Ch.385Uninterruptible NPC. (6)

“Then, shall we call Miho and Chikuyo~?”

After leaving Ragni as the acting dean of Neti, we set out to track Avalitia. That evening, as we camped in the mountains, we decided to summon Miho and Chikuyo through Luxuria.

I was the one who first brought it up, partly because our fighting strength had decreased with Ragni staying behind, and also because Ragni had mentioned that they had followed me all the way to the Empire only to miss me. I couldn’t just leave them behind anymore.

“I don’t mind.”

“They’ll be traveling with us from now on, so it would be good to build rapport starting now.”

“Miho is coming too?! Hooray~!”

“Great~! Everyone’s approved, so I’ll bring them right away?”

Luxuria spread her wings wide, her golden eyes gleaming in the dark mountain forest as she soared into the sky.

“The Seven Deadly Sins who stand at the pinnacle of demons. The master of Lust speaks. Miho, Chikuyo, if you hear me, respond to my voice now. Answer my summons and come before me. This is a rightful claim by contract. Come!! Contractors!!!”

As she shouted, covering the bright silver moon with darkness as black as pitch, a massive magic circle appeared beneath her feet.

“…An incredibly intricate magic circle and magical energy.”

Just as Ira muttered softly—

*CRASH!!! THUD THUD!*

A silver beast shining brighter than moonlight and a vermilion beast brighter than a bonfire descended within the magic circle. Wow, what an impressive entra—

*WHOOSH!*

“Jack~!!”

“Miss Ira, it’s been so long!!!”

Chikuyo rushed toward me, and Miho toward Ira, both looking ready to tackle us. Of course, Miho was actually hugging Ira, lifting her up and nuzzling her cheek, while Chikuyo had just buried her head against my stomach. I was a bit startled…?

*SQUEEZE!!!*

“W-wait. Chikuyo. It hurts, that hurts?”

“I missed you sooo much!! How long, how long were you planning to make me wait~?!”

Wait!! My back, my back!! It hurts!! It really hurts, okay?! Huh?! Are you angry? You are angry?!

*SQUEEZE!*

“Kyahung?!”

“My master says it hurts. Let go, female fox. Are you a beastkin who only pushes her own feelings without even hearing what happened here? Like sister, like elder sister, is that it?”

“Haa?!”

It was Gor who grabbed Chikuyo’s tail as she was about to break my back with her grip. She seemed somewhat angry. Hey, Gor, don’t do th—

“No. Gor is right about this. I’ve heard your name is Chikuyo, but you don’t even know how busy Jack has been until now. Acting like this isn’t right.”

Ray cut off my attempt to stop Gor and joined in, her blue eyes flashing as she glared at Chikuyo. Chikuyo, who had been holding me, stood up under their gaze and glared back at the two of th—

*KANG!!*

“?!”

“Let go of my tail.”

—she didn’t just glare, she transformed one of her tails into a sword and knocked Gor’s hand away!! Wait!! Weren’t we supposed to greet each other and build rapport first?! Huh?! It’s my fault, so everyone please cal—!!

“Jack, it’s been a while! I’m glad to see you and Miss Ira looking healthy!”

“Miho!! Yes, I’m glad you look healthy too! But maybe you should stop your sister from—?!”

“Hmm? Ah, it’s fine. My sister looks happy right now.”

Miho sat down next to me with Ira in her arms, stroking her own tail and smiling brightly. Wait, what part of her looks happy?! They look like they’re about to fight!!

“…You’re Gor? And the swordsman next to you is Ray Sol, right?”

“It seems you’ve heard all about us from your master. Yes, I am Gor.”

“Yes, I’m Ray Sol. I’m Jack’s ‘second’ woman. The ‘first’ is temporarily staying alone in another city for a very important matter.”

“F-first, second…?! Kuk!!”

Despite being pushed back when her sword-tail was deflected, Chikuyo paid no attention and began looking back and forth between me and Ray as they answered with imposing attitudes. Huh? W-what’s going on?

“Excuse me for a moment.”

*Sniff sniff sniff*

Unlike before, Chikuyo carefully smelled me, then turned and approached Ray to smell her too. Uh, what are you do—

“It’s true… Then, should I call you Big Sister Ray?”

“…No? Just call me Ray.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me?”

“You don’t have Jack’s scent on you, though?”

“Kuk! I will become the third…!”

“Fufu! Well, that remains to be seen, doesn’t it?”

As I stared blankly at the three who seemed to have finished their mutual assessment, Miho whispered softly in my ear.

“…So Ragni is the first, and Ray is the second? I don’t care about my ranking. Just let me have Jack’s child someday.”

“Miss Ira is the zeroth anyway, right?” Miho chuckled, and I felt a slight chill. Whoa, how did you all figure this out as soon as you met? Is this normal for beastkin?!

I glanced over, hoping Ira hadn’t heard, but she was busy playing with Miho’s tail. Phew, that’s a relief.

“Anyway. If it seemed like I was blaming Jack right away, I might have gone too far. I apologize for that part. But please don’t touch my tails carelessly. They’re very sensitive, truly ‘sensitive.'”

“You’re a bit different from Miho. I also apologize for thoughtlessly grabbing your ‘sensitive’ tail.”

“So, did you know that Jack was busy?”

“Well, we talked with the leader of Ponia on the other side. We also roughly knew the Empire was in danger because we were dealing with Greed in Ponia. So we chased after him diligently, but then he left us behind and went straight to Neti. That’s why I felt hurt.”

With a hmph and a “You said you’d call us soon, that was too much,” Chikuyo gave me a sidelong glance, and I could only smile awkwardly. Well, we were genuinely busy on our end, so I should properly explain, make excuses, and apologize for that part. Anyway.

“Let’s all introduce ourselves. We’re going to be family from now on. It would be better if we communicate properly and move together, right?”

Thinking it sounded like something a certain CEO might say, I threw out those words. Miho nodded with a smile, while Chikuyo nodded with a somewhat unconvinced expression.

“…Sigh, this is a severe case.”

The voice of Luxuria, who had descended after clearing the magical energy she had released into the sky, reached my ears clearly.

*

I never imagined that the situation would change this much during the five months we were apart.

“Luxuria! What exactly happened?! Before we separated, Jack was definitely a virgin, right?! Why are there suddenly two females firmly holding the positions of first and second wife in his pack?!!”

After greeting the females in Jack’s group and finding a moment to separate, I had lured Luxuria away for questioning. Miho was pretending to be fine while sticking close to the girl who was supposedly Jack’s sister, but I knew Miho must also…!!

“…Haah, the full explanation would be long, but to put it briefly, those females heard about us and took quick action. And our lord thought it was right to respond to their feelings, so he accepted them all.”

Sitting on a tree branch with her wings folded, swinging her legs while gazing at the moon, Luxuria answered with what seemed like frustration. What? How did things progress this way? Weren’t we being rejected because he said he couldn’t have children yet?

“…You should hear it directly from him later. That’s what I’d like to say, but I can’t ignore those girls either. They all have strong personalities and they keep me on my toes, but they don’t completely push me away. They accept me properly while preparing themselves. Somehow, I can’t bring myself to be too harsh with them.”

“But still! What exactly…!!”

I want to know what reasons led to this. Even though I’ve already lost the positions of first and second wife in the pack, I could accept it if the reasons were understandable. It’s just…

“You’re worried about Miho, but you don’t need to be concerned about that. Those females are ALL united under our lord’s loins~ I’m sure there won’t be any discrimination even if you’re pushed back.”

“…What’s that supposed to mean? So even if the third becomes a golem female, we just have to accept it?”

“Well, it’s not about accepting or whatever. Hmm. Our lord is already working on making the golem woman his third, actually?”

“What? So you’re saying we never even had a chance to compete in the female pack? Hey, Luxuria, are you okay with that…?”

“Well, we’ll all end up living together intimately eventually~ That’s what I heard, and that’s what the ‘first wife’ explained to me.”

Seeing Luxuria laugh carefreely as if she had already reached enlightenment, I couldn’t help but frown. What on earth, what kind of conversation made you, who was deadly serious about Jack, become like this…

“…Well, it might take a while, but I’ll tell you what the ‘first one’ told me, just to Chikuyo for now. You can relay it to Miho later, okay?”

With an awkward expression, as if embarrassed to say it herself, Luxuria spoke, and I nodded. I needed to know what was said, after all. As Luxuria began to explain—

“Ragni, what did you tell them without me knowing…”

A gray man, hidden among the trees, concealed from Chikuyo’s beastkin ears and nose and from the Seven Deadly Sins’ detection, listened to the conversation as well.