Slime Reincarnation

The chaos caused by the monsters, thanks to the wolf fang tribe’s efforts along with the capital guard and knight order’s response, was heading toward resolution by midnight. Some destruction of buildings had been unavoidable from the start, or rather, there was the hidden reality that without some visible damage, it would be harder to hold the enemy accountable, so I’d instructed the wolf fangs to prioritize preventing harm to people above all else. As a result, several buildings had been damaged or destroyed, and instructions had gone out to gather laborers from the next morning for cleanup and repairs.

"Well, if the kingdom funds the reconstruction, that means more public works and more people employed, which should be good for the economy, right?"

I stood on the roof of a certain church, looking down over the city.

"Even so... I never expected the cathedral to just shut its doors and completely ignore everything. They only started opening up again once the monsters were cleared out. Genuinely insulting, honestly. Did they close up out of fear once the monsters appeared?"

I tilted my head. The cathedral was supposed to have its own organized holy knight order, the Crusaders. But if they didn’t deploy at a time like this, when would they ever be useful?

"Could it be... they’re specialized purely in land grabs and kidnapping...?"

Some rather unsettling possibilities crossed my mind.

"Well, whatever. Tomorrow’s the audience with the king. Once that’s over, I’ll head to the church and see for myself..."

Come to think of it, one of those classic light novel tropes is praying at a church leading to communication with a god, or having your consciousness summoned before one. Might as well try praying myself sometime... though, given how often I’ve been cursing "Damn my luck" at the gods, I doubt they’d want to hear from me.

Tomorrow I was scheduled to head to the castle from the morning, preparing for the audience set for early afternoon. Since tomorrow would take up the entire day, there was a lot I needed to check on today.

"Let’s go check whether the handmade bread shop Mamma Miya and the diner Poporo are doing alright..."

Both shops’ immediate troubles should already be resolved. What remained was how well they could actually manage running the business.

"Though for the diner Poporo, the sisters still need help with the menu, and finding their mother is still unresolved."

Ingredient supply should have improved, but running a restaurant properly with just the two sisters wouldn’t be that easy.

"Sister Anri and Marin chan still need protection against the church being seized..."

For now, things seemed to be holding together with the personal donation I’d given Anri chan. The Dazgul Company pushing hard for the land grab, and Baron Bonne who was apparently backing them, were still pending investigation. Once information came in, I’d work out countermeasures.

"Baron Harknar’s former wife has been rescued, at least. Krelia Spelcio, captain of the capital guard, is currently cooperating with us, though we’ll need to keep watching how things develop..."

Baron Harknar’s former wife had been freed from her bonds by concealing her existence and faking her death. Krelia’s cooperation was still ongoing. What remained was how to deal with the pressure from the Pleasure ducal house.

"And then there’s Alie chan, working at the cathedral."

...Princess Cassina’s situation remained pending, for now.

"Looks like it’s going to be a busy schedule."

Grumbling to myself, I headed back to the Coluna Frontier Count’s residence.

"Lord Fenberg, I’d like to meet with Earl Lubengel this afternoon, could I ask you to send word ahead?"

The next morning, after breakfast, I made the request to Fenberg.

"This afternoon, is it. Tomorrow we’ll be heading to the castle from the morning."

"I’m aware. Depending on how the conversation goes, Irina will probably want to spend time with her family, so I’m planning to have her stay the night there. Since it wouldn’t be safe for her to handle things alone if something came up, I intend to stay overnight there myself. ...Though I’m not entirely sure how it’ll all play out."

Fileontina was the first to react to what I’d said.

"My husband! Don’t tell me you’re going to sleep together! How enviable!"

Standing up slightly, wriggling with excitement as she said it, it left me a little flustered.

"S, s, sleep together!? Yes, we’ll be sleeping together!"

Irina turned bright red as she confirmed it. Wait, we actually are!?

"What does sleeping together mean?"

Luciana, the sheltered young lady, showed a question mark floating over her head, so her mother Flora, sitting beside her, whispered an explanation into her ear. She immediately turned bright red and looked down.

"How enviable... I want to sleep together too..."

"Absolutely not! Absolutely not, Luciana! It’s far too early for sleeping together!"

"Sleeping together, huh, might be a little embarrassing."

I understood Fenberg’s concern for his daughter, but Sarina, is a little embarrassing really the extent of your reaction to this!?

"Fumyu? What’sh shleeping together?"

Rina didn’t seem to understand either. Fileontina leaned in and whispered an explanation to her.

"Fuoo! Sho it meansh shleeping under the shame blanket... Rina alwaysh shleeps together with Mashter!"

Rina raised her right hand straight up, declaring this proudly.

"!!!"

No, seriously, Rina. I mean, it’s true that whenever I come back late at night, she always crawls into my bed by morning and clings to my waist like she’s fused to it, but announcing that out loud like this feels like a whole different problem!

"HUUUAAAAH!"

Before I even noticed, Irina had silently crushed my left hand in her grip.

"Lord Yabe, would you care to explain exactly what’s going on..."

Please don’t choke me while asking that, Luciana chan!

"My husband, I believe a little talk is in order..."

Fileontina, I really don’t think a whip is necessary for a talk!

Sarina seemed to be deep in thought about something.

"Right! Why don’t we all just sleep together at once?"

An absolute bombshell of a statement from Sarina, of all people!?

"Hmph, well, can’t be helped then. We shall sleep together."

"No, Irina, what exactly can’t be helped here?"

"Indeed, that does sound unavoidable! Let’s all try sleeping together!"

Luciana chan agreed with what sounded like genuine, inexplicable delight.

"Luciana! Absolutely not! Sleeping together is forbidden! Absolutely forbidden!"

Fenberg’s soul crying scream!

"Luciana chan, couldn’t you all just use the guest suite in the back to sleep together comfortably?"

An unexpected supporting shot, straight from her own mother! And a devastating one at that!

"Flora! What are you saying!"

"Dear? Our daughter has to leave the nest eventually, doesn’t she?"

She said this, pulling Fenberg by the ear out of the living room.

"Flora! Flora, wait! Floooooraaaa!"

Letting out what could only be called a wail of anguish, Fenberg was dragged out of the room by his wife.

"Since tonight you’ll be staying at Earl Lubengel’s estate, Lady Irina’s family home... then let’s all sleep together tomorrow night, once you’re back from the castle."

Fileontina had already worked out the schedule herself.

"Then shall we all go buy sleepwear together?"

Everyone got excited at Luciana’s suggestion.

"...But I’ll be the first to properly sleep together with Yabe..."

Irina muttered this quietly to herself, though no one heard it.