Ch.343Side Story: Among Family

“I’m sorry.”

It was actually the expected course of events.

It was so obvious that I could tell without even looking.

As soon as Erika, who had lost consciousness, returned, Professor Per, who had been engulfed in madness, was subdued and fell to his knees.

Coming to his senses, Per acknowledged that he had gone too far. Rather, he was feeling embarrassed as he reflected on the words he had spoken.

Professor Per is fine and all, but every time he gets absorbed in his research and goes on a rampage, he delivers quite a shock.

…Though I wouldn’t say it’s a good thing.

“Get rid of all those things! What kind of items did you bring to an academy where students walk around! Do you know how bad this is for education?!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Professor Per was now apologizing with his forehead pressed to the ground.

Normally, I might feel a bit sorry for him, but I truly didn’t feel sorry at all.

He should be scolded even more.

Meanwhile, I was inside the new prosthetic body that Professor Per had created.

‘It’s definitely sturdy.’

As I manifested some mana to roughly check its strength, it was already withstanding about twice the amount that my original prosthetic could handle.

There was some discomfort in moving my body, making expressions, and moving my mouth.

I also didn’t like having to attach that bizarre object to my lower body, but I was about to try living with this prosthetic for a few days just in case when—

Clunk.

“Ah, why do I have to do this?”

With an irritable grumble, a short-haired woman entered the laboratory.

Deia Verdi.

Her sudden appearance startled both Erika and me as we looked at her in confusion, and Deia also stood there blankly, meeting my eyes.

“Huh?”

While we were all confused by this unexpected encounter—

“Ah, right!”

Professor Per, who seemed to know something, tried to subtly get up, but as soon as he received Erika’s unwavering gaze, he immediately returned to his original position.

“Why are you here?”

“That’s what I want to ask.”

After I responded to Deia’s question, she immediately complained with irritation.

“You and Darius told me to go on blind dates.”

“And you’re doing that here?”

I wondered why they were doing it in Robern. Wouldn’t the capital, Greyfond, be much more convenient?

“Do you think I can go to the capital right now? If the Verdi name is mentioned, surveillance follows immediately. I probably won’t be able to set foot on that land for several years.”

“…”

Originally, she should have given up her position as Margrave, but thanks to her contributions in protecting the Norsweden Mountains and Darius creating justification by leading the campaign to subjugate me, Orpheus had managed to circumvent responsibility through something like a fine.

“So I’m having blind dates here. If I ask the other parties to come to Norsweden, those weaklings living in the center of the kingdom would find it difficult.”

It was a manner of speaking befitting a northern lady, but not something she should say about her potential blind date partners.

“Watch your words. They might become your husband after all.”

“Oh, really?”

As I cautioned her, Deia immediately approached me with an incredulous look.

“You’re not my brother anymore. You’re not Deus. You’re just Shinwoo Kim.”

“…Right, that’s true.”

I felt a bit hurt when she said that, but I didn’t show it. We had been family after all.

“Well, if I had to say, you’re more like the boy next door, right?”

Deia corrected herself, thinking she had misspoken, but honestly, I didn’t like that either.

“So you came from a blind date today?”

“Yeah, I have five blind dates scheduled over the next week. That crazy Darius, what is he doing to his sister…”

“He’s probably worried about you in his own way. Even in these times when the view toward the Verdi family isn’t good, the fact that they’re willing to have blind dates means they’re somewhat sincere.”

“So what? None of them are to my liking. Do you know what the guy I met today said to me?”

The conversation naturally turned into a venting session, but I immediately listened attentively to Deia’s story.

I appreciated her consideration in treating me as if we had seen each other just yesterday, despite meeting after a long time.

But.

“He asked if I had experience? Said he couldn’t accept it if I wasn’t a virgin. And do you know what he said when I didn’t answer? He suggested we go to a hotel right now to check. Said he’d just put it in once and pull—”

“Now.”

I couldn’t listen anymore.

All the objects in the laboratory began to vibrate, resonating with my mana.

Crack!

The new prosthetic body, which was supposed to withstand a large amount of mana, was already cracking, with fragments falling off, but—

I continued speaking without caring.

“Where is that bastard?”

My voice naturally became forceful as I thought about going right now to tear him apart.

“Calm down.”

Deia covered her mouth with her hand and tried to stop me as she saw my reaction.

“He ran away with his tail between his legs when I pointed a gun at him and asked if he wanted a hole in his ass.”

“Huff…”

“You know I’m not the type to just put up with that kind of thing, right?”

That was true.

I should actually praise Deia for not pulling the trigger immediately.

Even knowing this, I couldn’t help but sigh. The prosthetic body, unable to withstand the mana that had erupted violently, finally began to slowly crumble.

“I’ll have to contact Darius separately and question him. No matter how urgent, he should have checked the candidates more thoroughly.”

“That’s just how he is. He probably just looked at the documents briefly and pushed for the blind date because it seemed fine.”

I was already displeased from the part where he judged the blind date candidates based only on documents.

Darius probably tried his best in his own way, but he’s really more suited to just holding a sword and protecting Norsweden.

“Sigh, you should change your prosthetic first. It’s falling apart.”

“Yeah…”

She had been covering her mouth for a while, and from what I could glimpse, she seemed to be smiling.

She must have found it funny that I suddenly flared up and manifested mana.

‘I showed an embarrassing side of myself.’

As I said that and turned my body, Professor Per was looking at my prosthetic with a devastated expression.

“I worked so hard on that…”

“I’m sorry.”

“I-I’ll give you one of your original ones. I made a few samples for the academic conference presentation.”

Professor Per headed toward the corner of the laboratory as he said that. His legs seemed to have fallen asleep from kneeling, as he staggered precariously in the middle.

Erika and I exchanged glances and smiled awkwardly at the uncomfortable atmosphere, but—

“What is that?”

Deia’s eyes widened as she looked at the items placed on the cart.

She had a dumbfounded expression as she stared at the obscene towers standing proudly, each displaying its own height and shape.

Then her gaze naturally went to my lower body, but when I frowned deeply, Deia cleared her throat and turned her head away.

“A-ahem. No. No matter what, do you really have to use things like that?”

“Per just suggested it, I said I wouldn’t use them!”

Erika answered on my behalf to Deia’s question. It was impressive to see her defending herself, saying she wasn’t making her brother do strange things.

“Right? No matter what, that’s going too far. It’s not like you’re just servicing him one-sidedly.”

“…”

One-sided service.

That wasn’t wrong.

As Deia said, if I were to use such things, I would just be moving my hips without feeling anything.

It was truly miserable, but—

When I thought about what I was doing for them, I wondered if I should be doing even that much.

Living with multiple women, the only expressions of affection I could offer were foolishly moving my hands or kissing.

Given my physical condition, what I could do was limited, and I started to think that maybe I should do everything I could—

“What are you thinking about?”

Deia came in front of me with her arms crossed and thrust her face forward.

“No, nothing.”

“Nothing my foot. I can clearly see you were contemplating something.”

“…”

As I couldn’t give a proper answer, a startled Erika urgently approached.

“Wait! Don’t think about weird things!”

“But Erika.”

I don’t like it either.

Isn’t that kind of thing really ridiculous?

However, when I think about how little I can do for them, maybe even in that way…

“Snap out of it. What’s gotten into you? Where did that man with unshakable, solid convictions go?”

Erika asked, bursting with anger.

“I’m with you because I like you. Even if we have a relationship, it’s because I want to share love with you, not because I want physical pleasure.”

“…”

“Haa, if I had known you’d be this anxious, I wouldn’t have followed what the Saintess said.”

“Saintess? Stella?”

When I expressed my doubt, Erika tightly closed her mouth. Thinking she had said something she shouldn’t have, she turned her head away, and—

Deia naturally interjected.

“Yeah, if it’s about relying on things like that and just having you move your hips for them, that’s where it ends.”

Deia’s resolute words contained a kind of warning.

“Just as you don’t intend to marry me off to strange men… I won’t give you to those kinds of women either.”

“Deia.”

“Just live with the Verdi family forever. With me… no, with us.”

I was satisfied that she accepted me as a family member, but Erika, who was standing beside me, interjected with a strange sense of displeasure.

“That’s not necessary. I don’t like him for those kinds of reasons.”

“Oh, is that so? I was wondering, since you even broke off your engagement, if you were going too far.”

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t break off the engagement. I was just legally declared dead.”

“Why did you two suddenly start fighting?”

As the atmosphere unexpectedly turned cold, I asked, and Deia answered with irritation.

“Stay over tonight. Let’s talk. As ‘family’.”

Deia emphasized the word “family.”

“W-wait, he was supposed to be with me today…!”

Erika urgently tried to say something, but I nodded without much thought, and—

Erika, unable to continue, glared at me and lightly punched my back.

“Idiot.”