“Hmm,” said Shouzou while crossing his arms.
“In other words, at the moment we are in a defenseless state unprotected by a barrier?”
All the blood drained out of Emalia’s face.
Shouzou found himself once again in astonishment at how scatterbrained this goddess was.
And as they say, “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.”
Running footsteps pounded down the hallway toward the guest room.
“Dad, it’s terrible!” The eldest daughter, Yuna, rushed into the room in a fluster.
“There’s something gigantic in the yard!” In quick succession, in came the second daughter, Kana. “It’s a doggy-sama~” The youngest daughter, Hina, seemed to find it all rather quite amusing.
“So one of those so-called magic beasts has already shown up.” After being relieved at seeing his daughters safe, Shouzou made to get up, but was abruptly stopped by what his daughters continued to tell him.
“But Dad, it’s strange.”
“It’s slamming its body against our house really hard, but—”
“Our new house is so strong~!” Apparently, in spite of the magic beast’s effort to break their windows, the house had remained steadfast all throughout. Come to think of it, there wasn’t even an audible sound of impact.
Emalia started with a shout.
“So that’s how it is! This house is the transmigration target. That’s why it got a cheat ability!”
“We would have really appreciated it if you’d properly confirmed that sort of thing first before coming in.”
“Hauu, I’m sorry......” Apparently the state of affairs was not as urgent as it’d first seemed. But with that said, neither was it something that could remain unaddressed.
Shouzou got up, then headed toward the living room. Everyone else followed behind him in single file. At the end of the first floor hallway, upon opening the door, a glass sliding door that reached from the floor to the ceiling came into view. On the other side of it, a dog the size of an elephant was glaring straight at them.
Its pure black fur looked as sharp as needles. Its bared fangs seemed very similar to western broadswords. The magic beast seemed to be in the middle of a short break, as its long tongue was lolling out while its shoulders were heaving up and down heavily.
“It’s a hellhound! To think that such a big one was in the vicinity......” Despite the chills she was feeling, Emalia tried her best to remain calm and analyze the situation.
“Please don’t provoke it. After a while, it should give up and just go away on its own.”
But then Shouzou took a step forward.
“But that means it might come attack us again at any time, right?”
“Eh? Well, that’s...... but once I set up the barrier......”
Shouzou took another step.
“But that means my daughters won’t be able to run around and play outside.”
“Heh? Well, that’s...... but safety is top priority......”
Shouzou’s steps brought him quickly toward the window.
“Naturally, the safety of my family is top priority.”
“Then—”
“Therefore!” Shouzou was mad. Blood rushed to his head.
Too much had happened today already.
Their house was transmigrated to another world out of the blue. The person sent to do the explaining was timid and jumping at everything and just completely useless in general.
Then this. This was the final straw.
He shot a quick glance behind him. There stood the family that he loved so very dearly.
The constantly naïve and bubbly Hina aside, Yuna, and even the usually full-of-herself Kana looked frightened and worried.
This...... thing had frightened his beloved daughters. That in itself was a crime worthy of death!
Shouzou undid the latch to the glass door, then threw it open.
“Master, what are you—?!”
His family’s safety was of utmost priority. Anything that threatened their bright, fun, and carefree livelihood, no matter what it may be—
“Elimination!” Thud.
Shouzou stepped outside in his bare feet.
The gigantic black magic beast crouched low and snarled while fixing its sight on Shouzou.
The exchange of glances lasted but a few seconds.
“GRRRR!” The magic beast lunged at Shouzou. With saliva spraying everywhere, it opened its maw wide to snap Shouzou up.
But in response—
Shouzou bent his knees. Immediately afterward, he lightly lifted the palm of his hand.
Gachi~in!! [Gafun?!] The palm of his hand connected perfectly with the magic beast’s chin.
The large maw that missed its target was forcibly slammed shut, with the sound of the top and bottom racks of teeth crashing together ringing out loudly. The magic beast’s upper body shot up into the air, and it did a complete backflip before landing on its back.
The magic beast had apparently suffered a concussion, because it just laid there, twitching. Eventually, it shivered, then slowly got to its feet while quivering.
Shouzou looked on, then slowly inhaled deeply.
All of the children clapped their hands over their ears in synchronized motions.
Immediately afterward—
“GET LOST!!” A single shout tore the air apart.
“Piee?!” The startled voice was from Emalia. The loud sound had caused her legs to give way.
“Kyaun, kyau kyauun!” The magic beast leaped up, then ran away as fast as it could.
Shouzou turned around as if nothing had happened and made to step back into the living room, but realized that he was barefoot.
“Honey, thank you for keeping us safe. Here you go.” His wife Silvia had brought over a wet towel. As expected of a couple that had spent so many years together. Shouzou accepted it with a word of thanks, then wiped the soles of his feet clean first before coming back into the living room.
“As expected of Dad!”
“Papa so awesome—!”
“Otoo-sama, so cool~!”
His children crowded around him. Shouzou’s expression softened as he hugged all three of them at once.
Something that was a matter of course, performed as a matter of course.
Seeing the family reacting the way they did, Emalia felt faint while opening her mouth to ask.
“Master...... who, are you......?” It was a very natural question to ask.
However, for Shouzou, it was an incomprehensible question.
He was no one special enough to merit the question “Who are you?”
The only thing that set him apart from other people was that he had taken a goddess as a wife.
“Just your average company employee.”
“Like hell you are!” Emalia was so bewildered that she unconsciously slipped into casual speech and shouted out loud.
“Hauu, I’m sorry, that was rude of me...... But, but, but that’s strange! How can an average company employee take out a hellhound with a single punch?!” Her question, delivered from her position still sitting on the floor, merely caused Shouzou to blush and avert his eyes.
“I, in front of the kids? That’s a bit......”
What’s he blushing about? This middle-aged man.
Emalia turned her gaze toward Silvia in search of an answer, only to get a very bashful “Iyaan.”
Yuna was also looking down in clear embarrassment.
“Nn? What? What’re we talking about?”
“A good woman has her secrets~”
“Uh, Papa is a guy though?”
“A good man has them too~” Clearly the two younger daughters hadn’t a clue.
Emalia once again turned her gaze back toward Shouzou, at which—
“Well then, I suppose I should step out for a bit.”
Was he trying to dodge the topic?
“More like, where is the master planning on going?”
“I hardly think that was the only magic beast close by. I’m going to quickly chase away every single one that lives in this area.”
Emalia could not find anything to say in response to Shouzou’s glittering eyes.
“Silvia, can you set up the barrier or whatever it is?”
“Not a problem. I’ll have it up in the blink of an eye.”
“All right, I’ll leave that to you then.” The married couple went ahead and continued the conversation while leaving Emalia behind.
The poor goddess could do nothing except just stare at Shouzou’s large back as it headed toward the front door in an overbearing manner.
It was only with Silvia’s help that Emalia finally managed to stand back up. So much had happened today that she just wanted to get back quickly and take a rest. However, she just couldn’t make herself let the matter go.
“Madam, why is the master so strong? I’m only guessing, but the feeling that I get is that he’s much stronger than even me, even though I come from the celestial realm!”
“In terms of sheer strength, he is actually above even me, a Grade 1 goddess. After all, he did just physically repel a magic beast.”
“All the more so, then! How did an ‘average company worker’ gain strength that exceeds even that of us goddesses?!”
Silvia’s cheeks once again flushed red bashfully.
Then she brought her mouth close to Emalia’s ears, who was looking decidedly unamused at seeing this reaction again.
“Our connection of love, that’s the reason.”
“I’m sorry, come again?”
“Did you not know? When a ‘human’ is deeply, dee~ply connected to a god or goddess, both in heart and body, they are bestowed a huge blessing of love.” Silvia covered her blazing cheeks with her hands, as if to hide her bashfulness.
Befuddled, Emalia’s gaze panned away.
Three cute girls were looking her way with blank faces.
In other words, the “human,” clearly Shouzou, gained strength that exceeds that of the gods because, together with Silvia, a Grade 1 goddess, he performed a certain act that led to the creation of these children......
“IT’S MY FIRST TIME HEARING SOMETHING LIKE THAT THOUGH?!”
“Well, the effect of doing it just once or twice is almost negligible, after all. But the two of us, when we got married, oh my we just, every single night, and even now we are still...... ufufu♪”
Emalia found herself gazing at the Grade 1 goddess who was once again blushing to the tips of her ears.
(......Just go explode.)
Emalia found herself clicking her tongue repeatedly inside her head.