The size of the vessel
"Aki-toooooo!"
As we turned to head back to town, surrounded by Mira and the others, a furious shout came from afar.
Turning, I saw Yuria.
Yuria, seen after so long, lunged at me with bloodshot eyes, raising her iron sword high.
"Aki-to."
"I'm fine."
I stopped Mira from stepping forward, drawing the slave sword—Eternal Slave Revised.
Can't look weak in front of the women who want to get pregnant.
"Uoooooo!"
"Feh!"
I parried Yuria's charge with the slave sword.
One clash—my blade split her sword clean down the middle.
"Damn it!"
Yuria flailed her broken blade wildly.
To an outsider, it looked like a spoiled child’s tantrum—no real attack at all.
I caught her wrist, blocked, then drove a punch straight into her stomach.
Clang— the sword hit the ground.
“Gah….”
Shin’ya collapsed to her knees.
“Master!”
A slave ran up from behind Shin’ya.
She was still wearing the same clothes as when she’d been with the Goddess—now even more torn and frayed.
…Probably the proper look for a slave.
She rushed to Shin’ya’s side, worried.
“Shut up!”
Shin’ya shoved her away.
Fist clenched backward, clean hit to the cheek.
The slave fell hard on her backside, clutching her face, tears welling.
“Damn it! Only two hundred? You useless piece of—!”
No, seriously, time to stop acting like this.
“Hey, Shin’ya—”
“Shut up!”
Shin’ya glared at me. Her eyes were bloodshot, now even more red.
“Tell me—what kind of cheat did you pull? Did you sneak back to that Goddess and grovel for favor?”
“Goddess? Nah, I haven’t seen Ilia since that time.”
"Liar! So what did you do?"
"……Just built a town with my slaves."
"Liar!"
Shin'ya shouted.
"You can't make a town that big just by doing that! There's no way you could've built four towns in such a short time!"
"You must've cheated! You did—some kind of cheat!"
So that’s it.
So the thing I can’t understand is cheating.
"Hah. Fine, I’ll say it. I didn’t do anything special. I just loved my slaves."
"YOU—!"
Shin'ya lunged at me.
Before I could fight back, Mira stepped in and locked her in a chokehold.
"Let go! You—still mocking me at a time like this?!"
"Stop—"
"Shut up! Shut up already!"
She was yelling. No point arguing now.
"Hey, Akito, what should we do with her?"
Mira looked at me. The other girls did too.
I thought I heard a voice saying, ‘We’ll handle it if needed.’
‘…Let her go.’
‘You sure about that?’
‘Yeah. We’re乡里, after all.’
‘If that’s the case, then there’s nothing to be done.’
Mira nodded, satisfied.
She shoved Shunya’s back hard, pulling her a little away from me.
Staggering, Shunya glared at me.
‘Akito…’
‘I’ll say it again—nothing special happened. I didn’t cheat. I just treated the slave the way I thought was best. In that sense, I’m no different from you.’
‘…’
No answer. Just a stare, like I was her parent’s enemy.
‘Try loving that slave, just for once. Maybe you’ll see a change. Try making her happy.’
‘Shut up!’
Shunya shouted, spinning away.
‘You think I’d believe something so stupid? Watch me—someday, I’ll expose the cheat you pulled.’
‘…’
I felt like there was no point saying anything anymore.
Saint Night walked away. The slave hurried after her.
“Master…”
“Don’t come near me, you fool!”
The slave flinched and froze.
“Sit there and stay! Don’t come back today!”
Saint Night shouted at the slave and left.
The slave watched her go, then sat cross-legged on the rock as ordered.
“Hey, what’re you doing out here? Standing’s better—bad for your legs.”
Mia tried to pull the slave up.
“Mia.”
“W-what?”
Mia flinched at my deadpan look.
“Let her be.”
“B-but…”
“Master’s orders. And she’s an Eternal Slave.”
I turned to the slave.
“Right?”
“……”
The slave didn’t answer. Just stared at me.
A look almost like gratitude, faint but there.
“S-so, okay…”
“Let’s go.”
I led Mia and the others away.
We put distance between ourselves and the slave of the holy night.
Mia and the others glanced back, but I didn’t.
That’s probably… what she’d call happiness, inside her own head.
Risha’s words—those who glorify exhaustion as honor—gave me certainty.
The group pressed on through the wasteland.
After walking a while, Mia spoke.
“Akito.”
“What?”
“You’re… bigger than I imagined.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Hey, everyone.”
Mia said it, and the women all chimed in, agreeing.
“Compared to that, the size of that guy’s… well, let’s just say it’s pathetic.”
Again, they all agreed.
All at once, they started talking, and the air turned instantly thick with lust.
“Hey, Akito.”
Mia looped her arm through mine, voice soft like she was petting a cat.
“What?”
“Still… I want you to get us pregnant right now.”
The sound stopped dead. All of them stared at me, eyes wide with anticipation.
Being expected is fine.
"But not now. I don’t have the room to build a town for you all yet. Just wait a bit."
"Ah, right. Yeah. Got it."
Mia stepped back from me. Her face looked lonely.
I thought about saying something comforting, but—
"Still, Akito’s a real big man."
"Yeah!"
"I think so too."
"The day I can bear Akito’s child… I can’t wait."
Both Mia and the others.
They were even more flushed than before… and genuinely happy.