Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers: Volume 9 (Light Novel) E-Book

Miya Kinojo

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers (Light Novel)
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 277

Beschreibung

Klyrode is at peace, but the work never ends at the Fli-o’-Rys General Store! The miraculous panacea Flio created has only gotten more and more popular with the goddesses of the Celestial Plane—not for its healing power, but as a cosmetic item for its skin de-aging properties! With actual deities stalking him and trying to cut in line for the limited supply of the medicine, what’s a nigh-omnipotent shopkeeper to do?

Meanwhile, as the household grows bigger still, Rys becomes obsessed with making clothes for all the new children and falls in love with an exotic cloth from the faraway land of Indol, rumored to be in the midst of a growing conflict. Will Rys be able to get more of the cloth she needs? And what are they going to do with all these ridiculous goddesses?! Perhaps it’s time for a certain someone to show them what being a goddess is all about...

Leseprobe

Chapter 1: Flio’s House Gets Even Bigger

The world of Klyrode is a world of swords and sorcery, of magic beasts and demihumans, where humans and demons had waged war since time immemorial. However, that long war had finally been brought to an end when the Maiden Queen of the Magical Kingdom of Klyrode, the greatest of the human kingdoms, and the Dark One Dawkson agreed to sign a peace treaty with each other. The Dark One Dawkson had once been a vainglorious despot, but he mended his ways and began to work to reunify a demonkind that had divided on itself, alongside his minion, Phufun, and the three new Infernals—Zanzibar, Belianna, and Coqueshtti. The Maiden Queen, meanwhile, was busy reorganizing her army—now that the Magical Kingdom’s biggest threat was no longer the Dark Army but independent bands of pillaging demons—and improving relations with her nearby allies.

And so, the stage is set. The curtains rise...

◇Osahka Town◇

The Magical Kingdom of Klyrode stood at the very center of the inhabited world. The township of Osahka lay west of Klyrode Castle, the capital of the kingdom. It was an inland city, a good distance away from Dark Army territory, and it sat near an important highway running east to west. Well situated for commerce, this was a city that had long taken pride in its merchants.

A magic circle appeared in the shadow of a building a ways off the well-trafficked main street. It must have been enchanted with some kind of concealment spell, because the people passing by seemed to take no notice of the spectacle whatsoever. After a second, a strangely normal-looking door appeared. It opened with a creak, and out stepped Flio and Rys.

Flio was a merchant from another world who had been summoned as one of the candidates for the role of Hero. He had been granted a stupendously powerful blessing that gave him mastery of every skill and spell that existed within the world of Klyrode. Since then he married Rys, a former demon of the Dark Army, and now worked as manager and proprietor of the Fli-o’-Rys General Store.

Rys was a lupine demon and a proud warrior. She had come to blows with Flio and was roundly defeated. Afterwards, she made the decision to walk alongside him as his wife. She adored her husband beyond words, and was something of a mother figure for everyone living at Flio’s house.

The two had just teleported to Osahka Town from their home. The scenery of Flio’s house was still visible through the open portal.

“The weather is so lovely here, isn’t it?” said Rys, smiling as she placed a hand on her white hat to keep it from blowing away. “The wind feels so pleasant on my skin!” She was wearing her usual white dress, paired with a light-yellow cardigan. She followed alongside Flio, draping her arm around her husband’s.

Flio gave Rys one of his usual easygoing smiles as the two set out in high spirits for the main street. “I know there are all sorts of things you can buy here in Osahka, but you can find most things in Houghtow too. Did we really need to come all this way?”

“That’s true...” Rys muttered, pressing her finger against her lips as she thought for a moment. “I’ve already used most of the fabric you can find in Houghtow, I suppose. I want to create new clothing for everyone to wear, so it seemed fitting to try using some new materials.” She smiled up at Flio, pressing her face close to his. “And most of all, I want some for the new child! I put a great deal of effort into making clothing when Garyl and Elinàsze were born, and I will do no less for our fourth.”

Flio nodded in understanding. “That makes sense. I definitely want our daughter Rylnàsze to have good clothes to wear—not to mention the other children who were born on the same day... Tia and Calsi’im’s daughter Rabbitz, and Belano and Minilio’s child Belalio...” I really can’t say I ever imagined Rys would get so good at sewing, though... he thought to himself. When we first got married, she could hardly cook or sew anything at all! But when Balirossa’s group started living with us, she declared that as the wife of the household master, she would never forgive herself if she couldn’t see to everyone’s needs. She’s been pushing herself so hard...

Rys was a lupine woman, and lupines were a species with strong pack-forming instincts. Customarily, the strongest lupine would be the head of the pack, and their mate would see to everyone’s well-being. To Rys, it was self-evident that her status as wife of the household head would make her responsible for taking care of everyone living under their roof, and she spared no effort to live up to said responsibilities.

She does so much, for me and everyone... Flio’s thoughts continued, as he recalled how Rys used to sneak out to study cooking and tailoring, attending classes without telling the rest of the house in order to improve her domestic skills as much as possible. “Rys...”

“What is it, my lord husband?”

“Thank you for everything you do for us. I really, really love you.” Flio pulled Rys into a gentle hug, holding her to his chest.

Rys’s face flushed red all the way to the tips of her ears. “M-M-My lord husband!” she protested, flustered, her eyes darting this way and that. “I-I-I truly am most happy to hear that, but you’ll startle me if you say such things out of the blue! My heart wasn’t ready! Ah ha ha...” Rys returned Flio’s embrace. Ah... she thought. I can’t believe my lord husband sometimes, saying things like that with no warning whatsoever. But...it makes me so happy... Rys closed her eyes and rested her head against her husband’s chest.

Flio gazed down at Rys with a fond smile on his face. For a moment, they stood there, holding each other in their arms. Then, suddenly, Flio looked up. They had stepped away from the portal he had conjured, meaning that the Concealment spell he had cast was no longer in effect either. They were embracing in plain view of everyone walking along the main street.

“Goodness!” said a passerby. “Those two seem quite fond of each other!”

“You see that a lot in this town,” said another.

Flio grimaced, acutely aware of the people talking about him. “A-Anyway, Rys, shall we head for the shop?” He began moving quickly away from the spot without waiting for an answer.

“A-Ah! My lord husband!” Rys frowned with dissatisfaction as Flio dragged her along by the hand. Oh, well... she thought as the two vanished into the crowd. I’ll just have to ask for a generous encore later!

◇ ◇ ◇

Flio and Rys followed the main street to the Osahka shopping district and stepped inside one of the shops. One of the women inside was leaning against a pillar, smoking from a long-handled pipe and keeping an idle eye on the customers. When the couple entered, she stepped forward and greeted them with a familiar smile. “Well, well, if it isn’t Master Flio himself! It’s been half an age since I saw you last. Welcome to my establishment!” This was Fetabetcz, the proprietor.

“Good afternoon, Miss Fetabetcz,” said Flio. “How are you finding that magic tobacco I sold you?”

“I absolutely love it,” she said, gesticulating with her pipe. “I use it all the time. I never used to be able to smoke inside the store, or else the fumes would stink up the merchandise, but this stuff just vanishes into thin air when you smoke it. The smell isn’t an issue at all!”

Flio winced slightly. “I’m very glad you’re happy, but smoking too much is bad for your health, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. You can be a real stick-in-the-mud sometimes, Master Flio.” Fetabetcz said with a smirk. “So, are you here for our cloth? Feel free to look around all you like. Here at Osahka Town’s one and only Silkfleece, we’ve got fabrics from everywhere in the world!”

The Silkfleece Conglomerate, currently headed by none other than Fetabetcz, was a cloth wholesaling operation with a long pedigree. They stocked fabric and clothing from all over the Magical Kingdom of Klyrode, as well as from neighboring lands. And they even supplied goods to the Fli-o’-Rys General Store.

“Thank you very much,” said Flio. “We’re here on private business this time, actually. My wife was hoping to find a new kind of cloth to work with, you see.”

“Of course!” said Fetabetcz with a bright smile, turning her attention to Rys. “You’re more than welcome, madame. Please don’t hesitate to have a look.”

Rys bowed cheerfully. “Thank you! I’ll get to it at once, then.”

One of the shop’s walls was crammed full of tightly packed rolls of various textiles, while different types of outfits were displayed all over the shop floor—not an inch of space was wasted. Rys’s eyes shone with excitement as she looked it all up and down.

“You were right, my lord husband,” she said. “This shop really does have a tremendous amount of cloth and clothing. Oh, look! This kind is just wonderful! A-And this one... What in the world is that strange pattern?”

Rys ran her hands along the fabric to feel its texture, sometimes even pressing it to her cheek to get a better sense. Flio watched her work with his usual easygoing smile. When I first met her, I would have never imagined I’d get to see Rys smile like that, he thought. When they had first met, Rys had been magically disguised as a young girl. Balirossa’s party had tried to capture her, and she faced off against them with unbridled hostility.

Flio took a sip of the tea Fetabetcz had given him as he fondly watched his wife inspect the merchandise. Looking at her now, picking out cloth for the children’s clothes, you’d never think she was the same person as back then...

◇Meanwhile—Flio’s House◇

Flio’s house stood on a large plot of land outside the walls of Houghtow City, featuring a pasture for horses along with a large farm. As Rys browsed the cloth inventory over at Silkfleece, three children were following the path that led from the pasture to the fields. There was a tall boy, a smallish girl, and, walking along hand in hand between them, another girl who was even smaller. The tiny girl beamed up at the other two. “I love walking with big brother Garyl and big sister Elinàsze!” she chirped.

Rylnàsze was Flio and Rys’s third birth child. Thanks to her mother Rys’s demon blood, she was growing up very fast. She had already reached the equivalent development of a three-year-old human.

Elinàsze smiled back at her little sister. “Just be sure not to run off on your own, Rylnàsze,” she said. “It’s hardly been any time at all since you were born!” Elinàsze was Garyl’s older twin, and Rylnàsze’s big sister. She was a serious-minded girl and a talented magic user who loved her father dearly.

Garyl, walking along on Rylnàsze’s other side, grinned brightly. “Come running to us if anything happens, okay? No trying anything dangerous alone.” He looked down at Rylnàsze, a bit of worry showing on his face. Garyl was a good-natured boy with a ready smile—qualities that had won him no small amount of popularity in the primary school he attended at the Houghtow College of Magic. Plus, his physical prowess was entirely off the charts.

Rylnàsze smiled up at her big brother. “I know!” she said, nodding cheerfully. “I am not meant to go out on my own! Going out with mother and father or my big brother and sister is more fun, anyway!”

Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings came from overhead! A girl with enormous dragon wings sprouting from her back fell from the sky and tackled Rylnàsze from behind into a great big hug. “Ah ha ha!” the girl laughed. “Ryl-Ryl! You doing good?”

“Gawah?!” Rylnàsze cried. Her eyes darted around in panic at being hugged from behind out of the blue like that, but when she realized who it was, a brand-new smile came over her face. “B-Big sister Wyne?!”

Wyne was a dragonewt—said to be the strongest of soldiers among dragonkind. Flio, however, had found her collapsed on the road one day and took her in, saving her life. From that day on, she lived as Flio and Rys’s adopted daughter, and therefore was an older sister to Elinàsze, Garyl, and Rylnàsze.

“Yes!” Rylnàsze answered. “I am doing very good!”

“Great, great!” said Wyne, beaming as she rubbed cheeks with her little sister. “I’m happy when you’re doing good, Ryl-Ryl! It makes dada and mama and Eli-Eli and Gare-Gare and everyone else happy too!”

Rylnàsze beamed back, clutching her hat to keep it from falling off with Wyne rubbing up against her cheeks like that. “I’m happy too!”

“Great, great! And don’t worry, I’ll protect you lots too, Ryl-Ryl!”

As they were chatting happily, a sudden gust of wind blew up the hem of Wyne’s poncho-style outfit.

“Big sis Wyne!” Elinàsze cried, turning red in the face as she pushed Wyne’s dress back down. “Again?!”

“Whahuh...” Garyl stammered, quickly averting his gaze. “I—I could see her butt...” Indeed, Wyne was not wearing anything under that poncho of hers.

“Young Mistress Wyne!” A woman in a maid outfit with a pair of angelic wings on her back nimbly alighted to the ground.

“T-Tan-Tan!” Wyne exclaimed.

“My name is Tanya, not Tan-Tan!”

Tanya’s full name was Tanyalite. She was an angel, a disciple of the Celestial Plane sent to keep watch on Flio and his outlandish magic power, but she lost her memory in a freak midair collision with Wyne, and now worked for Flio as the household’s live-in maid.

“But, but! I think Tan-Tan sounds cuter!”

“It doesn’t need to be cute,” Tanya insisted. “But more importantly...!” She held out both her arms, her expression deadly serious. In one hand was Wyne’s bra, and in the other was a pair of panties. “Young Mistress Wyne, have I not told you many times that you must wear underwear when you go outdoors? I laid them out for you on your bed...”

Wyne frowned in protest. “B-But it’s so stuffy! I hate-hate it...”

“I understand that, as a dragon, your body temperature is unusually high, and so you prefer to wear loose-fitting clothes,” Tanya said. “However, a young lady of your age must not neglect to wear her undergarments!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“But you must!”

“Nuh-uh! Nuh-uh!”

Tanya thrust the bra and panties towards Wyne, who twisted her body out of the way. “Gawahah?!” Rylnàsze, still held tightly in Wyne’s arms, cried out in confusion and dismay as she was swung through the air.

“Snuffle snuffle!” Sybe the unicorn rabbit came running up to Wyne’s feet. Sybe was originally a wild psychobear Flio had met in a random encounter. As soon as it saw Flio, however, Sybe realized it had no hope of victory and surrendered, becoming the family pet. It spent most of its time in the unicorn rabbit form which Flio had given it using his magic, but it had a peculiar habit of standing up on its hind legs. Sybe grabbed hold of Wyne’s leg.

“Huh? Huh? What’s up, Sybe?”

“Snuffle! Snuff-snuffle!”

“Huh? I’m making Ryl-Ryl dizzy?! My bad, my bad!” Whether Wyne could understand Sybe’s speech or she simply noticed that Sybe was looking over at Rylnàsze, she quickly lowered the young girl back to solid ground.

Rylnàsze collapsed to the floor, clutching her head to try to make the spinning stop. “Oh me, oh my, oh dear...” Sybe ran up beside her, full of concern.

“Big sis Wyne, you should know better!” Elinàsze fumed as she marched up to the dragonewt. “Rylnàsze is still young! You must be careful with her!” But then she stopped. It wasn’t only Sybe who was worried for the young Rylnàsze collapsed on the ground, she noticed—the horse magic beasts who lived in the pasture were drawing close out of concern, and even the little birds flying overhead had landed on Rylnàsze’s hat and shoulders to check in on her. “You know, I thought Sybe was rather fond of her... Does Rylnàsze have some skill that makes animals like her, perhaps?”

Tanya tilted her head in thought. “I don’t believe so... Master Flio inspected her just the other day, and said that she did not possess any skills...”

“Meaning animals just like her ’cause of who she is,” Garyl said, stepping up from behind and patting Rylnàsze gently on the head. “You’re pretty amazing, Rylnàsze.” He clearly admired his little sister.

“E-Ehe he...” Rylnàsze giggled, beaming up at Garyl as he patted her head. “Big brother praised me!”

The horses and birds alike cried out happily and nuzzled Rylnàsze fondly.

◇ ◇ ◇

Rislei watched Rylnàsze and the rest continue merrily down the road from the pasture as she did her chores. “The horses really love Ryl, don’t they...?” she mused, resting her hands on her hips and tilting her head.

Rislei was the daughter of Sleip, a demon lichsteed, and Byleri, a human. Sleip and Byleri had ended up as the co-managers of the pasture outside Flio’s house. Sleip was once a member of the Dark Army’s Infernal Four, and many of the horses living at the pasture were various kinds of horse demons—his former subordinates. The rest were equine magic beasts Sleip or Flio or someone else had captured in the wild. Right now, most of the horse magic beasts had gone off towards Rylnàsze.

How lovely... she thought. She treats me like a big sister too. I wish I had a real little sister who was that cute and good with horses...

As she was lost in thought, a large man came up from behind Rislei, wrapping his arms tight around her and hefting her into the air. “Ha ha ha! Risleeei!”

“P-Papa?! What are you—?!”

Sleip laughed uproariously as he held Rislei in his arms, nuzzling his cheeks against her. Formerly an Infernal, Sleip quit the Dark Army and ended up lodging at Flio’s house where he spent his days looking after the horses. He and Byleri had never been formally married, but they lived together as lovers and had a daughter, Rislei, whom they loved very much.

“What’s the matter, Rislei?” Sleip asked. “You had a look like you were thinking, ‘I wish I had a real little sister who was that cute and good with horses...’”

Rislei’s eyes shot open. “Weh?! P-Papa, how did you know exactly what I was thinking?!”

Sleip laughed even more loudly than before. “Ha ha ha! I’m your papa, you know! Of course I can tell that much!” He set Rislei back on the ground, then looked around the pasture until he spotted a slender woman carrying a hay bale inside from the pasture. “Oh! Byleri, there you are!” he said, running over.

“Huh? Oh! Like, can I be of service to you, Lord Sleip?”

Byleri was once part of a knightly company from Castle Klyrode, where she served as an archer, but she quit knighthood and moved to Flio’s house. There, she put her prodigious horse-handling skills to work looking after equine magic beasts of all sorts and lived out her days in bliss with her lover Sleip and daughter Rislei. She smiled up at Sleip, who suddenly scooped her up into his arms in a princess carry. “Wha-huh?!” Byleri exclaimed. “L-Lord Sleip?”

“Well, if our precious Rislei wants a little sister so badly, you and I had better get to work!”

“Awuh?! L-Like, right now?!” Byleri’s face went a brilliant shade of red.

Sleip gazed down at Byleri as she turned redder and redder. “Hm? Is that a no?”

“I-I mean... I didn’t say that...”

“Ha ha ha! Then what’s the problem?” Laughing boisterously as always, Sleip carried Byleri away towards the house.

Rislei sighed, watching her father carry her mother indoors, her own face turning quite red as well. “Papa and mama are all over each other again, like always...”

◇ ◇ ◇

A woman watched from the front yard as Sleip carried Byleri inside the house. She paused the friendly bout of swordplay she was engaged in with a much larger man. “I wonder what’s come over Byleri and Sir Sleip all of a sudden...” she wondered aloud, a curious look on her face. This was Balirossa, the former leader of the group of knights from Klyrode Castle who had been living at Flio’s house and helping out at the Fli-o’-Rys General Store. She was one of Ghozal’s two wives, and the mother of Ghoro.

The large man she had been sparing with—Ghozal—folded his arms in thought. Ghozal was none other than the former Dark One Gholl, who had abdicated his throne in favor of his younger brother, Yuigarde, and now lived at Flio’s house as a human. He and Flio were something along the lines of best friends. He had taken two wives as well—Balirossa, the former knight, and Uliminas, his old confederate from the Dark Army. With them, he had two children—Ghoro and Folmina.

“Hrm...” Ghozal said. “I wonder if Byleri’s hurt somehow...”

“Ah, yes.” Balirossa nodded. “That would stand to reason, I suppose.”

A broad smirk came over Uliminas’s face when she heard what her husband and co-wife were talking about. Uliminas was a hellcat, and had been Ghozal’s closest confidant in the Dark Army. When Ghozal left, she quit alongside him. Now she worked at the Fli-o’-Rys General Store disguised as a demihuman. The other wife of Ghozal, she was the mother of Folmina.

“Come on meow, don’t be ridiculous...” Uliminas muttered to herself. “Those two are clearly about to go at it like rabbits in the mewddle of the day!”

Tug tug... Folmina, who had been standing beside Uliminas, tugged at her mother’s sleeve. Folmina was Ghozal and Uliminas’s daughter, half demon royalty and half hellcat. She was equally attached to Uliminas and Balirossa, Ghozal’s two wives, and had a serious infatuation with Garyl. Uliminas looked down to see her daughter gazing innocently up at her. “Mama Uliminas? What do you mean by ‘go at it like rabbits’...?”

Uliminas winced perceptibly. “Mreow?! A-Ah! Well, erm, mew see...” she began. “Those two get along so well, right? They meowst be heading inside to spend some time...getting along.”

“Hmmm, I see...” said Folmina. “But I don’t think they get along quite as well as papa and my mamas.”

“Hwah?! W-Well, meowbe...”

“I know how this works, you know!” Folmina said. “If mama and mama and papa get along really well, you’ll make a new little brother or sister for Ghoro and me!”

“Mereow?!”

“So? When are you gonna have another kid?” For the past few months, Folmina spent a lot of time touching Rys, Belano, and Tia’s pregnant bellies. She innocently reached out to touch Uliminas’s flat stomach.

“Wh-When? Erm... Meow do I put this...”

“Come on! Tell me when!”

“Ah ha ha... Erm...” Even Uliminas, the onetime confederate of the Dark One and commander of the Dark Army, was at a loss before her daughter’s line of questioning.

Ignoring Uliminas and Folmina’s conversation, Ghozal faced Balirossa and brought his sword back to a guard. “Hey, Balirossa,” he said. “You wanna get back to sword training?”

“Yes, let’s.” Balirossa said, getting on guard as well. “I am in your hands.”

Still a knight at heart, Balirossa engaged in sword training with Ghozal nearly every day. Today was no exception, but something was off. Balirossa looked over at her husband and balked—her son Ghoro was still perched on Ghozal’s head even as he stood with his sword out.

As Ghozal and Balirossa’s son, the soft-spoken Ghoro was half demon royal and half human. Like his sister Folmina, whom he was extremely attached to, he regarded Balirossa and Uliminas equally as his mothers. Lately he had developed the habit of crawling atop his father’s head. Despite being in his human form, Ghozal had allowed his horns to manifest. His horns were proof that he belonged to the line of Dark Ones, but right now they served the much more pragmatic function of providing something for his son to grab onto, lest he fall from his perch.

Ghoro was holding tight to Ghozal’s horns, sleeping surprisingly soundly. The whole arrangement projected a very laid-back image. Balirossa smirked with self-deprecation. I put my full effort into sword training, she thought, but I can never make Sir Ghozal so much as break a sweat, even with our son sleeping atop his head! I’m fully aware that I still have a great deal to learn, but it’s vexing. I haven’t been able to land a single blow on Garyl lately either...

Ghozal seemed to notice the way Balirossa’s expression had darkened. “Hrm?” he said. “What’s wrong, Balirossa? Are you getting tired? Should we call it a day?”

Balirossa shook her head and returned her sword to a guard once more. “No,” she said. “I’m all right. Let us continue, if you please.”

Ghozal grinned. “That’s the spirit!”

“Go Mama Balirossa!” Folmina cheered. “You can do it!”

Balirossa smiled at the encouragement and then launched herself towards Ghozal, fiercely swinging her sword. The sound of metal clashing against metal filled the air as Folmina began interrogating Uliminas once more.

◇ ◇ ◇

Sleip carried Byleri into Flio’s house, past the living room, and up the stairs. He ran along at a fast clip, but the group gathered in the living room didn’t even spare a glance their way.

“I have lived long and seen much of this world,” Hiya said, staring intently ahead. “but I have never encountered a case of a magic doll producing offspring. I did once happen upon a book that proposed the possibility, but I understood the subject of the tale to be purely hypothetical...” They were wearing their usual outfit—nothing more than a cloth wrapped around their body.

Hiya, the djinn who commands the origin of light and darkness, was a being with enough magic power to lay waste to the entire world. However, their power proved utterly lacking against Flio. After their defeat, they took to calling Flio “Exalted One” and joined his ever-growing household.

Next to Hiya stood Damalynas, the Grand Magus of Midnight, just as focused on the group in front of them as Hiya. Damalynas was a master of dark magic, but she found herself defeated by Hiya, who absorbed her into their mindscape. These days, she lived inside Hiya’s mental world as the djinn’s adoring training partner. “No kidding,” Damalynas said. “It shocks me every time I see it...”

Across from Hiya and Damalynas were three other members of Flio’s house. One of them was a petite woman, and next to her was a male magic doll. The third, standing between the two, was even smaller.

“U-Um...” the woman, Belano, said, blushing and fidgeting awkwardly. Hiya and Damalynas’s intense stares may have been making her uncomfortable. “Th-This is a little embarrassing...”

Belano was a witch who had once served in Balirossa’s company of knights. She was a small, shy woman who could only use defensive magic. She lived at Flio’s house along with the rest of her former company, and worked as a teacher at the Houghtow College of Magic.

Minilio, the magic doll, patted Belano reassuringly on the back. Flio had created Minilio as an experiment. He looked like a younger version of Flio himself, hence the name. He had grown intimate with Belano over the course of helping her out, and they had become partners.

The child walked up to Belano from the other side Minilio and patted her on the back as well, smiling. Belano looked between the two. “Thank you, Minilio... Thank you, Belalio...”

Belalio was Minilio and Belano’s child. As the child of a human and a magic doll, they were an extremely rare being. Like their father, they resembled a young Flio, but they dressed in androgynous clothes, keeping their gender ambiguous.

Belalio hugged their mother tight, happy at the words of thanks, but the gesture only made Belano’s face turn from pink to bright red with embarrassment. Awawah?!Belalio looks too much like Lord Flio! she thought. I get embarrassed every time they hug me! Even seeing their face gets my heart racing sometimes...

Belano had lost her father and older brother in the war against the Dark Army. At some point, she began to think of Flio as a surrogate for both of them, but her emotions ran too strong. Before long, she became aware that she had fallen in love. Flio, however, was already married to Rys, so Belano sealed her emotions away deep within her heart, never to be disturbed.

Until, that is, Flio created a magic doll in his perfect likeness.

Belano fell in love with Minilio at first sight, and pursued a relationship with him that went far enough that the two had a child. It took everyone by surprise. After all, Belano was a late bloomer and ordinarily a shy, quiet girl.

As Belano blushed red from Belalio’s hug, Minilio hugged her tight from the other side. With Belalio on one side and Minilio on the other, she grew so red that even her hands and legs—the parts of her body not covered by her clothing—became visibly flushed.

“N-No...” Belano protested. “I can’t take it...!” Blood shot from her nose and she collapsed unconscious, a strangely contented smile on her face. Minilio and Belalio managed to catch her before she hit the floor, and holding her from either side, they carried her upstairs to the room the three of them shared.

“Hm.” Hiya sighed, disappointed, as they watched the trio go. “I would have liked to observe them for a while longer, but I suppose it will have to wait for another time.” They turned their gaze instead to the other group in the room—Calsi’im and Tia.

Calsi’im was an old skeleton warrior who had served as Dark Regent for a time, ruling in place of the Dark One Yuigarde when he went missing. He had died once before, but Flio brought him back to life, and now he was one of the many lodgers living at Flio’s house. Tia, meanwhile, was a magic doll created by a mage in the Dark Army. She had ended up broken down and discarded until the fateful day that Calsi’im had discovered her and fixed her up. Ever since then, she had stayed close by his side, even following him when he took up residence with Flio.

There was a girl perched atop Calsi’im’s head at the moment, her arms wrapped tight around his bony face. She was bigger than Calsi’im himself, but rode skillfully atop the skeleton with a happy smile on her face.

“Now, now, Rabbitz,” Calsi’im said with a bony grimace. “I know how much you like perching on top of my head, but I must say, it’s rather tough on my neck bones to have you up there all the time!”

Calsi’im and Tia had a daughter together named Rabbitz. The child of a skeleton and a magic doll, she was at least as rare a being as Belalio. She was a happy girl with a bright smile who loved riding on her father Calsi’im’s head.

Rabbitz looked down at Calsi’im’s face, grinning broadly. “Yah papa!” she said, nuzzling his head fondly.

“I can’t tell if this girl understands me or not...” Calsi’im muttered.

“There’s no harm in it, is there?” Tia said, smiling. “Rabbitz does such things because she loves you, Calsi’im.”

Rabbitz’s smile grew even brighter. “Yah!” she said. “Love papa! Love mama!”

Hiya and Damalynas stepped forward approaching Rabbitz, who now had her limbs wrapped around every inch of Calsi’im’s head.

“Hm...” said Hiya. “This one is half skeleton, but her body shows no sign of any skeletal attributes...”

“She doesn’t have joints like a magic doll would either...” observed Damalynas.

“Meaning that she exhibits the traits of neither parent...” Hiya pondered.

“Oh? But that isn’t what’s important, is it?” said Tia, smiling at the two of them. “All that matters is that Rabbitz is the fruit of my love with Calsi’im.” Tia pet Rabbitz on the head. The girl closed her eyes, a happy look on her face.

◇ ◇ ◇

Blossom, the former heavy fighter in Balirossa’s knightly company, watched the events in the living room from the kitchen after bringing vegetables in. She was Balirossa’s best friend, and naturally quit the knighthood with her as did Belano and Byleri. Originally from a farming family herself, Blossom had a very high degree of agricultural acumen, and had put it to work cultivating a large farm located on Flio’s estate.