◇

"Here I go okay?"
"Okay, come at me!"
"Yes, please."

After enjoying the delicious dinner, I called Lulu and Arisa to the soundproofed laboratory.
Of course it"s not for some dubious reason, I"m going to release them from their [Gea.s.s].
I have a first hand experience in removing demon lord s.h.i.+zuka"s [Gea.s.s] after all, this should be fine.
Demon lord s.h.i.+zuka complained about the pain when I released her Gea.s.s, so this time I"ve given them some painkiller beforehand and chosen a place where they won"t be heard even if they scream.

I pick [Gea.s.s] from the Skill Column and execute it.

"You don"t need to be a slave. I permit the cancellation of the slave contract."

After ordering them so, some red thorn-like effect appeared around Arisa and Lulu and then snapped.
At the same time, Arisa and Lulu scream and cling to me.
So the painkiller really can"t completely prevent it.

And then after about one hour--.

"Fuh~, it was far better than the pain from Reset, but it felt as if my nerve had been pulled if I didn"t take the anesthetic."
"I-I am also f-fine now."

After wiping their tears with a handkerchief, I canceled their slavery contract in turns.

"It feels like the coiled headband on my head has been unfastened. My head feels light, but something feels unsatisfactory."

Arisa told her impression while swaying her head.

"You"re right Arisa. It feels lonely to have the connection with Master severed--"

In the middle of her monologue, Lulu noticed my line of sight and reddened.
I wonder why?

"--But on the other hand, it"s possible for me to become a bride now. I"ll become a good woman enough for Master to be interested in during the promised four year!"

Lulu declared to me with a captivating smile.
Come to think of it, I remember promising Lulu, "I"ll marry Lulu if you don"t have a partner in five years" when we were in the journey back then.

"Ah! Lulu"s unfair!　Me too! I"ll also become a woman that will make 1001 people from 1000 people turn their head in nine years!"
"Aren"t there more people who turn their head than the ones that exist."
"You see, I mean that the unborn baby in the mother"s stomach even turns his head."

I"m glad that Arisa can already joke around.
After patting their heads, I brough the two to the living room while giving some vague answers.

◇

"""CONGRATULATIONS!"""

When I told everyone in the living room that Arisa and Lulu have been released from their [Gea.s.s], they congratulated the two.

And then the brownies quietly push a cart inside.

"Ca~ke?"
"It"s true nanodesu! Moreover it"s the five stepped cuisuasu version nanodesu"

Pochi, you mean [Christmas].
The cake that the brownies have brought is a celebration cake I"ve prepared beforehand.
They put blue tea in front of everyone.

It"s not their birthday, but we ignited as many candles as their ages, and then let them blew it.

"Tama wants to do it too~?"
"Po-Pochi too, she wants to blow candles too nodesu."
"Do."
"Master, wis.h.i.+ng for swaying the fire."
"M-me too, I want to do it too desuwa."

In the end, it"s not only the youth troupe and the embarra.s.sed Lady Karina, but everyone blew the candles in turns.

I invited the brownies since they looked restless, but they refused since they were in the middle of their works.
I"ll give them some mid-sized cakes with candles on top later.

◇

"Sheltering a demon lord?"
"Keeping a demon lord just because she"s a beauty, aren"t you too l.u.s.tful."

After the celebration, I called Arisa and Liza and told them about me sheltering a demon lord.
I"m actually confining her in a green prison, but since that sounds like a crime, I said that it"s for protection.

"She"s certainly a beauty, but not at Lulu"s level."
"In other words, she"s at Sera and Karintan"s level right?"

Wonder why, Arisa is awfully sharp.

"A 24 year old long earskin huh.... Don"t tell me she"s Aze-tan"s subst.i.tute?"
"No, I don"t think that at all."

I denied Arisa"s suspicion with a serious face.

"Is that really so? I thought you moved on to her from Aze-tan."
"There"s no way."

I shrugged my shoulder and denied Arisa"s continued push.

"I mean, usually we"d have done a celebration like earlier in the elf village right?"
"That"s--"

I couldn"t reply to Arisa"s reasonable words.

"Something happened right? Why don"t you talk about it with onee-san?"

Arisa who"s kneeling on the chair beside me tells me while patting my head as if persuading me.
I recall the time when I told Aze-san about my engagement with the princess about two weeks ago.

◇◇◇◇◆◇◇【Two Weeks Ago】◆◆◇◆◆◆◆

"Satou! Is the Royal Capital alright already?"
"Yes, I"ve settled the problems, I plan to move to the Labyrinth City in half a month."

While saying that I put some cakes from Royal Capital in front of Aze-san.
The n.o.bles of the Royal Capital have been giving me box of cakes recently, so I"ve brought some carefully selected ones from among them.
I tell her about my new position after we"re about done with the peaceful tea party.

"Actually I"ve been appointed to become a vice-minister of the Ministry of Tourism, and I"ll be going on a journey with several of my old friends who will be acting as the attendants."
"Satou, you"re amazing! To be successful as a minister this young!"

Aze-san you forgot the [Vice] part.

"So I"d like to bring new friends here, is it alright?"
"Of course! Satou can bring anyone he"s accepted as many as he wants."

Aze-san easily permitted my request.
She"s quick to decide as usual.

Lusan who"s acting as the watchdog and looking like she"ll vomit sugar in the room also nodded.
I"ll bring Zensan and the others when I come here again next time.

Finally, I speak frankly about some slightly difficult thing to Aze-san.

"One of those attendants is the princess of s.h.i.+ga Kingdom you see, and for some reason she"s been pushed to me as my fiancee."

I look at Aze-san in the eyes and talk with a nuance that tells her that"s it not my real intent.
However, unfortunately, my thought didn"t seem to reach her.

"My! Satou"s bride! Let me hold the baby when Satou"s child is born okay."

Aze-san spoke of congratulatory words with higher voice pitch than usual.

--WHY？

"But but, is it only one? One is not--I mean, n.o.bles of humankin take a lot of wives right? If it"s Satou, you should be able to marry 100 brides and make 1000 babies! And then Satou"s descendants can visit here for around 10.000 years! But don"t stop with just the wives and the children, once in 10 days--"

Unlike her usual self, Aze-san continues talking like a machine-gun.

Since my marriage proposal had been rejected for three times already, I should be able to laugh off only this much, but Aze-san"s words shocked me more than I thought, and I couldn"t listen to most of the latter half of her talk.

◆◆◆◆◇◆◆【Present Time】◇◇◆◇◇◇◇

"Haa-"

After listening to my story, Arisa put her hand on her forehead and let out a grand sigh.

"Are you stupiid? If you talked about that to someone who"s less than a lover, it"s obvious that she"d reply like that."
"Aris-"
"I"m sorry Lizsan. I"ll hear your scolding later, let me talk right now."

Liza was going to scold Arisa for calling me with [Anta(you)], but Arisa continued her words while putting her hands on my shoulders.

"And then, even though you always took your time to visit the elf village once in three days no matter how busy you were, afterward you never go there, never even send short reports through [Telephone] and even when she contacted you with Telephone, you only replied curtly right?"

She"s quite well-informed--.

"Aze-tan consulted me with [World Phone] this noon. She was crying, saying 『Satou hates me now』 you know?"

--Aze-san did?

"Master, it"s presumptuous of me, but would you allow?"
"It"s okay."

Liza unusually partic.i.p.ated in love talk.
Naturally, Liza talks to me with a serious face without looking like she"s making fun of it.

"Master is a human, Aialize-sama is a high elf."
"Yup, that"s right."
"Human and high elf cannot make a child."
"I know."

I said it slightly displeased when the truth was directly presented to me.
I wonder what"s Liza trying to say?

"It seems Master and Arisa"s sense of value is different, but regardless of race, the general common sense in this continent is that breeding is a matter of the highest priority. The grace period for long-lived races is long, so it appears that there are times when they have relations.h.i.+p with other races, but even them always end up leaving descendants when they"re of marriageable age."
"You"re quite well-informed Lizsan."
"Yes, master Guya and ms. Poa sometimes talked about it when I was training in Boruenan."

I see, since it"s from the elf master, this seems to be the common sense among the elves too.

"And, humans have short life. The period to leave descendants is also short--"
"In other words, regardless of feeling of love, it"s a recommendation to marry people of the same race?"
"--That is right."

Arisa summarized Liza"s words.

"Lizsan already said most of what I wanted to say, but stop getting into misunderstanding and being indecisive like some love comedy protagonist, quickly go to Aze-san and reconcile with her with a kiss."

Arisa motivated me with some gallant words.

"Wouldn"t it better for Arisa if we break up?"

I said some bitter words to Arisa after getting irritated from feeling like an idiot.

There"s a limit to being uncool.
I immediately regretted it the moment I said it, but Arisa laughed it off.

"Hahn! Don"t make light of Arischan! I don"t intend to be a hyena who preys on people"s misery! If I fall in love, I"d seize it with my own charm like a lion would!"

As always, I"m no match for Arisa serious mode.

"That sure is disadvantageous."
"I"m aware of it. But, I want to always be me! That"s why--"

Arisa makes a charming smile unbefitting of her age.

"--You can push me down anytime you want."

She sent a clumsy wink to me.

The part where it fails in the end is very like Arisa too.

◇

"Good evening, Aze-san."

When I came to the tree house in the elf village with Unit Arrangement, Aze-san whose upper half of the body was sprawling on the table quickly raised her face.

"Zadou!"
"I-it has been a while."

With a teary voice, Aze-san"s tackle-like intense embrace pushed me to the chair.
She"s calling my name repeatedly while rubbing her face on my chest like a little child.

"Oh good, you"ve come at last."

Lua entered the room from the balcony while closing the window.

"It was terrible, Aze-sama kept saying, 『Satou won"t come anymore』, 『Satou hates me now』."
"I"m sorry."

While brus.h.i.+ng Aze-san"s hair, I apologized to Lusan.

"Does Aze-san love--"

This way of asking is cowardly.
I changed the way I spoke halfway through.

"I love Aze-san. There is no way I"ll hate you. Does Aze-san love me?"
"Of course, I really love Satou."

--Really love. Really love. Really love.

The wonderful words become a refrain in my head.
It"s enough as it is to keep me happy for three days, but I endure it and continue the talk.

"Then would you be my spouse?"
"T-that I can"t do. Satou is a human, and I"m a high-elf."

So the bottleneck is the racial wall huh.

"Is it not possible with humans?"
"Un, not possible."

Aze-san flatly denied it.

"I mean, a human and a high elf can"t make children together."
"Are children that important?"

I match it with Liza"s story.

"Of course! Satou"s children will absolutely makes the world prosperous. That"s why Satou has to leave a lot of children. I mean that"s the wish of Creator-sama."

Just like the monotheist of the former world, it seems the Creator that Aze-san mentioned ordered the G.o.ds dispatched to this world with, "Give birth, multiply, fill the land."

"Does that mean children from a woman other than Aze-san?"
"Eh? I mean.... I can"t give birth to Satou"s children. It can"t be helped."

Good.
Apparently, it seems she"s thinking it"s good as long as I can leave children from the same race.

"Moreover, even though humans are short lived, their descendants resemble their ancestors. If you leave 1000 children, there might be one among them who"s like Satou. After a long long time, wouldn"t it be wonderful if I could meet a child who"s exactly like Satou?"

Living at the same time as Aze-san who is 100 million year old is probably difficult even in a world with life extension methods like this.

However....

"That"s why you were saying 100 brides isn"t it."
"....Un, moreover even though I don"t like it if Satou belongs to other woman, if Satou has a lot of wives, then I"ll just be one of them and he won"t be cold to me."

--How lovable.

Aze-san, can I push you down?

"I"ll never be cold to you. Even if I really have 100 wives, I won"t stop coming here. As long as Aze-san doesn"t refuse it."

I make sure to mix the last words with a joking laugh so that it won"t be misunderstood.

Still, I feel like a husband who has been permitted to have an affair by his wife.
I don"t intend to use that permission though.

"I"m glad that you two seem to have made up."
"I"m sorry to have made Lusan worry."

I apologized to Lusan who was putting the tea cups.

◇

"--Marriage outlook of the elves?"
"Yes, for a future reference. Although it"s fine if you don"t want to talk about it."

I"ve learned that the trouble this time was because of the lack of mutual understanding, so I asked Lusan about it at once.

"Right, even though it"s quite different depending on the person, in general a pair who gets along with each other will be tied with 『Conceiving Contract』 after pa.s.sing the lover period for about 100 years. It"s what the humans refer as marriage. No one shares the same bed until the contract."

As expected of elves. To spend 100 years as pure lovers....

"Even after the contract has been made, most give birth to a child in several decades or at most 100 years, and then they raise that child as a couple until the child grows up. Once the child becomes independent, most couples conclude the contract and go back to be single. Most elves make two or three children in their lifetime, but there are rarely children who have the same parents."

I thought it was quite a dry relations.h.i.+p, but in actuality, they still spend hundreds of years living together even after the contract is complete.
The reason why the elves have no family name but use "■■, the child of ●● and ▲▲" instead seems to be because of this custom.

"If a couple doesn"t have a child in 1000 years, they"ll be forcefully separated by the Clan a.s.sembly, but that hasn"t happened here in 5000 years."
"Isn"t it about to become dangerous for Lua?"
"I"m young, so it"s still quite alright. Yes, it is alright."

With a cool face, Lusan answered Aze-san"s interruption about her being unmarried.

I can see slight sweats from Lusan"s side profile, I wonder if it"s just my imagination?

--Wait.

"Do high elves like Aze-san not get married in the million years time?
"I haven"t you know?　We high elves can make children among the same race, but the world tree will produce a new one when there"s a vacant position, so there"s no one who gets married besides the ones who are that whimsical."
"Is that so."

I sip the blue tea while feeling slightly relieved.

"I mean we high elves are to be the companion of the G.o.d when they don"t get a consort."

Aze-san said the important matter casually.

"G.o.d"s consort?"
"Un, the present G.o.d pantheon don"t have enough power to form children though, so the call for it is a story from the olden age I think."

Then, in order to prevent them from thinking some unnecessary thing, perhaps I should visit the male G.o.ds and chip off their power?

"Satou-san, you"re having a scary smile you know?"
"I"m sorry, I was just thinking of something stupid."

I shake my head to drive out the dangerous thought, and then eat the portion of the celebration cake reserved for Aze-san and the others.

◇

When I asked about it to the demi-G.o.d mode Aze-san--.

『It is possible for a G.o.d to make a child with a high elf, but it has never happened in reality.』
"Why is that?"
『When a G.o.d creates a child, they need to give a piece of their divinity to the child. If the partner is not equal, the formed child won"t be able to hold the parted power, and only weak power will dwell on the child.』

I see, looks like it needs preliminary handling indeed.
I"m slightly relieved that the needs to revolt against the G.o.d has disappeared.

For the occasion, I try asking something that"s been slightly bothering me.

"Is it possible for a human to become a G.o.d or a high elf?"

Aze-san softly smiles hearing my question.

『Satou, I"m happy about the meaning of that question, but do not aim to become an Ascended G.o.d.』
"Why is that?"
『There have been ten of thousands heroes and sages who tried to be an Ascended G.o.d so far in this world, however, not even one reaches the G.o.d"s throne.』
"Is it absolutely impossible?"

If it"s really impossible then the term [Ascended G.o.d] shouldn"t have existed.

『From the memory of the world when Creator-sama came, there were three people who reached the G.o.d"s thrones. However, there are only three of them in the span of three billion years. I extremely advise against it for the transient human race.』

It"s such a disadvantageous talk huh....

『Excepting the ones who are created as G.o.ds by G.o.ds of the higher order and demi-G.o.ds who are bestowed divinity, it"s such a tall order that it can only be described with the cliched word of "miracle".』

Perhaps, I"ll be like a demi-G.o.d if I let the [G.o.d"s Fragment] to dwell in my body?
So I asked since that gave me hope.

『Right, it is said that a demon lord whose power runs wild and has lost its mortal reason is of the lowest seat of the demi-G.o.ds. But it is only a broken inferior good. Unfortunately, even though the [G.o.d"s Fragment] itself contains the divinity, someone who let it dwells on their body won"t have the divinity itself. Satou, please do not take the [G.o.d"s Fragment] into yourself and goes on a rampage in desperation.』
"Yes, I do not have such a suicidal wish."

Because the marriage isn"t the goal, but a start of my love life.
If it becomes an obstacle in my life after the marriage, then there"s no meaning in that.

"There"s no use of me asking the way to train to become an Ascended G.o.d right?"

Demi G.o.d mode Aze-san falls silent to my dumb question.

『I do not mind teaching you the way.』
"Are you sure!"

I jump to the unexpected words.
I"m restless if I say so myself.

『However, I have a condition.』
"I"ll clear any condition!"

The me right now should be able to clear most difficult problems.

『Then, please make children from 100 girls of the same race.』
"--Eh?"
『Of course you can"t force yourself on them okay?』
"Is that the condition?"
『That"s right. If you aim for the G.o.dhood, first you have to accomplish your duty as a living being.』

Looks like it"s not a joke, she"s saying it seriously.

『And then, please splendidly reach the G.o.d"s throne, and take me as your wife. When that happens, let"s make a child with me as Satou"s wife, just as you wish.』

I promised, "Absolutely", to the demi-G.o.d Aze-san who"s smiling sublimely.

◇

Now then, I promised her "absolutely" earlier, but I don"t intend to do the, "make children with 100 girls" prerequisite.
In the first place, it"s rude for the woman who"s going to be my partner.

I myself intend to seek the way to reach the G.o.d"s throne during my free time.
I"m going to travel around the world anyway, I have a hunch that I"ll probably find the way during the travel.

If by any chance I can"t find it until the deadline for my marriage with the princess, there is no choice but to brace myself when that happens.
The Unknown little girl from before is probably willing to tell me, but I feel that it"ll be the direct flag for the bad end, so I don"t want to choose it.
Thus, I"m thinking of struggling with the frontal attack until the time limit.

Now then, the airs.h.i.+p is going to arrive in the Royal Capital soon, why don"t I read some books in the Forbidden Library as a change of pace?