by Aneko Yusagi
“You stay quiet and get over here, Filo!” Melty ordered. “There’s something wrong with Naofumi! We can’t wait any longer. Let’s go fetch Raphtalia!”
“Do we have to?” Filo protested as Melty basically dragged her from the room.
Something wrong with me, she’d said.
Like Atla had told me . . . I was just trying to make sure I had no regrets.
Not long after that . . .
“H-hello, may I come in?” I opened the door to see Imiya bringing me some food. “I have a meal for you,” she said. “I thought . . . maybe you were getting hungry.”
“I see.” I took the tray from her and placed it on the desk in my room.
“I-I’ll be going,” she said and moved to leave.
“Imiya,” I said, stopping her.
“Y-yes! Whatever can I do for you?” she replied, a little startled.
“Do you have someone who you love, Imiya?” I asked.
“Ah . . . well . . .” she stuttered, her cheeks blushing red as she looked at the ground and wrung her hands. That reaction—
It couldn’t be! Imiya was in love with me?
I mean, she’d ended up with me in almost exactly the same manner as Raphtalia, so maybe it was only natural.
“I mean . . . that is to say . . . I . . .” she stammered.
“Don’t worry. I understand, Imiya.” It was all clear to me now.
“You understand what, exactly?” she pondered.
“I’m going to respond to your desires,” I proclaimed. A few seconds passed.
“Whaaaat?!” she suddenly responded, practically fainting to the floor.
“Hey. What’s so surprising?” I asked.
“I-I’m not ready for this . . . and I’m so dirty right now too.” What was she talking about? I took a moment to examine her thoroughly with my eyes. She didn’t have that unhygienic look about her that, say, Raphtalia had been blessed with when I first purchased her. With just a glance I could see that she was washed and clean. Sure, Raphtalia hadn’t been able to wash herself for days, so it might not be a fair comparison, but Imiya was still definitely very clean.
“That doesn’t bother me,” I told her.
“Ah . . . well . . . okay.” Imiya was trembling. She also didn’t turn me down. She immediately moved over and lay down, a little hesitantly, on the bed.
Cutting right to the chase just like with Filo, I thought we might be skipping a few steps. This usually started with some light conversation, maybe a date or two.
In that case . . . I’d stroke her a little, then caution her. Warn her that we were skipping a few too many steps. I sat down on the bed and Imiya let out a strained sound, her body still trembling.
She was far too tense. I gently stroked her cheek.
Huh? Imiya’s body temperature seemed pretty high.
As soon as I touched her, Imiya jerked back up into a sitting position.
“Ah?! I . . . Look . . . I can’t do this! I’m sorry!” With that, she leapt off the bed and ran from the room. The same kind of reaction as Melty.
Having left the room, Imiya bumped into Keel. They talked for a moment and then Imiya continued her escape.
“Bubba Shield! Imiya said that you’re acting strangely! What’s up?” Keel asked, coming right in.
“I asked if she was interested in anyone, and her reaction seemed to suggest it was me. So I attempted to respond to her feelings,” I explained.
“Bubba Shield is acting strangely! Woof-woof!” Keel immediately started to shout and make a fuss.
“Stop that! Stop making that noise! There’s nothing strange about me at all!” I retorted. It sounded like she needed a good talking to. As Keel tried to escape, I pinned her arms behind her back.
“Bubba! What are you doing? You’re not interested in women! Right?” she shouted.
“I’ve had a change of heart. Keel, how do you feel about me?” I asked her.
“I like you, Bubba, but I don’t think I like this version of you! Hey, what are you planning on doing with me?” For some reason, Keel turned herself into her puppy form and started yapping. I tried to explain it to her.
“Look. It was Imiya who suddenly said she wanted to get with me and climbed onto the bed, okay? I just stroked her a little and she ran out like the room was on fire.”
“So you’re not going to attack me?” Keel asked.
“Of course not.” What did she think I was? Sexual desire personified?
“Bubba. You sure know how to give someone the wrong impression. Shocking Imiya like that too,” Keel despaired.
“Huh? What are you talking about? I was just going to warn her that we were skipping a few too many steps, that’s all!” I protested.
“Bubba, you need to calm down. She clearly thought you ordered her into your room and told her to lie down on the bed,” Keel explained.
“I see . . . Sounds like maybe I’ve messed with her head. I’ll apologize to her later,” I said.
“Nah, I don’t think you need to worry about it,” Keel said.
I wondered if I really didn’t.
“What’s happening, brother? I just passed the Melromarc princess, and she said you’ve been acting strangely?” Fohl asked, having shown up from somewhere.
“Hey, Fohl. Where’s Raphtalia?” I asked.
“She’s not here right now. She’s also acting . . . a little strangely. Or maybe we’re the ones with the problem . . .” he pondered. Whatever the issue was, he seemed aware of it.
“Fohl, Bubba is definitely acting weird,” Keel chimed in.
“A lot had happened. We need to just give him some time to calm down,” Fohl replied.
“But—” Keel pressed the issue. I watched the two of them talking. Fohl was Atla’s brother.
“Fohl,” I said.
“What?” he responded, still distracted by Keel.
“How do you feel about me?” I asked.
“Huh? What’s brought this on?” he replied, furrowing his brow.
“I’d like to know,” I said.
“You’re the man Atla loved. Even remembering everything that’s happened between us, I can’t bring myself to hate you. I’m going to support you, as a replacement for Atla,” he explained.
So he’d try to be like a replacement for Atla.
I gingerly moved around to stand behind Fohl, then touched his body. He smelled a bit like Atla . . . maybe just a bit.
“Woah there!” Fohl gave a yelp and immediately put some distance between us. “W-where did that come from?!”
“Where did what?” I asked innocently. I could see traces of Atla in Fohl’s visage. This felt like my chance to achieve that which I had never achieved with her.
“Seriously! You just wait there a moment!” Fohl shouted.
“Wah, Fohl, what are you doing—” Keel protested as Fohl hauled her up onto his back and then scuttled out of the room, his face visibly pale.
A short while later, Sadeena came into my room, a bottle of wine in one hand.
“Little Naofumi?” she called.
“What now?” I asked.
“I’ve heard all about your antics from little Fohl. Have a drink with me and cheer yourself up a bit,” she said.
“Sorry. Wine won’t work on me. You know that,” I replied.
“Now that you mention it, maybe I had heard that,” she replied glibly with a gentle smile. She was just trying to cheer me up, in her own way. Using drink to cheer someone up seemed like a common tactic, no matter the world.
It was true. If I could get drunk, I’d probably really have felt like drinking right then.
“How about we find another way to have some fun together?” she suggested.
“Yeah, why not? Filo would surely just sleep, and Imiya got the wrong end of the stick . . . but you, Sadeena, have always been open about your advances. I guess we can skip a few steps,” I replied. Atla had told me that she wanted me to respond to the feelings of those who liked me. Sadeena had been d
irect about those feelings for almost as long as I knew her, so I thought I should finally respond to her.
“Little Naofumi?” she asked, playing coy now!
“Sadeena, do you love me?” I asked.
“Oh my. That’s quite a direct question. But yes, I do love you, little Naofumi. Ah! I’ve gone and said it now!” she replied embarrassedly, wriggling and writhing about.
“I see. Strip off and lie down on the bed then,” I commanded.
“Little Naofumi?” she asked, tilting her head. But she did sit down on the bed. I took off my pants, removed Sadeena’s loincloth-like wrap thing, and prepared to—
“Hold it right there, little Naofumi! Stop!” She lightly pushed me away. “Little Naofumi. Can you tell me, just what were you about to do?”
“Exactly what you wanted, I thought,” I replied.
“Please, little Naofumi. Just sit down right there,” she told me.
“We can’t do it if I’m sitting on the floor,” I protested.
“Just sit down!” she ordered. What was going on? It was exceptionally rare for Sadeena to get in such a bad mood. “Just to confirm the situation, you were trying to skip things like atmosphere, and the preamble, and everything like that? You aren’t aware of the normal sequence to these kinds of events?”
“Yes, I’m aware,” I retorted, a little standoffishly. I’d played my fair share of hentai games, after all. Of course I knew the “sequence,” as she called it. Damn, I probably knew all sorts of crazy sex stuff that even Sadeena had never dreamed about.
Not that I’d boast about something like that.
“And yet you still tried to bump bodies with me like we’re part of a production line. That would really upset Raphtalia, don’t you think?” Sadeena continued.
“You might be right. But Atla told me to respond to what people want from me,” I replied. At that, Sadeena placed her fingers on her forehead, looking most distressed.
“Just you listen to me, little Naofumi. Everyone loves you. But there’s something really messed up about how you’re going about all this,” she continued.
“All this?” I asked, maybe playing it a bit too dumb. It was rare for Sadeena to bring me to task quite this briskly. Finally cooling off a little, I realized that I’d reached the point at which even Sadeena needed to caution me about my actions.
“Little Naofumi. As two consenting adults, if you wanted to enjoy the physical act of love with me, or if you needed some solace in your sadness, then as a woman I would happily respond,” Sadeena explained. I certainly didn’t need consoling like that though. That kind of solace would just hurt even more. “But what you’re doing right now, little Naofumi, is nothing more than the mechanical process of trying to make a baby. You even tried it on with poor little Fohl, a man! Do you see what I’m saying?”
“I think that came from Fohl saying he would try and be a replacement for Atla. So I wanted to do something I’d never been able to do with her—” I started to explain.
“Little Naofumi, get a grip on yourself! And Shildina and you others, stop listening outside the room!” Sadeena shouted. I turned to look out the window and saw Shildina, S’yne, and Ruft outside. The three of them all nervously scratched at their heads, avoiding my gaze with an embarrassed flush in their cheeks.
“Now is our chance,” Shildina said. “If you won’t seize it, Sadeena, then I’ll be the one to fill the hole in sweet Naofumi’s heart.”
“I’ll never allow that. Little Raphtalia would kill you, aside from anything else. Ruft is far too young for all this—and he might not even choose that path. The fact he looks so much like Raphtalia puts him in even more danger,” Sadeena lectured.
“Oh, dang it . . .” Shildina seemed disappointed.
“What path?” Ruft inquired.
What was with everyone? Wanting it one minute, shooting me down the next. I asked Sadeena directly about that, and she replied with her own question.
“Little Naofumi. Right now, all you want to do is make me feel good. Don’t you see a problem with that?”
“What kind of problem? I mean, Fohl, okay . . .” This wasn’t what Atla had wanted. I think I was starting to understand.
“Look, little Naofumi,” Sadeena began, taking both of my shoulders in her hands, smiling gently while she advised me. She was a lot like Raphtalia, in that respect. The two weren’t related by blood, but there was a reason Raphtalia treated her like a sister. “It’s the process that matters. I’d love to hop into bed with you and have some fun, little Naofumi, but right now, even if you aren’t personally into it, you’d be willing to go through with it if I wanted to, wouldn’t you?”
“That’s right,” I agreed.
“And if we ended up making a baby, you’re the one who’d regret it later,” she continued.
“I’d take . . . responsibility, if I had to. It would be better than regretting doing nothing . . . like with Atla,” I managed.
“An honest answer . . . but I don’t think that’s quite what Atla meant when she said that to you. Just calm down and think.” At Sadeena’s words, I did become a little calmer.
Unable to find the enemy we should be fighting, I’d just rushed ahead in my sadness and lost myself as I tried to avoid any more regrets. If this is what Sadeena wants . . . That had been my thinking.
Of course, Sadeena was her own woman, or at least . . . her own entity. Just as I hadn’t always liked the advances of others, she surely had to prepare herself for intimacy. And above all else, I couldn’t do anything that she didn’t want to do.
I wasn’t a rapist. No way.
So I’d tried to get her consent, but because I was acting so strangely, she’d rejected me. In that case . . . what should I be doing?
“I understand you saying you’ll take responsibility, but if I let you do this now, I just know in the future you will regret it. That’s why I’m turning you down and why I’ll make sure none of the others, Shildina or anyone else, will take you up on your offer either,” Sadeena stated.
“Oh, come on!” Shildina exclaimed. She didn’t sound happy about that. But Sadeena gave her a rare and piercing glare. Even more rarely, it caused Shildina to back down.
“I understand,” I finally said.
“I’ll let Raphtalia and the others know, so you just think about things a little more. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong idea, showing up like this,” Sadeena said.
I couldn’t find the words to reply. Being cautioned by her scattered my thoughts even more than before. I wasn’t what she wanted right now . . . That much was plain to see. Sadeena had cautioned me, thinking about my own future. I had to keep away from those with an interest in me, in order to avoid future regrets.
Having regrets in the future . . . would Atla have chided me like this? They were pretty hard words for me to bear, being someone suffering so much regret recently for not having done something, when I could surely have made Atla so much happier than I did.
I’d thought it was better to do something and regret it than regret not doing it at all. Had I been wrong?
“Little Naofumi, even if I tell you to cheer up, I know you probably can’t. Not right now. But at least recover yourself first.” Sadeena stood up smoothly, giving me a smile. “Once you’ve done that, and if you still feel like living in respect to Atla’s final words, then I’m sure not only me, but also Raphtalia, the others in the village . . . even Fohl, will respond to your feelings.” Sadeena’s angry expression was gone, and she gave me a really gentle smile.
I’d always considered her to be just a sharp-eyed, sexy vixen of a whale-lady, but today she felt really appealing in another way.
“It’s because I feel so strongly about you, little Naofumi, that I won’t allow this to happen with me or anyone else,” she reiterated. Then she gently stroked my cheek and left the room.
I was confused as to just where the hell I was. Taking responsibility . . . determination . . . such thoughts all swirled around in my head. I didn’t
know what I wanted to do next.
After taking vengeance on the subject of my rage, defeating the waves, and bringing peace to this world, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had no plans to be buried here. My thinking on that point was unchanged. That was probably what Sadeena had been warning me about too. Just enjoying myself with half-hearted determination, not thinking about the future, and then getting someone knocked up . . . Yeah, that would be a problem.
Not to mention I wasn’t interested in having any children.
Sadeena had been trying to tell me that she and the others in the village weren’t the type to just be happy carrying the child of a hero—that they didn’t want to use me like some breeding stud. It filled my heart with how deeply she was thinking of me, and that proceeded to make me sad.
I’d been out of my head earlier. Fohl had no such intentions toward me, clearly, and there was no way I could replace Atla.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I said.
They all believed in me, but I couldn’t respond to that, yet I needed the determination to carry the burden of their lives. So I wondered what would happen when it came time for me to go home. I couldn’t know for sure . . . but that could mean goodbye. A mixture of feelings swirled within me—wanting to return home and wanting to be with everyone and respond to their feelings for me.
“I’m back, Mr. Naofumi . . .” Raphtalia came in.
“Hey, Raphtalia,” I said.
“Hello. I’ve heard about what happened while I was gone,” she said without judgment.
“Okay . . . it was a bit of a thing. Sorry,” I managed.
“No, Mr. Naofumi. For now . . . let’s just not think about it,” Raphtalia suggested.
“If you say so,” I responded.
I found no answers to my questions, and the night passed in quiet agony.
Chapter One: The Ocean Floor
The next day, after completing my daily routine of feeding the monsters stabled in the village and making breakfast for everyone, I proceeded to make a declaration: “It’s time to get serious about raising my level.”
