Homecoming and the Order of Birth
Ruya watched the figure walking ahead, her back looking visibly strained, and spoke up. “Pregnancy really is exhausting.”
“Giving birth is no joke, meow. You’re risking your life to bring a precious baby into the world, meow.”
“…Suddenly I’m scared.”
“Madam is next, then it’s your turn, Ruya. You’d better prepare yourself, meow.”
“Can’t Charlotte go first instead?”
“No, meow. Master and Madam already decided the order, meow.”
“Ugh……”
After it was decided that the concubines would also bear children, Master and Madam had discussed and set the sequence. Following Madam, it would be Ruya, then Charlotte, then me, then back to Madam. Ruya’s immediate spot after Madam strongly reflected Master’s wishes, while Charlotte’s turn afterward reflected Madam’s. Since only Madam was legally married to Master, the concubines would automatically become single mothers.
“Ah! Gwangnam and Nuru are coming out.”
At Ruya’s words, I turned my head and saw Master walking toward us from the entrance of what looked like a warehouse, carrying the wire cage Nuru was in. He strode over and looked us over. “Everyone made it through quarantine safely, right?”
“Yes, meow.”
“You’re all right too?”
“I’m the picture of health. How about Ekaterina?”
“She’s resting in the camper.”
“Good. Whew, it’s chilly. Let’s head home quickly.”
We climbed into the camper and drove straight home. After parking in the empty lot beside the house we hadn’t seen in so long, the maids who came out after hearing the car noticed us and bowed in greeting. “Welcome back, Master.”
“Yeah~ You all been well?”
“We’ve been fine. We’ll unload the luggage first.”
While two maids began unloading the camper, another called over the rest and they started moving the bags together. We left the luggage to the maids and went inside, collapsing onto the clean, warm living-room sofa.
“Haa~ This is nice. Home really is the best.”
“Purrr… The warm ondol floor is the best, meow.”
“The maids have been managing everything well.”
Charlotte crouched on the carpet instead of the sofa, purring, while Ruya, who had settled onto the sofa and looked around, spoke up. The moment she entered the house she had switched back into concubine mode, her expression calm as she used polite speech. “Hohoho, the maids know exactly what their duties are. Managing the house even when the master is away is basic training.”
“Meow, we train a lot for that, meow.”
“Ah, right. I should get a report from the slave running the business.”
“Please contact your parents too and let them know we’re safe.”
“Yes, Madam.”
Ruya bowed politely to Madam and went upstairs. Hmm, I should contact the people I know as well. We’d been out of touch for nearly three months; they must be worried. Especially Han Jisu, who’s probably suffering because of the yin brand.
“I’ll go contact my acquaintances too. I need to receive reports from the slaves as well.”
“Everyone’s busy the moment we get back. I should head to the Hunter Association to report in.”
“Oh my, why don’t you rest a little first……”
“I can’t just sit around while my women are working. Ah, you rest. Charlotte can help you.”
“Understood, meow.”
While Madam and Charlotte rested in the living room, the rest of the family went to their rooms to handle the backlog of work. I returned to my room, sat on the dust-free bed, and sent a group message to the chat room where the slaves were gathered.
-It’s been a while, everyone. Give me a brief report on what’s happened.
The previously quiet chat room exploded with messages from the slaves, scrolling so fast it was hard to read. Some sent short, concise reports, while others dumped three months’ worth of diary entries all at once, which was awkward to wade through. From what I could skim, everyone seemed to be doing fine without any major incidents. After all, it was only three months; it wasn’t likely many slaves had run into serious problems.
Among the updates, I learned that the brothel had reopened. After remodeling, it was clean and improved, and the slaves were diligently sending their earnings to their accounts. Checking the account designated for slave prostitutes, I saw a substantial sum had accumulated. Even though deposits were only made once a month and only two months’ worth had come in, the amount was quite large because so many slaves were working as prostitutes.
I sent permission messages to the married slaves who wanted to pause their work while pregnant with their husband’s child, then organized the recommended candidate slaves for next time. I busily handled all the tasks that had piled up during my absence.
“Ugh… There are too many slaves for me to manage alone……”
‘Then you should create subordinates to work under you.’
“Oh? You’re talking to me first for once.”
‘There’s no internet in that world and nothing to do, so I just kept sleeping.’
“Is the sleep program finished?”
‘The single-player version is done, but the multiplayer version still needs testing. I’m also designing a multiverse-style dream program where multiple AIs can share the same dream on the same network.’
“Heh… I don’t really get it, but it doesn’t sound easy.”
‘It requires a stable wireless network connection system and a hub to handle large-scale computations, so it’s not simple. That’s what makes it rewarding.’
Elsa rattled off technical terms I could barely follow, then suddenly announced she had a good idea and cut the connection. Dumping whatever she wanted to say and immediately retreating into her own world was exactly like Elisa. Anyway, subordinates…… Selecting capable slaves from among the prostitute slaves to act as middle managers seemed like a good idea. On a whim, I pulled up the slave list stored in my implant, chose several with experience and free time, divided the steadily growing group of over fifty prostitutes into groups of ten, assigned a middle-manager slave to each group, and announced it in the chat room.
All the slaves who could check the chat room—excluding those who couldn’t—created separate group rooms and invited me. After entering the five newly created rooms, I instructed the room leaders to set up contact networks. From now on, reports should go to the middle managers, who would compile them and send them to me. I also told them to open dedicated accounts for each group and save a portion of the profits as emergency funds.
-Madam, should we call the middle managers “Little Madam”?
-“Little Madam” sounds good. What do you think, Madam?
-It does seem necessary to differentiate titles according to roles. Do that.
-Yes, Madam.
Other ideas were suggested, discussed, and brought to me for approval. After several hours of meetings, I got up from the bed where I had been lying and left the room. A maid passing by my door bowed, and I asked, “How is everyone handling dinner?”
“They’re eating separately in their own rooms, Little Madam.”
“Hmm… So they want to rest comfortably today. All right. Carry on with your work.”
The maid bowed again and hurried away. I went back into my room and contacted the acquaintances I knew. Ji-hye and Eun-hye had thought I was just busy with hunter work and hadn’t been able to reply, but they were shocked when I told them about the dimensional stranding and asked how I was.
-My god, how did you end up stranded in another dimension?
-We were traveling in the summer when a dimensional gate suddenly opened on the road and we drove right into it.
-You’re back safely now, right?
-Of course I’m safe if I’m calling you.
-Thank goodness you’re all right. Eun-hye’s question made Ji-hye scold her.
-Tell us what happened while you were stranded.
-Hmm……
At Ji-hye’s prompting, I briefly explained what had happened during the stranding. Both of them were impressed when I mentioned gathering survivors in a ruined dimension and establishing a survival zone.
-Your hunter team is the Bitnari Hunter Team, right? It’s really impressive that you rescued survivors and even built a survival zone even while stranded.
-Ah, I have to go on duty soon. Let’s talk again next time.
-Good luck~
Eun-hye said she had to go on duty and quickly ended the call.
-She’s still working in the military?
-Yeah. Even while living with Kim Gi-tae, she didn’t quit her job.
-Eun-hye is living with that Kim Gi-tae guy?
-She said it was annoying to keep meeting separately, so she just moved into his place.
The update Ji-hye gave about Eun-hye was both expected and surprising. After being thoroughly trained over two months of frequent meetings at the bar, Eun-hye had immediately packed her things and moved into Kim Gi-tae’s house the moment he told her to. I had known Eun-hye had the makings of a slave, so her quick submission was expected, but it was unexpected that Kim Gi-tae had brought her to live with him.
-Eun-hye is completely a slave now. She even transferred all her assets and titles to Gi-tae. Last time when I suggested meeting for a drink, she called to ask her master’s permission first.
-Heh……
-If he told her to quit the military, she’d probably do it right away. Sometimes she’s so obedient it’s almost scary.
-At least she seems happy, so that’s a relief. How about you?
-I’ve got Jin-hwan wrapped tightly around my finger. I’ve been trying hard to match my cycle lately, but it’s not working and it’s frustrating.
-Trying to have a baby? Does he know?
-When I hinted at it last time, he didn’t seem against it. I want to surprise him once I’m pregnant.
-He’ll be shocked.
Ji-hye had already settled into living together, so I wasn’t particularly worried about her. After chatting for a while, Ji-hye said Jin-hwan had come home and hung up. Then I called Su-ho.
-Hello?
-Hello, Su-ho.
-Elisha, it’s been a while. When I visited last time the house was empty. Were you on a hunter job?
-Well……
When I told him about the stranding for what felt like the umpteenth time that day, his voice filled with concern.
-The life-alert magic didn’t trigger, so I didn’t realize you were stranded. If I had known, I would have gone looking.
-There was magic that would notify you?
-Of course. I can’t lose another woman I care about so meaninglessly like last time.
His words reminded me of the story about one of the women he had lost during the war. That was why he had been so enraged that he destroyed the Japanese Empire’s capital and its second-largest city. I wondered what had happened to them now. I had heard that because the destruction was so complete, they had temporarily relocated the capital until reconstruction was finished.
-By the way, I used a lot of mana during the stranding, so the brand is empty.
-Oh… I’ll have to recharge it for you. I’ll make time. When would be good to meet?
-Whenever it’s convenient for you. I’ll adjust my schedule.
-Understood. I’ll coordinate the schedule and let you know.
He said he would text me and ended the call. After finishing with him, I finally contacted Han Jisu. It was essentially the first call since we had exchanged numbers.
-Hello?
-Hi, Jisu. It’s me.
-Ah! Elisha! I heard you were stranded. Are you okay?
-Yeah, I’m fine.
As expected from someone with many connections in high places, he already knew about the stranding. I answered his worried questions sincerely and asked, “Are you all right?”
-Huh? What do you mean?
-I was wondering if your libido was overwhelming you.
-Huk, how did you know? Just thinking about you makes it impossible to calm down. Even when I try to take care of it myself, it barely helps.
As expected, he was suffering from constant, untimely erections. It was still too early to tell him about the yin brand, so I decided to gloss over it.
-Huhu… You’re at that age where everything’s burning hot. Instead of just masturbating, why don’t you try sleeping with another woman?
-How could I do that when I have you? I can’t just go and do that with someone else after you were my first.
Aw~ How cute. The way Jisu shyly said the only woman he wanted to have sex with was me was incredibly endearing. Still, no matter how cute and likable he was, his heavy dependence on me was worrying. From his reaction, it didn’t seem like ending things would be easy even if I tried. It was also partly my fault for treating the innocent Jisu so well that he fell this hard, making it difficult to be cold to him. Hmm, I should discuss this problem with Madam a little.