Ms. Mimi spat out her tea with an intense pressure and a noise like that of a sound effect in a cartoon. I turned away since it almost hit me.
“Sh-Sh-She’s a Great Sage!” she shouted. “A Great Sage, you know!”
“This escort mission is a dangerous one. I needed someone strong to do it.”
Even Ms. Isabella would get an instant game over the second she was faced with a player; she could only use about Grade 3 magic. Or could she use Grade 4? I couldn’t remember. I’d made sure to inform her of the danger before making the request. She responded by asking me if she could live in Izanach permanently, as she had taken an interest in its library.
“You’re using a Great Sage as your lackey... Just who in the world are you, Master Iijima? Ah, wait, I was told not to ask things like that...”
“I’m not using her as a lackey. I promised her something in return.”
Ms. Mimi’s face clouded over. “Is all this really okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“We don’t have anything to give you in return. Even if we turned the entire treasure vault in the harpies’ castle over, nothing in it would be of any value to you.”
“Ha ha. No need to worry about that.”
“But I must!”
I smiled at her. “Well then, your princess might have been kidnapped by humans, but she has now also been saved by one. So could you tell your kingdom that humans aren’t all bad? I’ll be satisfied if you just let everyone know the simple truth that there are all kinds of people out there.”
Demihumans didn’t get along with regular humans, after all. Nothing would make me happier than to help solve that problem. It was also true that no one affiliated with Ms. Mimi could give me any bright ideas to thank me with anyway. Regardless, I couldn’t just let the slaves we’d released try to get back to their homes without a guard. She was probably trying to compensate me for that.
“I will, sir! Absolutely!”
“Then let’s have that be our trade-off.”
“But that’s it...? We could thank you with anything later on, from assets to money. I’m sure even that wouldn’t be enough. We would like to thank you with other things as well.”
“Other things?”
“You would like to have my people know that humans aren’t all bad because of cultural and cooperative reasons, yes?”
“Nothing on that grand of a scale, but I guess.”
“Then, how about a racial exchange to thank you?”
“A ‘racial exchange’...?” Were they going to have me be a representative for the humans and hold a big banquet for me? I’d appreciate that, though only after everything was said and done.
“I wouldn’t mind,” I said with a light smile.
Her face brightened up to the fullest. I nodded and took a sip of my tea.
“Then to start, I would like to accompany you at night!”
It was then my turn to do a comical spit take then cough violently. Damn it, it’s in my windpipe!
“Where did that come from?!” I wheezed after my coughs settled down.
“This idea is a valuable one to my people as well!” She was beaming at me.
“What? What? How?!”
“The harpy race has been able to survive this far thanks to seed from other races.”
“Er, right. I’ve heard that some races don’t have any males...”
“And so, we harpies...”—Ms. Mimi didn’t say anything for a bit, then took a big, slow breath—“are always searching for strong men’s seed!”
Well, color me shocked. I was specifically shocked at how matter-of-fact she was being, no hint of logical fallacy or anything. I mean, I guess that’s what would happen if men aren’t born among your people. It was strangely convincing coming from her.
“B-But... But, Ms. Mimi.”
“Yes, Master Iijima?”
“Stuff like that, I’d...prefer to nurture with a lot of time and love and...stuff.”
“Harpies think with their wombs by nature. Most races that lack males do, in fact. So if one of us gets our heart racing, this is what happens.”
“This is what happens,” I repeated blankly. “But I really...”
Ms. Mimi looked up at me with seductive eyes and spoke sadly. “Or do you not like me...?”
It’s not like that at all! I almost yelled, but unfortunately my sense of reason was fairly stable. To be honest, my lack of experience was definitely a factor here. It was troubling to be pushed like this in such an unromantic way, like it was something trivial.
“No, that’s not the issue here. Ugh, how do I say this...?”
Ms. Mimi had been the one panicking about my strength and friendliness earlier, but now it was my turn.
†
After this and that happened, the next day came.
We returned to the city of Abrasil, heading straight for the inn we’d made our base, and rested up in a room. Alice was in the next room, thoroughly examining her gear.
Gabriel called out to me. “Were you all right with that, Master Shinobu?”
“All right with what?”
“Refusing Mimi’s offer.”
“You mean about her sleeping with me?” I shrugged, exasperated.
Gabriel seemed to be serious about this. “Tsukuyomi is currently in a perilous fight behind the scenes at Izanach. We are also dealing with the case of the girl who resembles your sister. And I believe your confrontation with Imabayashi is on the horizon.”
“All of that is true, but what does that have to do with this?”
“Pardon my frankness, but... You are about to engage in a war with your life on the line. Are you sure you’re okay with being as you are now?”
I had no idea what she was talking about.
She looked genuinely pained. “It hurts us to know that you are not willing to lose your virginity to any one of us. Using Alice is also an option—”
“Nope! Stop right there. Don’t go any further.”
She was right in that I could die any moment now—I’d understood she was telling me to stop being a virgin before then.