Ch.275Side Story: We’re Doing Well

“Mira. I sincerely ask, couldn’t you just spank me instead?”

“Hnyaaa… Zzz…”

“T-this is really embarrassing… ugh…”

“Leona, just look to the side. There’s mass magic there. I can’t tell if she’s being punished or making an appeal.”

“Mmm, I’m fine. If it’s punishment from my child, I’ll gladly accept anything…”

I immediately returned to the bedroom and gave a hard time to the other four people who were leisurely relaxing on the sofa, including Erestica. At first, they all tried to deny any involvement.

But once I focused on Priscilla and got her to confess, the others couldn’t hold out for long. Erestica was next to quickly read the situation, with Laura being the last.

Leona and Latina had been hesitating, but when Erestica joined my side, they smoothly slipped in as well. It was quite entertaining to see Laura’s expression as she found herself alone.

Kang Yuna seemed uncertain even as she spoke to me, but she had indeed made a deal with Nika. She had permitted Nika to take me away for about 30 minutes to celebrate the birthday party.

In exchange, Nika would share pheromones so they could all enjoy themselves afterward. They knew that if they had proposed this to me directly during the banquet, I would have obviously refused.

While these five were responsible for preventing chaos after I disappeared with Nika, the fact remains that Nika wouldn’t have been able to take me away if they hadn’t given permission in the first place, so I can hardly thank them.

Of course, Nika had extenuating circumstances. She had originally planned to surprise me after conquering the demon realm, but she couldn’t miss my birthday, so she was caught in a dilemma and chose the next best option.

Though that “next best option” being to take me away mid-banquet to absorb as much vital energy as possible for 30 minutes, and her strange understanding of why I gave her the demon sword, was a bit much.

“Are you filming properly?”

“Y-yes. Don’t worry, Mira. You know phones have good cameras these days, right?”

“Fear not. I am recording with the utmost care.”

Rosaria and Elisier were enthusiastically filming the punishment scene with their smartphones.

The two were excitedly capturing the moment. Even Elisier seemed visibly excited, which says it all.

I needed to punish them but had to consider what punishment to give. The result: making them stand with their hands raised.

Hitting them presented many issues. I couldn’t actually use violence, but if I just lightly touched them, many would probably enjoy it. Hitting hard would be actual violence.

This way, the shame would serve as punishment without being violent or causing emotional harm. Being mocked by Rosaria and Elisier was their own doing.

‘…Though it doesn’t seem to be working on two of them.’

Priscilla was nodding off while standing with her hands raised, making strange noises due to fatigue, while with Erestica, I couldn’t tell if she was being punished or trying to seduce me.

Her pose with arms raised above her head, combined with her sleeveless outfit, prominently displayed her clean armpits and the two overwhelming masses positioned below them.

I was already going crazy with vivid memories of what I’d done with Nika—possibly due to the pheromones—including things involving armpits, and now with this sight before me, my eyes were instinctively drawn to her.

“…”

As if aware of this, Erestica slightly turned her head to the side, gave me a smiling glance, and slightly bent her elbows, creating a pose that blurred the line between punishment and seduction.

“Now, Ms. Lee Seoa. Look here! Click!”

“Hmmmrgh… mmmph…”

“That’s right. Just like that. The embarrassed pose.”

“You know exactly why you’re being punished, don’t you, Laura?”

While the punishment seemed ineffective on those two, it was clearly working on Laura. It served her right, since she was the one who had concretized Nika’s proposal in the first place.

After telling them to stay like that for 30 minutes, I went out to the garden to get some fresh air. It was just before noon. The banquet would resume around lunchtime, so I wanted to clear my head before then.

The maids bustling around the garden consistently greeted me despite their busy schedules. Feeling like I was in the way, I headed to a secluded area to avoid disturbing their work.

“Io?”

“Ah, Master!”

There, I unexpectedly encountered Io.

She was struggling with a large box, which she put down with a bright smile when she saw me.

“What brings you here… Oh, I should say former Master now, shouldn’t I?”

“It doesn’t matter. Call me whatever you like.”

“It’s been a while, Mira oppa.”

The girl who had taken on the eldest daughter position among my “siblings” suddenly joined in. She had gained some weight and her complexion had improved significantly. She still looked thin, but that was because she had been so skinny before.

“Yes, it has been a while. Have you been well?”

“Yes. Even if I were just eating scraps here, it would still be better than before.”

“…That won’t happen.”

“That’s right. Honestly, saying I’m doing well doesn’t do it justice. You know how many of us were crammed into that tiny hut, right? But now we each have our own rooms, we get three proper meals a day of amazing quality, I don’t have to hear my siblings’ stomachs growling, I don’t need to put out buckets for leaking rainwater at night, and I don’t have to shiver when winter winds blow through broken boards—”

“Hey, hey! That’s enough!”

Io hastily covered her mouth. When her sister quieted down, Io bowed slightly to me, looking apologetic.

“I’m sorry, Mira-nim. She gets like this sometimes when she’s excited. She’s being treated too well here… I should work her harder…”

“It’s fine. It’s good to see she’s doing so well.”

Her sister grumbled that “it’s not that there’s too little work, I’m just competent.” Io completely ignored her.

“Is the work manageable?”

“Yes. Being a caravan guard isn’t particularly difficult. If anything, I sometimes wonder if I should be getting paid this much for such easy work.”

“You’re worth it for your skills. So… what about your sister?”

“She’s making remarkable progress. Diana unni has praised her learning abilities several times. She seems to enjoy looking at numbers and doing paperwork, so maybe it’s her calling. Diana unni said she’ll give her a branch of the trading company to run under her when she’s more experienced.”

Come to think of it, even her way of speaking was becoming like Diana’s. If you changed the formal speech to casual, she’d be about 0.7 Diana Crate.

“Good. Keep learning hard— Wait, Diana unni?”

Something about that title seemed odd.

“I called her Diana-nim at first, but she asked my age and said since we’re not that far apart, I should call her unni. I’ve been calling her that ever since.”

‘Not that far apart?’

By Earth standards, they’d be about 12 years apart. Does she have no conscience?

“Well… anyway. I’m glad you’re doing well.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Mira-nim. Oh, right! It’s not much, but… here, happy birthday. Martini and I saved up our wages to have this custom-made.”

“I contributed 55 percent and unni did 45.”

Her sister proudly raised her chin. I smiled and unwrapped the package.

“Gloves?”

Inside were black leather gloves.

“Yes. Since you wield your sword barehanded… calluses might feel strange, right? We asked the Master about your size, so they should fit perfectly. If… if you received something better, you don’t have to use them…”

Well, I had received gloves loaded with all kinds of enchantments as a birthday gift. They were from the Green Tower Lord, and I’d just said thanks and stored them in the warehouse with other gifts.

I tried on Io’s gloves, clenching and unclenching my fingers. They fit perfectly.

“They fit perfectly. I’ll use them well, thank you.”

“Really? Thank you so much.”

Both of them beamed with bright smiles.

I took off the gloves and put them in my inner pocket. They both seemed to be preparing to leave. Only then did I notice the box they had set aside. It was quite large, enough to cover Io’s entire upper body.

“What’s that? Looks pretty heavy.”

“Oh, this? Well, it’s… um…”

It was just a casual question, but Io’s visible discomfort made me suspicious. If it were an ordinary item, she wouldn’t be struggling to answer like this.

And they wouldn’t be exchanging glances like that either.

“It’s just an errand. For the Master.”

“An errand from big sis? Why are you doing it yourself instead of having the juniors handle it?”

“I’m a caravan guard. Running errands is part of the job…”

Io trailed off, avoiding my gaze. She was being blatantly suspicious.

As I approached the box, both of them blocked my way. Io with a visibly flustered face, and Martini biting her lip with a look of dismay.

“I’ll just take a look and put it back exactly as it was.”

“You can’t. Do you want us to get fired?”

“If you get fired, I’ll hire you back at twice your current salary, so don’t worry.”

“Really?— Gasp.”

“What are you falling for, unni?! Don’t you know people like us need to maintain our credibility above all?!”

Martini, speaking just like Diana, struggled frantically to push me away. Of course, it was a futile effort.

I could have pretended to be pushed back, but my curiosity was stronger. This was an item that Diana herself had entrusted to a guard of Io’s caliber, and it needed to be delivered through such a secluded route.

I easily restrained the two and approached the box. Martini shouted from the side, “If you open that, I’ll cry! I really will!” but I ignored her and opened the box as carefully as possible to make it easy to restore to its original state.

“…”

And then I quietly closed the box after confirming it was filled with a collection of erotic novels, enough to fill a box the size of a person’s upper body.

“…”

“…”

Io and Martini, apparently unaware of the nature of the items, were staring at the box with blank expressions.

“What did big sis say when she gave you this?”

“Just that it was extremely important and not to let anyone look inside before it reached its destination…”

“Who is it going to?”

“Someone named Kang Yuna.”

Good heavens.

“How are the smut novels in this world? Are they good?”

“W-what?! I don’t know what you’re talking about! Ha! Do I look like someone who would receive such things from Diana?!”

“I never said anything about you receiving them from Diana.”

“Oh.”