Sweet Guard Captain

Clatter.

A steaming, golden-brown katsu-don was set down in front of me. Of course I could have chosen gukbap, but I liked tonkatsu better, so I went with this.

"Oink?"

The baby pigs I'd barely managed to rescue from the village chief's house were asking what this was supposed to be, but that was none of my business.

"According to the investigation, everyone near the chief's house heard Neid's death cry. The Demon King's army's death cry, that is..."

The burly middle-aged man who had introduced himself as the guard captain muttered, unable to hide his gloomy expression.

"To think the village idol would join the Demon King's army..."

He even wiped a hand across his forehead and lamented. Sure, Neid had been cute. But wasn't this reaction a little over the top? The thought crossed my mind.

"It might be weird coming from the one who took him down, but what kind of person was he normally?"

"...It's both simple and complicated to explain."

Simple yet complicated. Looking at him now, this guy wasn't a guard captain—he was a Sphinx?

Crash!

Suddenly the interrogation room outside grew noisy. Words like "enemy" and "divine punishment" could be heard now and then.

Then, BAM! The door to the interrogation room shattered.

"Found you! Ne-chan's enemy!"

"...Holy Shield."

Seeing the fully armed guard who had kicked the door open, I quietly cast Holy Shield. And there was no need to ask who Ne-chan was.

"You bastard!"

"You die first, old fart!"

The guard captain roared as he stood up. The berserk guard's target shifted as well. Currently the guard captain was unarmed. He desperately needed some support.

"Bless!"

"...Thanks!"

Receiving my buff, the guard captain expressed his gratitude and threw a punch straight at the guard's helmet.

BAM!

The punch made a sound like fireworks going off.

The metal helmet crumpled and blood sprayed from inside. Then the guy who'd taken the guard captain's fist dead-on flew back the way he'd come.

"What the hell were the rest of you doing that you couldn't stop this bastard from going nuts! Full gear, all of you!!!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Louder!!!"

"Yes, siiiiir!!!"

The tightly disciplined scene gave me a flash of PTSD too, but luckily remembering I was a woman now let me shake it off.

Drip.

"Uh, you're bleeding?"

"...This much is nothing."

The guard captain said so, but his right hand—flesh crushed—was pouring blood not in drops but in a stream.

"Looks like plenty of problems to me. Give me your hand."

"No, well..."

I snatched the hesitating guard captain's hand and cast Heal. Even with the buff, crushing a metal helmet bare-handed meant the recoil was enormous, and it could easily lead to tetanus or nerve damage.

What are you talking about? People should help each other.

[People] should help each other.

I ignored the nonsense-spouting status window and focused on the treatment.

"There, all done."

The moment the healing finished I lightly slapped the guard captain's shoulder. He clenched and unclenched his fully restored hand. And right then—

Kyuuung♡

"Ugh♡"

Impregnated by orc ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sperm at the most ridiculous timing imaginable, I flushed and hung my head.

"You alright?"

"...Yes, I'm fine. I've got injuries and I overdid it today."

The guard captain looked at the trembling nun and recalled everything she had gone through that day.

She'd stopped by this village to wash away the fatigue of a hard journey, only to be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠attacked by the Demon King's army almost immediately. On top of that, defeating three orcs and the remnants of the Demon King's forces while already injured was a tall order even for a well-trained soldier.

"I'll take you to a good inn. Since the acting village chief is in this state, we'll hold a proper meeting tomorrow."

"Thank you for the consideration. And your name is?"

"Malcolm."

"I see. And it would be a waste to leave that Western food sitting there, so I'll eat it now."

And so, before heading to the inn, I polished off two full bowls of katsu-don.

"Haa~"

Thud!

I roughly stripped off my tattered nun's habit and entrusted my naked body to the pleasant bed and blankets.

Judging by the feel of the bed at the village chief's house I'd wondered, but sure enough the inn's bed was also a spring mattress.

"The pigs will be taken care of by the innkeeper, so no worries there, but the problem is..."

I got pregnant again. Fuck. In a single day I'd been impregnated by two of the three great erotic monster generals.

Of course I wasn't despairing or anything. I'd already given birth once, and doing so came with money plus a fucking incredible orgasm.

The problem was—

It gets to full term way too fast. Hey, status window. How long until my belly swells enough for people to notice?

Breeding Stock Status.

Yet another eroge-flavored term had arrived.

It was pretty much synonymous with my womb being fucking degraded, but I decided to ask anyway.

Explain.

...That's fucking amazing?

In other words, it meant maintaining youth for a full natural lifespan. In an eroge that would just be a whatever setting you shrug at, but this place was a real world. There was no way such a ridiculous law came without downsides.

Downsides? Like lifespan shortening?

It was contradictory.

Like the contradictory image of sucking down herbal medicine and red ginseng for your health while working overtime seven days a week.

But suddenly I got curious. Would Breeding Stock Status apply to me too...?

Hey, by any chance...

10%.

High for a gacha rate, low for other probabilities.

But 10% in my case?

I've only been here a day?

What's the benefit for me?

Providing truly objective information was nice and all, but I'd like some info that could actually benefit me.

In short, the magical energy contamination rate had been converted to some degree into Breeding Stock Status progress. Was that a benefit? Hard to say.

Do the third one right now.

With this, I had eighty-two hours of leeway.

And with the good news sinking in, drowsiness began to wash over my body lying on the bed.

"Haaaawn."

Sleep is something living beings take when they're sure of their safety. If this were outside it might be different, but this was strictly inside a village, and inside an inn lodging at that.

Still, if someone comes, wake me up.

"Is this the bitch?"

"Yeah. Hehehe, look at that fucking slut's body. You could recognize her without even checking the face."

In the dark room, two silhouettes looked down at the sleeping Serena. The peculiar thing was that their eyes were glowing in the darkness.

"Cat-eye potion, as expected. But what about the innkeeper?"

"No problem. I confirmed he's snoring away. Once that guy falls into that state, he won't wake up unless you smash glass right in front of his nose."

The two silhouettes snickered as they took off their pants and pulled out their dicks. But what came out of the pants was a bit pathetic, and like empty carts making the most noise, they just laughed unpleasantly.

"Ohhh, you even checked the innkeeper? Then what about the guards on patrol?"

"Huh? That, of course..."

Thud!

The man answering couldn't continue due to the pain that bloomed in his gut. And he realized that voice wasn't his comrade's. But in his fading consciousness, that didn't matter at all.

"Guh!"

The third shadow disabled the remaining uninvited guest by driving a fist into his abdomen before he could even react. And the moment the shadow checked Serena's face in the moonlight to see if she was sleeping well—

"Yaaawn~ Working hard, aren't you? Isn't it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠past quitting time?"

"...Overtime. Looks like I butted in for nothing."

The shadow—Malcolm—scratched his head as he answered. Serena had been awake. So she could have easily dealt with these thugs, but because he'd stepped in, it was like he'd stolen her prey.

"Hehe, still, thanks. I didn't want to wake up and fight."

"That so? Then see you in the morning."

"Yes, see you in the morning."

Malcolm said so as he dragged the two lumps away and closed the door, and Serena—feeling that this world wasn't all that bad, and with her favorability toward Malcolm rising—went back to sleep.