Episode 248
"Hmm..."
I was gently stroking Lulu's stomach as she made purring sounds, when I finally fixed my gaze on the Affection System window I had been manipulating until then.
[Affection System LV 4]
Isollet Arham Baiwork
├ Worry (70%) Lust (10%) Maternal Love (20%)
This was because the Affection System had upgraded to LV4, allowing me to constantly know the largest emotions she held toward me.
'She must have been worrying about me quite a lot...'
I tried my best to ignore the latter two emotions and turned my gaze to Isollet, who had been standing before me with a dazed expression.
If it were up to my heart, I would have gone directly to her house, but realizing that the pursuit team organized by Vener had spread throughout the empire, I had no choice but to give up.
If it were a place like this on the outskirts, maybe, but her house was situated right in the heart of the imperial capital.
Rather than risking danger to visit her house, it was safer to have her come here.
Besides, Klana and Lulu, who had briefly gone to attend to some business, were desperately trying to stop me from going outside.
"Hm?"
I was recalling the miserable expressions they made when I said I would go to Isollet's house, when Lulu suddenly lifted her head, so I asked with a puzzled expression.
"What's wrong? Lulu?"
"...I think someone is there."
Then, Lulu pricked her ears and whispered thus.
"Must be the servants."
"Something feels different about the energy..."
Even as I answered with a nonchalant expression, Lulu muttered in a low voice, then hopped down from my lap to the floor and headed toward the door.
"I'll go check."
"...Alright."
Lulu's detection ability seems to be increasing day by day lately. The awakening of her Magic Eye should have already finished, could it be that she's still growing?
And lately, I sometimes get startled when I look at her, and occasionally she even appears charming to me. Is it because we've been living too close together?
"Ahem..."
"Sister, are you coming to your senses now?"
I had fallen into momentary contemplation over some subtle feeling for some reason, then turned my gaze to Isollet, who had been wearing a bewildered expression ever since drinking the hangover cure potion.
"...Y-yes."
Isollet, her face flushed bright red, nodded quietly.
[Current Thoughts]
- I want to raise Frey.
- I want to protect Frey.
Looking at her, I quietly used the leveled-up Mind Reading skill and then shook my head slowly.
'I need to reduce her attachment a bit.'
If I can't stop her from worrying about me, I should at least lower the degree of worry.
And to do that, I first need to clearly establish the hierarchical order between us.
Until now, I tried to make her worry by disappointing her, but now I'm going to try the opposite.
This is what you call a change of approach.
I need to make her realize that I am positioned so far above her that even worrying about me would be presumptuous.
After all, she has quite the chivalric spirit.
"Lie down."
"H-huh?"
Thinking such thoughts, I spoke with an arrogant expression.
"I said lie down on the floor."
"O-okay..."
Then, bewildered as she was, she began to lie down on the floor following my command.
"Lie on your back showing your belly. Like Lulu. If you're my knight, show me your submission."
"...Ugh."
I made her lie down showing her belly, and seated in a chair, I gently stepped on her stomach.
"Now that you know my true identity, there's no need to hide anything."
And propping my chin on my hand, I began to whisper to her in a low voice.
"It's true that I have limited time... but that was only because I received power from the Demon King."
"Urk."
"Extending my lifespan isn't particularly difficult. I hold quite a high position in the Demon King's army, you see."
Saying that, I put more weight on my foot and looked down at Isollet with a mocking expression as I whispered.
"Sister made a big mistake. You had your whole future ahead of you, yet you voluntarily became my slave? Sister... no, you are now beneath me."
"......."
"Well, it was your choice, so it's no use regretting it now. Going forward, follow my commands and take the lead in destroying the empire..."
As I said that, I suddenly picked up the shirt she had been wearing until just now, which was placed in my arms.
"No, actually, just spend your whole life like this as my footrest. It suits you."
- Sliding...
"...You lewd worthless bastard."
I whispered in a denunciatory voice and tossed it onto Isollet's face as she lay looking up at me blankly, and she fell into deep silence.
"Thank you... for teaching me... my place... Master."
After some time passed, a trembling voice came from beneath the shirt covering her lips.
[Affection System LV 4]
Isollet Arham Baiwork
├ Worry (15%)
"Phew..."
Seeing that her worry had decreased significantly, it seems this was the right answer.
I'll need to keep making her recognize that I am above and she is below like this going forward.
If I do that, I should be able to control her for the time being, right?
Impulse (39%) Patience (41%) Desire to Educate (5%)
The other emotions that appeared for some reason, let's ignore those for now.
- Sliding...
Thinking such thoughts as I was trampling on Isollet's stomach, I quietly turned my head when I heard a sound near the door.
"M-Master."
Then, Lulu came into view, her eyes wide as if in shock.
"P-please dominate only me..."
I tilted my head looking at Lulu who seemed restless for some reason, and tried to remove my foot from Isollet while sweating slightly.
- Peek...
But when someone next to Lulu slightly stuck their head out, I froze, unable to move my foot.
- Whoosh!
At the same time, the person who had stuck their head out hurriedly pulled it back.
- Peek, peek...
But soon began timidly peeking at the situation inside the room.
'I'm going crazy.'
Of all things, to show this kind of situation.
- I like you, Frey. I really, really like you.
- I just like you so much. Just looking at you makes me happy.
- I want to go on a date with you, Frey.
With the thoughts caught by the Mind Reading skill whose duration was almost up, and those moon-colored eyes, it was obvious who had come here.
Actually, I had suspected it ever since the date mission appeared earlier...
- I want to make babies with you, Frey.
"Sigh."
It seems my fiancée has come to find me.
.
"Hehe... hehehe..."
Serena sat in her seat, smiling brightly like a child as she looked at Frey.
"...Why did you come here?"
Frey looked at such a Serena with an annoyed gaze, then rested his arm on the sofa's armrest, propped his chin on his hand, and asked in a disinterested voice.
"Ah, well... that is..."
Serena, who had reached the conclusion that she needed to get a patient gown quickly since wearing one while nursing Frey would mean matching couple outfits with him, urgently turned her gaze to Frey and spoke.
"Y-you're... sick, right? So... I came to nurse you..."
"I'm fully recovered."
"Wh-what?"
"I've become healthy enough to be discharged right now. So nursing isn't necessary."
But when Frey spoke in a firm voice, she wore a shocked expression.
The grand plan she had devised was starting to go awry from the very beginning.
"St-still, you need to recuperate, right? Your body isn't well, so you should rest. Besides, you're currently missing."
"Right, that's true."
"Yes, so I'll be by your side..."
"I don't need you."
Serena, who was desperately mentioning her own necessity, went blank-faced as Frey said that and hugged Lulu who was beside him.
"...Chu."
Frey, looking at such a Serena, went even further, grabbed the chin of Lulu who was lying at his feet with a dazed expression, and gave a short kiss.
"Lulu and Isollet will nurse me. So I don't need you."
When Frey's cold-hearted statement finally ended, a brief silence flowed through the room.
"I see..."
Serena, whose expression had noticeably darkened, quietly lowered her head.
"So I was... the unnecessary one."
Lulu, monopolizing Frey's love at his feet.
Isollet, fiddling with her sword in the distance while pretending to be calm, but clearly harboring some hidden agenda visible to her sharp eyes.
She had thought of them as interlopers, but from Frey's perspective, she had just realized that she was the interloper.
"But still..."
Nevertheless, she whispered with a bright smile.
"I like you, Frey."
The thoughts of Serena that floated up through Frey's Mind Reading skill had not changed even once since she was young.
"Well, then... huh?"
Frey's eyes, who was glancing at such a Serena and about to issue a dismissal, suddenly widened.
"...What is that?"
And Frey suddenly began to sweat coldly.
"Uh, um..."
His eyes were fixed on empty space.
"Hm..."
Serena's eyes, who was carefully observing Frey's behavior, began to shine.
"What kind of spell is that?"
"What?"
Serena, full of curiosity, asked a question.
"From what I can see... it looks like some kind of square object floating before your eyes... there's writing on it too... about this size... hmm..."
"...Damn."
It was the System Window Detection she had displayed at Klana's engagement ceremony a few months ago.
"Forget what just happened."
"...Yes."
When Frey had no choice but to shake his head and speak, Serena's pupils went blurry as she assumed a demure posture.
"As expected..."
"......!"
Lulu, seeing that sight, made an expression saying 'as expected of Master,' and Isollet wore a surprised expression.
"Wh-what was that? Just now?"
And Miho, who had been crouching in the back glaring at Frey, wore an expression of astonishment.
'It's gone completely.'
Even though he used a spell right before her eyes, no one's affection except Miho's had decreased.
Frey, wearing a troubled expression at this fact...
"Get ready."
"Huh?"
He said that to Serena who had regained consciousness at some point, and stood up from his seat.
"Prepare for the date."
"Yes, then...... what!?"
Serena, who had stood up as well and was answering in a dejected voice, suddenly realized the meaning of Frey's words and shouted.
"Why, don't you want to go?"
"N-no, no, no! No!!"
When Frey, looking at such a Serena, asked in a low voice, Serena hurriedly shook her head.
"Then get ready."
"Uh..."
"We're leaving in 30 minutes."
"Gasp! Eek! Ugh?"
When Frey drove the point home to such a Serena, she began making strange noises.
"M-Miho. Pinch me."
She scurried over to Miho, who was crouching in the corner, and asked with trembling eyes.
- Squeeze...
"Eeee..."
Miho, who for some reason was in quite a sulk, grabbed and pulled Serena's cheek, causing her soft cheek to stretch out like rice cake.
"...What should I do? What should I start with? Rainstorm? Rainstorm? No, first I need to buy an island... no, no..."
"Calm down, human."
Serena's precise brain, realizing this was reality from the pain that visited her cheek, began to overload.
"W-what do I do? What should I do?"
"Why would you ask me that, human."
"Uh, first... the first thing I need to do is... that is..."
Serena, spouting nonsense like a broken machine...
"...Ah."
"Wh-what?"
Suddenly grabbed Miho's shoulder, brought her to Frey, and spoke.
"Miho, ask Frey for 'that treatment'!"
"...That treatment?"
"Yes! That curse you said was specially effective on Frey!"
Miho's expression began to turn pale at those words.
"Th-that's...!"
"I need to plan the date, so you restore Frey's life force! As much as possible!!"
"But..."
"Please!! Make him really, really healthy!!"
However, it didn't seem to matter to Serena, whose eyes had already rolled back.
"Date, my first date with Frey... what do I do? What should I do? C-can I hold his hand? And people outside shouldn't see Frey, how should I disguise him..."
Serena, still in a state of overload, opened the door and scurried off somewhere.
""..........""
And a brief silence passed.
"Sh-she doesn't even know what this treatment is... foolish human..."
"Hm?"
When everyone's attention focused on her, Miho, who was quite intimidated, muttered thus.
"I need to step outside for a moment."
Isollet, who had been standing in the corner of the room with a calm expression until then, tilted her head and walked toward the door.
"...I sense a gaze from somewhere."
Like Lulu earlier, she had sensed something was off.
"Good."
With only Frey and Miho remaining in the room, Lulu made an expression saying things had worked out well.
"Why does my essence have to go to... that kind of guy... no, it is a contract, but..."
"Open your mouth, Miho."
"...Mmph!"
She gave the command to Miho with a cold expression.
"Bah..."
Miho, who had been turned into a magical creature by the Demon King, found it nearly impossible to resist Lulu's Magic Eye, and slowly opened her mouth following her command.
"Good girl."
With the actions she needed to perform with Frey now vividly appearing in her mind, Miho looked at Frey with an expression and eyes full of disgust, as if she had chewed on a bug.
- Humming...
From the tongue she stuck out, her fox bead was vibrating slightly.
"Hm."
Frey quietly looked down at Miho, who flinched as he stepped closer and even teared up.
"Gugu!"
".....?"
When Gugu squeezed through the slightly open window and appeared, he wore a bewildered expression.
"Where did you go...?"
"Goo?"
Gugu, who had flown off somewhere despite the dissuasion of surrounding animals, dragging his injured body, was wearing a stupid expression different from before.
- Fuelaer Asterate is
And that would have been the same for the writer of the letter Gugu held out to Frey.
- Coming to attack you right now!!
But actually, pigeons were intelligent animals, contrary to what is commonly known.
- With the Hero Party! The annoying Mr. Vener is the leader! The party members are...
"Good grief."
Frey's expression, as he read through the letter, stiffened.
- Be prepared! Worthless? Third-rate? Villain sir!
"H-hurry up...! Human...!"
Miho, looking at such a Frey with her tongue stuck out, was urging him on with an expression full of shame.
.
Meanwhile, at that same time.
"What, what do I do... what should I do..."
Rosewin, holed up in her room, was staring blankly into space with her eyes swollen.
[Helper System]
> The Hero's True Identity
- The Hero's true identity is, as you know....... [Frey ]
System recovering....[60% complete]
[
> Everything about the Hero
> All actions he has performed
> The truths of the world
> Restrictions to be applied to you henceforth
> Etc.
....Available for viewing upon system recovery completion]
An indescribable fear was slowly approaching her.
"Uu, ugh... uuuu..."
- Beep beep... beep beep...
At the sound of her crying, the calling bell that had been ringing from the Hero Party quietly went unanswered.