're considering punishment for Aslin and Filia?"

"Well, yeah. I can't exactly let them off scot-free."

It was about maintaining overall discipline.

If anything, we had to be stricter precisely because they were family. Otherwise, it wouldn't set a good example for everyone else.

But Seraria said something I hadn't expected.

"Leaving them unpunished is totally fine."

"Huh?"

"You're overthinking this. At most, you should scold them for going outside without permission."

"If we do that, it won't set an example..."

"Setting an example for whom? This was a top-secret operation to begin with. There was zero disturbance caused to Weed. The expenses came out of our private soldiers, supplies, and personal funds. We were simply stopping a potential massacre while investigating the cause of the mana depletion. On top of that, even though it was an accident, Aslin and Filia achieved a completely bloodless outcome without even knowing the operation details. So tell me—what exactly should they be punished for?"

Ah.

So that's what she meant.

Because we were doing this secretly and on our own, there wasn't really anyone we needed to set an example for.

Since everyone understands that we are investigating the cause of the mana depletion and is cooperating with us, as long as there's no actual harm done, a simple verbal warning is more than enough.

"...You've achieved too much, for better or worse. That's why you've never hesitated to praise people and give them rewards when they achieved good results. But this is the first time you've had such an obvious failure. You never expected your own family to throw everything into chaos, did you? So you were trying to properly scold those two in order to protect them. Am I wrong?"

She's right.

Those two are already my precious little sisters... That's why I felt I had to make sure something like this never happened again.

In a way, ever since coming here, I've been dragging myself into political thinking, causing my mindset to grow rigid.

"...Sigh, so it wasn't necessary after all, huh."

"Yes. Just a simple verbal, 'You shouldn't go outside on your own,' is enough. We aren't an army operating under orders from a country. We're simply investigating the cause of the magical power depletion ourselves. It's only because we're operating on such a large scale that our management has started to resemble that of a military organization. Well, if Luna demanded we punish them, that would be troublesome, but she hasn't said anything like that, right?"

"Not at all. That useless goddess is just doting on those two like usual... Still, I see. I ran this operation secretly specifically because I wanted to avoid all those annoying entanglements."

"Exactly. Once we have a good grasp on things, we can dump the rest of the work onto others and live peacefully together, right? Well, if we had failed this time, setting aside our Doppels, the people of the New Continent might have died, which is probably why you took it so heavily. But in the first place, if you look at the cause, it's just our own fault for the miscommunication."

"That's a pretty harsh way to put it. But yeah, those are lines I should be saying."

"Right. The usual you would just brush it off like that and try various things—with the mindset of 'even if we mess up, we just save everyone in the end anyway.'"

The usual me would definitely think like that... Yeah, my thinking really had gone rigid this time.

Maybe talking too much with Taiki-kun about the Kaiju King had also been a bad influence.

I'd become too convinced that it was a disaster, which meant there was absolutely no point in trying to negotiate with it.

"If things really came down to it, we could just drag the entire academy into the dungeon. Damn, I didn't even have enough room in my head to think of something like that."

"Exactly. Though I never would have thought of dragging an entire city into the dungeon and protecting it that way. As always, you come up with ideas from completely unexpected directions."

In a certain iconic anime era, there was a way to retract entire cities underground to prevent damage... Ahh, the fact that I couldn't even bring up that kind of reference proves just how exhausted I really was.

"Well, in the end, humans naturally think from their own perspective. There's no point worrying about everyone else's opinions and evaluations all the time."

That's how I'd lived ever since coming to this world.

How could I make my own life easier while solving the mana depletion problem?

I'd kicked aside everyone else's schemes and expectations along the way.

"You're finally becoming yourself again. I like you when you act like a ruler, too, but the you right now is the one I like best."

"Seraria..."

"You pulled me out of the tiny world I had trapped myself in. And when you pulled me out, the world you showed me was enormous. I couldn't see the end of it at all. It was a world where status, authority, and wealth meant nothing. You walk through that boundless world so leisurely. When you get hungry, you don't just find food from your surroundings to eat—you cultivate it, and eventually, you even build a city in the middle of a wasteland."

"...Isn't that completely absurd when you phrase it like that?"

"Isn't that what you've been doing all along?"

Hah, I completely lost to Seraria.

She's a really good wife.

...I've kind of lost all motivation to deal with paperwork now.

For now, I type one final line at the very end of the report:

'All's well that ends well.'

Seraria saw that sentence and broke into a beautiful smile as she slipped her arms around mine.

There were certainly things we could learn from this. But the important thing was that it hadn't ended in tragedy. First, we should celebrate that.

"Now then, work is over for today, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Everyone, let's prepare dinner!"

"""Yes!"""

The four bodyguards reply with bright smiles and leave the room.

As a little extra, I grabbed the slender Cleana, who looked like I could probably lift her with one arm, and pulled her into my arms.

"Kyaa!"

"Oh, lucky!"

"Yuki, me next."

"I'd like a turn too, please."

"Fufu, indeed. I'll take one too.

While making a fuss, I contact my other wives as well. Every single one of them replies instantly, saying they're heading home.

We should definitely invite Taiki-kun, Airi-san, Poppuri, and Lara too.

Fun things ought to be shared with everyone.

Now then... what kind of dish should I cook today?

Come to think of it, wasn't this what I used to do with my best friends too? Doing stupid things together and ending up like this.

* * *

Side: Steve

"Haa..."

I let out a heavy sigh as I walk down the hallway.

To be precise, I'm walking down the hallway to deliver a finished report to the Boss.

The cause of my sigh was this report—it was about the Holy Sword wielder, Alfin.

For some reason, Alfin-san has had a ridiculously high affection level toward me from the very beginning. Well, thanks to that, showing her around Weed went smoothly and she accepted designated protection without a fuss. In a way, her case was settled more peacefully than any other Holy Sword Wielder so far.

However, for me, it's not something I can celebrate at all... Having someone cry tears of joy or hug me over things I have zero memory of leaves me completely at a loss for what to do.

"Roughly guessing from Alfin-san's story, she's overlapping me with a goblin she used to be close with in the past-su."

It's true that I've always wanted to be popular. I've always wanted a cute, beautiful wife.

But being looked at while someone is actually seeing a completely different person through me doesn't make me happy in the slightest.

"...Even if I put that in the report, the outcome is obvious-su."

Naturally, they'll have Alfin-san stay by my side to help her settle down.

With this kind of emotional trauma, thrusting the cold truth at her out of nowhere rarely yields good results. She'd either completely break down, or reject the truth and sink deeper into her codependency. Gradually letting her realize the truth on her own is what's important.

Which means, once I hand in this report, I'll be forced into a sweet yet embarrassing cohabitation with Alfin-san—though naturally, with absolute celibacy. If I lay a hand on her and get her pregnant, no matter how I look at it, I'll be sentenced to death by hanging, with Seraria-neesan leading the execution team-su.

Not that I have any intention of doing that whatsoever! But I'm a guy too, you know? I wanted to consult the Boss about these kinds of things. He always seems to be getting devoured by the big sisters, after all... Ugh, not that I'm jealous or anything-su!

While lost in thought, I arrive in front of the Boss's office.

"Boss—I'm coming in."

I give a moderate knock and step inside.

I assumed the Boss would be swamped writing reports about this entire ordeal anyway, so I didn't expect a proper answer.

When I step inside, there's nobody there.

"...Huh? Is it already quitting time?"

Checking the clock, only about an hour has passed since lunch break ended.

As I tilt my head wondering if something happened, a voice calls out from behind me.

"What're you doing?"

"Hm? Ah, John? I'm just here to turn in a report-su... More importantly, why are you carrying such a mountain of vegetables?"

"Haven't you heard? Work's canceled for today, we're having a banquet right now! Man, it's great news, right? No punishment for Princess Aslin or Princess Filia. Ever since this operation started, the Boss was weirdly tense, so I was worried, but looks like it was all for nothing. So yeah, hand that report in another day."

"Haa... Somehow, it's a classic pattern that my efforts end up being wasted."

"That's always the case. Here, help me carry these vegetables too."

Saying that, John hands over a basket of vegetables.

I catch it instinctively, but...

"S-So heavy!?"

I was shocked by how heavy it was.

What gives? Were vegetables always this heavy?

Puzzled, I look down at the basket, only to see a giant mountain of cucumbers stretching out before me.

"CUCUMBERS AGAIN!? Who on earth is gonna eat this amount!?"

"I am!!"

"YOU!? Then carry them yourself!!"

"Hey, of course there's enough for you guys too!"

"We're not kappa, you know!!"

Ahh... Looks like we're back to the usual routine.

Well, just like John said, as long as the boss is back to normal, that's all that matters.

I'm sure he'll come up with some funny, ridiculous solution to my own problem too—one that somehow manages to solve everything without causing any trouble.