After the bath, Bela came and summoned us while we were lounging about. We’d ended up enjoying a nice, leisurely bath together.
“That was delightful.”
“Sure was.”
After everything that happened today, we didn’t rush. Man, baths sure were great. It felt like all your worries and exhaustion just melted away into the water. Grande always liked long baths, so whenever we soaked together, we always ended up like this.
“It is time to feast! Husband, I require sustenance.”
“So do I.”
My appetite had returned, which probably meant I’d worked through at least a little of my guilt. I hadn’t hesitated when it came to wiping out the bandits, but that didn’t mean that it hadn’t worn me down emotionally. Killing people—even scum like that—was stressful. At least for me, anyway.
That said, there’d never been another option other than killing them. If we’d taken them back with us as prisoners, they would’ve ended up hanging from the city walls anyway. If they were going to die no matter what, it was easier to handle it myself rather than drag them back alive. And of course, after seeing what they’d done, part of me just wanted to kill them. Pretty myopic of me, I’ll admit.
After eating with Grande, I spoke with Shemel and the others and decided to meet with the women we’d rescued. I needed to discuss what would happen next and, if possible, heal any injuries or illnesses they had.
“I’ve called them over.”
“Thanks. Everyone, please. Have a seat.”
The rescued women sat down. They were all of different races. The one who’d spoken to me earlier, who I’d thought was a wolf or dog beastman, turned out to be a fox.
“First, let me introduce myself properly. My name is Kousuke. I know this might be hard to believe, but I’m the partner of Queen Sylphyel of the Kingdom of Merinard. In other words, I’m the king consort.”
The women listened closely before exchanging puzzled glances. Of course they did. They’d just been saved from bandits, and now they were discovering that the one who led the charge was the king consort himself. How did any of that make sense? If I was in their shoes, I’d think I’d have lost it too.
“But that’s not actually important. Who I am, or whether I’m telling the truth, are just minor details. For now, just know that I’m Kousuke, and I’m the boss of all the women here, including Shemel and the others. Outside of you girls, I mean.”
Still hesitant, the fox-eared woman gave a small nod. For now, I considered that a victory!
“I want you all to take today and tomorrow to rest up. You’ve been through hell, and you need to recover enough energy to travel. I also think you deserve at least a day to calm your nerves and settle down mentally and emotionally. That said, I’m sure some of you are anxious about your lives going forward, and won’t be able to relax until you know what’s going on.”
“I bet.”
“Yeah. So first off, I want you to know that I’ll be looking after you for the time being. While you’re with me, you don’t have to worry about food, shelter, or anything else regarding your day-to-day lives. But if any of you have homes to return to and want to go back, I’ll personally see you there as soon as possible. If you don’t, you’ll come back to Merinesburg with us. And if you’d like, I can arrange housing for you there.”
Either way, my work in this region was finished as of today. What I really wanted now was to head home, relax, and check in on Elen, Amalie, and my harpy kids. After that, I’d probably get sent off on another job anyway.
“Um, why are you doing all of this for us?” the fox-eared woman asked nervously.
Why, huh…?
“I don’t have a particular reason,” I said after a pause. “I guess I just can’t bring myself to leave people behind that I can help. That’s all.”
“That’s it…?”
“Yup. That’s it!” Shemel cut in, “That’s why he went outta his way to kill dozens of bandits, save y’all, and then volunteer to take care of you afterward.”
“Hey.”
“Basically,” Bela added, grinning, “this guy is just a big old softy.”
“The kind of genuinely good person you don’t see much of these days,” Tozume chimed in.
“Can you really call me a good person after I just killed dozens of people…?”
“Nah, you totally can,” Shemel said without missing a beat. “You killed bandits. That’s just common sense, Boss.”
“Okay, right.”
Here I was, questioning my morals, and the women in my life just brushed it off. Apparently, the lives of bandits in this world were worth less than trash.
“Anyway, you girls ain’t gotta worry about a thing. Kousuke can easily take care of three hundred, three thousand, even thirty thousand people without breaking a sweat. Eight more ain’t gonna be an issue.”
“I’m not taking care of three hundred people right now, you know?”
Sure, I’d somehow gained more wives than I ever planned to, but I hadn’t hit three hundred. Yet.
“What’re ya talkin’ about? When we first left the Black Forest, we had around three hundred, didn’t we? And even after the Liberation Army’s numbers exploded, you still managed to feed everyone.”
“I guess so…”
Thinking about it, she wasn’t wrong. The main reason that Merinard’s budget was so absurdly inflated was, well, me. I was the one constantly supplying the kingdom with funds in the form of gems, ore, metals, gleaming magic jewels, food, and other things.
“Um, what were we talking about again…? Er, anyway, that’s the deal. I promise I don’t have any ulterior motives. I’m not going to sell you, abuse you, or do anything bad to you at all, so please don’t worry.”
“This guy here’s so rich that he’d never need to do any of that in the first place! He’s probably the richest man in the world.”
“I think you’re exaggerating a little.”
“Boss, all you have to do is swing your pickaxe at some random rocks and out comes gold, silver, and gems.”
“I mean, okay, yeah. But…”
The rescued women watched our back-and-forth with puzzled expressions. Fair enough. None of this side chatter was helping us look less suspicious.
“Anyhow, that’s about it for me. I just want you all to relax and feel safe. Now that things have calmed down, I’d like to heal anyone who’s hurt. I’ll get you good as new.”
Several of the women bore visible signs of having been beaten pretty hard. I was willing to bet they all had wounds, small and large.
I pulled a set of life potions, cure-disease potions, and splints from my inventory and got to work treating the women.
“…I’m about to lose it.”
“Remember, Boss,” Shemel said quietly. “The assholes who did this are already dead.”
In the end, every single woman had a severed Achilles tendon on the left or right. I’d wondered why they were all walking a little funny. Now I knew.
Those sons of…
“Don’t worry. I can fix you all up.”
As long as the tendons hadn’t been removed, I could heal them. I placed the splints up against their feet, and wrapped the bandages tight. Low and behold! The severed tendons stitched themselves back together, good as new. The women flexed their feet, astonished, able to walk normally again.
To be safe, I also had each of them drink a life potion and cure-disease potion, healing any lingering injuries or illnesses. You could never be too careful about diseases.
“What else… Ah, er, the more sensitive female stuff, but uh…”
“Hey, we can handle that, Boss. We’ll chat with them about it,” Shemel said quickly.
“I appreciate that. No matter how things turn out, I’m ready to look after them.”
It was a little late to change how those women had been treated and used up before this, but it was still something I couldn’t ignore. These issues were a bit too sensitive for me to be prying into myself. I was grateful to Shemel for stepping up to talk about it. Apparently, this world didn’t have medicine for that kind of wound.
“All right,” I said. “I’ve healed you all up for now, so get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow, just focus on relaxing. I’ll prepare clothes for everyone.”
From what I could tell, they were all female beastmen with animal ears and tails, though mostly human in appearance. As long as their clothes had openings for their tails, anything would be fine. I decided to spend the night whipping up some comfortable clothes for them. I’d also make a few extras like hair brushes and small necessities too.
“U-um!”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you so much,” the fox-eared woman said, bowing her head toward me.
Her voice trembled slightly, prompting the other women to follow her lead, bowing their heads and voicing their own thanks.
“Hey, it’s no problem. Now rest your hearts and bodies.”
And so I finished healing the women. After that, well, I’d be running around asking for favors to find work for them once we got back to Merinesburg. And if things didn’t look so hot, I could always have them serve as my personal maids in the castle.
Okay, yeah. We’d be fine.