Ch.309Storm-like Woman

After returning to Westend Seventh and selling my horse to the Pioneer Bureau, I was resting in my lodgings to purify the dark magic accumulated in my body.

“BANG!”

“Whoa!?”

“Excuse me!”

A short, stocky middle-aged woman violently flung open the door to a guest room where another guest was staying.

This wasn’t something a hotel employee would ever do, nor was it acceptable behavior for another guest.

Moreover, if one happened to be rolling around naked in bed with three women at the time, the embarrassment would be beyond words.

“Eek!?”

“W-who are you!?”

Jessica, Seti, and Phyllis were startled and hurriedly covered themselves with blankets, but the stocky woman who had suddenly barged in didn’t pay them any attention. Instead, she fixed me with a devouring gaze.

Behind her stood a hotel employee with one eye bruised blue, looking perplexed and at a loss for what to do.

“Are you William J. Kim!?”

“…I am, but who are you to cause such a disturbance in broad daylight?”

“Look at my hair and think again if nothing comes to mind!”

Her hair?

The silver hair tied up in a bun did have an unusual luster and shine for a middle-aged woman, but…

…Wait, silver hair!? And she’s short and plump…!

“C-could you be… Mina’s…?”

“That’s right. My name is Melissa Belghand! Wife of Oppenbartel Belghand, the director of Blackforge Mine, and mother of Minarette whom you took away!”

The identity of the woman who had interrupted my happy time in the middle of the day was none other than Mina’s mother.

To make matters worse, Mina was currently in Technopolis working on improving the bio-converter, while I had been caught in the act with other women.

This couldn’t be a worse first meeting with a potential mother-in-law.

“N-nice to meet you, Mother. Mina is currently…”

“Mother?”

The killing intent that suddenly emanated from her triggered my danger detection ability, but I managed to calm myself and face Mina’s mother with a serious expression.

“…Mrs. Belghand. Please wait downstairs for a moment while I get properly dressed and greet you formally. I can also properly explain the parts you’re misunderstanding.”

“You’d better. I want to hear how the man who sweet-talked my daughter into going to the edge of the western frontier has abandoned her somewhere while rolling around with three other women. If you can’t provide a satisfactory explanation…”

Mrs. Melissa grabbed the door with one hand, crushed it with a cracking sound, tore off a handful, and scattered the splintered wood pieces on the floor while staring between my legs.

I wasn’t stupid enough to need a verbal explanation of what that gesture meant.

“…Of course.”

Feeling cold sweat running down my spine, I desperately racked my brain for how to resolve this situation amicably.

~~~ Westend Seventh, Lodging 1st Floor ~~~

“…So Mina is conducting important research elsewhere, and you’ve temporarily returned to this city to purify dark magic. I understand that part.”

After securing a corner table on the first floor of the lodging and explaining why Mina wasn’t with me, her mother Melissa fortunately accepted my explanation.

She accepted it, but…

“However, that doesn’t make it acceptable that the man dating Minarette has three other lovers.”

“If we’re being precise, Mina was actually the last one I decided to date…”

“That makes it even worse. Not satisfied with three women, you extended your predatory claws to a business partner. Minarette is not a trophy to satisfy your twisted collecting desire.”

Melissa’s voice was ice-cold yet filled with anger that seemed ready to explode at any moment.

It seemed her current assessment of me was somewhere around ‘garbage who seduced an innocent daughter because he wanted to sleep with women of various races.’

“And you ladies too. I’ve heard that humans tolerate polygamy and some beast tribes do as well, but isn’t four too many? Especially you, the elf, what’s your name…”

“Phyllis Eidra. A guardian from the Willow Sanctuary, ma’am.”

“Yes, Miss Phyllis. I understand that elves, like us dwarves, practice monogamy in principle. I don’t understand why you would choose to reduce yourself to being just one of many women for this philanderer.”

Melissa turned her criticism toward Phyllis the elf, suggesting that not only was I a womanizer, but the women who went along with me were problematic too.

However, Phyllis responded calmly to Melissa’s accusation without batting an eye.

“Mrs. Melissa, you’re under a serious misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding? What am I misunderstanding?”

“Will is not the philanderer you think he is. Throughout our journey, he has never once made advances toward women or taken approaches from women lightly. Take Seti here as an example—she confessed to Will first but was rejected once because of his feelings for Jessica.”

As Phyllis spoke, Seti nodded slightly, and Melissa looked surprised.

It’s true that I once rejected Seti when she came to me in her underwear in Oxville.

The problem is that within 30 minutes of that rejection, I ended up in bed with Jessica and Seti, starting a harem relationship.

“Both Mina and I also spent countless hours agonizing and suffering alone before confessing our feelings to Will. I was prepared to be ungrateful and tried to separate Will and Jessica, while Mina even resorted to dangerous drugs out of her desire to be seen as a woman by Will.”

“Dangerous drugs!?”

“It was a kind of beauty product with excessive effects. Fortunately, Will immediately obtained an antidote for treatment, and we confirmed there were no lasting harmful effects, so you needn’t worry.”

At the mention of dangerous drugs, Melissa jumped up in alarm, perhaps thinking of narcotics, but she soon sighed in relief and sat back down after hearing Phyllis’s explanation.

“…Very well. If you put it that way, I’ll withdraw my statement about him collecting women like trophies.”

Phyllis’s sincere defense seemed to work, as Melissa’s expression, which had looked fierce enough to chew up a ghost, softened ever so slightly.

“But even so, as a parent, I want my daughter to be with a man who looks only at her and live a happy life. And if possible, with a dwarf man who can share the same values.”

“Excuse me, Mina’s mother, could we postpone this conversation until we meet up with Mina?” Jessica suddenly interjected, momentarily silencing Melissa.

“I understand you mistook Will for a womanizer when you saw the four of us in bed together. Now that misunderstanding has been cleared up, I think the next conversation should take place with all parties present.”

“…You’re right. In that case, I’ll accompany you when you return to where Mina is. When will that be?”

“We were planning to leave early tomorrow morning, but if you wish, we could leave this evening…”

“No, let’s stick to tomorrow morning as planned. I can’t disrupt adventurers’ rest because of personal feelings.”

Melissa stood up and pointed to a wall clock.

“I’ll come back tomorrow at 8 AM. If he’s a man who takes his relationship with Mina seriously, I trust he won’t do something as disgraceful as fleeing in the night.”

“Of course, Mother.”

“Hmm!?”

“…Mrs. Belghand.”

“Hmph.”

With a cold snort, Melissa left the lodging. Only after confirming she was completely gone did I exhale in relief and collapse onto the table.

“Whew… feels like a storm just passed through.”

“I don’t know about her father Oppenbartel, but things don’t look smooth with her mother.”

“Well, few parents would look favorably on a man with four lovers as a potential son-in-law.”

But if I can’t overcome this barrier, a harem relationship will remain a distant dream.

Having committed to dating four women, and having established physical relationships with them, my mission is to convince all their parents by whatever means necessary.

As I made this resolution, Seti tugged at my clothes.

“Hmm?”

“…Mina’s mom is gone now.”

“Ah… sorry, but I need some time to find mental stability. What happened earlier might become a slight trauma.”

Having your lover’s mother barge in during sex was shocking enough, but the sight of her tearing apart the thick door like it was styrofoam is still vivid in my mind.

In the end, we never resumed the interrupted session that day, even by bedtime.

…It’s just a temporary issue, right?

Yeah, it must be. Sure.