Chapter 3:
Family Meeting
LOOKING BACK ON what happened, I get why I felt the way I did at the time. It’s not that I thought of Aisha as one of my wives; I loved her as my little sister and a member of the family, but I never thought of her as “mine.”
In other words, it wasn’t like I was getting cucked or something. Even if I had been, I don’t think I’d have any right to complain about someone cheating or being unfaithful, considering I took three wives.
At the end of the day, I was kind of the root cause of this regardless. If I had understood that at the time, maybe things wouldn’t have blown up the way they did.
—Passage from The Book of Rudeus, Volume 29
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I was finished with work for the day.
As of late, that had consisted entirely of working with the Asuran Branch Head, Ariel. We were working on setting up a large-scale teleportation circle on the edge of the Asura Kingdom.
Teleportation circles were considered taboo all around the world, but Queen Ariel was going to use her authority to quash that within her nation and set up circles throughout it. Obviously, the Holy Country of Millis was going to object, and there’d likely be people among her populace who would as well. While the Fittoa Displacement Incident was becoming a thing of the past, the victims from that awful incident would surely object as well.
The Asura Kingdom was not a democracy, so Queen Ariel could push through the noise and objections, but discontent among the populace might lead to a coup d’état. Still, she always had people aiming at her back. I was comfortable leaving her with the responsibility of coming up with an excuse for why she was doing this.
In fact, I read a draft of her speech today, and it was pretty damn convincing.
Ten years have passed since the Displacement Incident caused the collapse of the Fittoa Region, and even now, it is still rebuilding. It will probably take dozens of years before those beautiful golden fields of wheat shine once more. That incident took much from us—and that is precisely why we must learn more about teleportation. We have to know, so that we can prevent such a catastrophe from ever taking place again. We need to know what teleportation truly is.
This is why I am repealing the restriction on teleportation circles. I am certain there will be those who disagree with me, those who are concerned. And perhaps my generation will simply repeat the mistakes of the past. But I promise you that our failures will become sustenance for future generations.
That was the long and short of it. Basically, she was trying to make the opposing citizenry into allies. Not everyone would flip, but Ariel was already quite popular. Things would probably work out just fine.
At the end of the day, the citizenry that would object hardest to removing the teleportation restriction would be the followers of the Millis church, because the Millis clergy were the ones spearheading the supervision of said restriction. I was presently laying the groundwork to make this okay with Millis by going through the Blessed Child and the Pope.
When I told them about the plan to set up teleportation circles on a wide scale, they both gave me sour looks, then gently told me we probably couldn’t set up any circles in Millis. I gave up on that idea, but the Pope and Blessed Child guaranteed they wouldn’t lead any objections to Asura’s actions. It was a compromise, but it was still moving forward.
In exchange, they made a handful of requests, but that was unavoidable given what I was asking. For now, I was satisfied with the result.
It was possible that after seeing how useful and profitable teleportation circles in the Asura Kingdom were, the Millis followers would start asking for them. The fact the Pope and the Blessed Child wouldn’t outwardly object to that when the time came was a big deal.
We let Millis be for now and began setting up teleportation circles in regions of Fittoa with no population, as well as some especially empty regions of Asura. Once we conducted more experiments and found success, we’d set up more circles.
There were obstacles we’d have to deal with, yes. This was the kind of thing that was going to take jobs from the transport industry, for example. But if teleportation circles became widely used, we’d see an increase in the safety and convenience of travel across the board. It would ultimately be a plus for people.
If nothing else, Orsted seemed to know some effective ways to use teleportation circles, and he’d most certainly use them well in the war against Laplace.
Anyhow, I was done with work. I had a few days off, so I was going to relax at home.
“I’m back!”
I was glad to return to my humble abode, the place where I’d be surrounded by my children, be embraced warmly by my wives, and have a damn good meal. My happy, happy home.
“Huh? Is no one here?”
Except my usually bustling house was silent. It was the early afternoon. Roxy, Lara, Arus, and Sieg would be at school. At this time of the day, Sylphie might be out shopping. Lily and Chris were likely out on a walk with Eris. Was Aisha dealing with mercenary band stuff? Zenith wasn’t here either, and neither was Dillo. In that case, had Lilia taken Zenith out or something? Recently, they’d been riding Dillo to various places, so that could have been it. Starting this year, Lucie had enrolled in the Asura Kingdom Royal Academy and was living in the dorms, so she also wasn’t home.
Which meant I really was the only one in the house.
Ah, I almost forgot about Byt, our house watcher. I appreciate your hard work, pal. Thanks to you taking out all the vermin, I’ll be able to enjoy some delicious rice tonight. I’ll make sure to get you some tasty fertilizer later, I thought as I climbed up the stairs.
It was then that I heard a voice.
“Mmm… Mm…”
They seemed to be in pain or something. I thought I was alone, but apparently not. I continued down the hall in search of where the voice was coming from, eventually realizing it was coming from Aisha’s room.
“Ah… Mm…”
It almost sounded like she was feverish. Was Aisha sick?
“Ah… Right there… More…”
Ah, no, definitely not. Those were the same sort of sounds Sylphie and Roxy made when we slept together. I made the same kinds of sounds when I slept with Eris, so I totally got it.
She was in the middle of doing the dirty deed, huh? I never would’ve guessed Aisha had someone like that in her life.
Complex feelings stirred within me. Was I glad? Upset? Aisha was of age, and even as her older brother, I knew she was a real beauty. It wouldn’t be strange for her to have a partner, even if it was awkward as hell.
Wait, though. Maybe I was jumping the gun. Maybe she really did have a fever. Or she was having her ears cleaned. Hell, she could have been getting a massage. I mean, it was even possible she was trying to make a killing doing some pro wrestling—okay, maybe not that one. Pro wrestling didn’t exist in this world. In any case, there were plenty of other reasons she could be making those sounds.
It was uncomfortable, but considering the other possibilities helped me calm down. I’d knock once, then have her introduce me to the lad later. I was going to act as Norn and Aisha’s father in Paul’s place. This was something I’d decided long, long ago, so I was planning on taking the measure of whoever the man was. If he was too much of a playboy, I’d probably get a little critical, but it was just to protect her.
That said, I doubted she’d let herself get tricked by some weirdo. She might fall for someone who was pretty quirky, but she’d never pick someone awful.
All right, I’m not going to let myself be bound by preconceptions and first impressions. I need to look at who this guy truly is.
I wasn’t particularly good with that sort of thing, though.
Whatever. First, I needed to knock. I approached the door and heard voices from within.
“Hey, Arus? Does that feel good?”
“Yeah… Yeah, it does, Aisha.”
I yanked open the door.
“Huh?!”
“Wha?!”
What I saw before me was unbelievable. Aisha and Arus were in bed together. She was on top, and he was below her. They were both naked and sweaty.
The pair froze in place like two cats caught in the act of mating. Only their faces turned in my direction, and their eyes went wide.
Maybe they’re just pretend wrestling?
No, that’s definitely not what’s happening.
It’d be weird for them to pretend to be wrestling without trunks or tights on, and the room wouldn’t smell the way it did. I didn’t see any steel chairs around, either. In other words, they were… Yeah.
“Ah, oh.”
I’d wanted to open the door and see Aisha massaging Arus’s shoulders or something. I’d wanted this to be a misunderstanding.
“Er, ah, ugh—” I couldn’t find the words. What the hell was this?
What am I supposed to do? How did this happen? Huh?
Aisha went pale at my sudden appearance. I must’ve looked exactly the same, as I could feel the blood drain from my face.
She tried to say something, but for obvious reasons, she stumbled over her words. “U-um, welcome home, Brother… I mean, um, this is, uh…”
That was enough to tell me that this wasn’t some kind of misunderstanding—they knew what they were doing.
“Both of you. Take a bath, change, and come to the living room.”
I managed to squeeze some words out and closed the door.
I went downstairs and into the living room, then collapsed on a chair. The strength drained from my body. My heart was racing, and my vision was narrowing. I wanted this to have been some kind of bad dream. But the shuffling around upstairs cruelly informed me that this was in fact reality. I felt queasy and ready to vomit. My mind was blank.