To Obtain a Strong Seed

"Th-this is my lord's house?"

A wall ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠divided the street from the house, and the front gate was dressed with neither too much nor too little. A dainty doorbell clung to the wall, and a short garden ran from it to the front door. There was parking enough for two cars, and a two-story detached house of just the right height—high enough that, from the upper floor, one could crane one's neck and take in the neighborhood.

"A-as a newlywed home, it's perfect...!"

Subway, bus, and the big supermarket, all ten minutes away. A convenience store the moment one stepped off the residential streets. Perfect. Not a single rough edge to be found...!

"To secure a house like this in the middle of the capital! As expected of my lord! You had it all thought through!"

Kotori's eyes glittered. Phantom brushed a thumb under his nose.

"This much lies within my ability, Kotori."

"You're incredible!"

Clap, clap, clap!

"Heh heh heh! For a phantom thief, this is the baseline. A phantom thief, by nature, ought to keep a wealthy house as his backdrop, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh—don't tell me my lord is the hidden heir of some great conglomerate?"

"No. I was simply handed a house, and I loaf around in it. I'm the son of an ordinary family."

"Huh?"

Kotori froze mid-clap.

"You're not?"

"Nope. I merely had a fat bank account and connections that were frankly unfair, and that's how I got the house. Scratch the surface and I'm an unemployed bum."

Now that he thought about it—

"Once the world is saved, I'll have to decide what sort of work to take up. Keep on with the phantom-thief business as usual, and Dan Miryu will worry himself into a stomach ulcer for certain..."

"I-I can look after you properly! How about being a kept husband?"

"A kept husband! The very dream of every man—and yet, as a husband, I can hardly go making myself a burden on my wife."

Phantom stroked Kotori's head.

"Love is something you share. It must not be given from one side alone. That sort of love is wrong enough to throw even a parent and child out of true."

"Hngh..."

"Come now, let's go in. The maid will have left the place spotless and pleasant."

"A maid...?"

"It has been a long time, Lady Kotori."

Kana, dressed in perfectly orthodox shrine-maiden robes, offered a formal bow. Kotori's eyes went perfectly round.

"K-Kana!"

Pat-pat-pat-pat-pat!

"D-do you live in this house?!"

"...Pardon? Yes."

"Haaah...!"

Struck dumb, Kotori looked Kana over piece by piece. Sure enough—befitting a shrine maiden in Amaterasu's service—she was staggeringly beautiful!

Living with a woman like this twenty-four hours a day...! And taking turns between shrine-maiden robes and a maid uniform...!

Dangerous. Why were there so many bewitching enemies gathered at her lord's side? Gods and an immortal were already enough to be the death of her!

Why did the Shrine Priest send Kana!

If someone had to be sent, send a man!

"Th-the maid doesn't feel anything toward my lord, right?!"

"This 'lord' of yours—what exactly is that..."

"Answer me!"

Kana's cheek twitched. Carefully, she stole a glance at Phantom.

Terror, fear, anger, irritation, resignation, frustration, surrender, defeat—

At the current of those bleak feelings gathering in her eyes, Kotori felt a wash of relief. And then—

Fanaticism, worship, security, relief, trust, peace, lust—

Gears that could never mesh snarled together at random inside her pupils. Kotori's head spun.

"I feel nothing."

After one short, heavy second, something that was not Kana's true heart—and yet was—burst from her mouth. Kotori's face crumpled.

"Hiiing."

Shoulders sagging, Kotori trudged inside.

"It isn't what I'm thinking, is it?"

"It probably is."

Setsuna answered Kana's mutter in passing. Kana sighed.

"The last time I saw her, she was not like this. What on earth did you do?"

"I didn't do anything."

"I'm sure you didn't."

"Hngh..."

Phantom produced a voice every bit as deflated as Kotori's. A full-grown adult putting on a cute act naturally earned him no kindly looks.

Pele and Hong Yumin caught him by the nape.

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about the maid. We'll talk sense into her and make her confess exactly what happened."

"Though I cannot promise that what leaves her mouth will be words."

"W-wait, I haven't done anyth—!"

The goddess-and-immortal duo dragged Phantom off to the backyard. For a while, that backyard was not expected to make a sound.

"Uh, um. I'll be going, then..."

"Safe travels."

Bang!

Gate and front door shut at the same moment. Yeongsik climbed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into the car, looking rather forlorn.

Having unpacked in her own room, Kotori did her best to shake the gloom off.

"Right. There's still a chance. Over these three days and two nights, I just have to become someone my lord can never forget!"

Before sleep, at meals, in training, while studying, on the way to the bathroom, in the bath, while walking, even in dreams—if she could make him think of her, that was victory.

...This was absolutely not drawn from personal experience!

"The plan has to be tight. First premise: stay glued to him all day."

She had already lost the opening move.

"What matters is that he can't take his eyes off me..."

Was there nowhere shut tight on every side? Somewhere no one would come for about three days.

"Korea has plenty of islands. Maybe that would be all right?"

But we'd have to supply everything ourselves, so that won't do. Staying alive might swallow the whole point.

"We need an intimate bed. And a spectacular setting to go with it."

Seated face to face on a terrace, whispering love, and then, just like that...

"Nnngh—yes! This is the one!"

Perfect! I'll commit to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this and nothing else!

"........."

I came to see what she was doing, and—what the hell kind of sickness is this.

Beating her own drum, clashing her own gong, and generally losing her mind, all by herself.

Setsuna tapped at his smartphone.

Does our brat have medicine she's supposed to be taking? Or did she take something she wasn't supposed to?

"You son of a—"

I came here to work, and they dump the baggage on me. Damn it. I took something from them, so I can't even complain.

If this was how it was going to be, I should've knocked a zero off the transfer.

My rotten luck. Meet the wrong people and you get every hardship there is, and every hardship there isn't. I swear.

"Were you talking about me?"

"Gyah!"

At the voice that had arrived without a sound or a shadow, Setsuna screamed. Phantom stood there with his hair bristling like a chestnut burr, giving off the smell of something burnt and of raw earth.

"You wanna die?!"

"Easy, easy. Calm yourself. It was only a little joke."

"I hate jokes. I really hate them!"

"Oh, come now. If you truly meant that, you would have sliced me up good and proper. But as you can see, you didn't, did you?"

"Is he letting every word go in one ear and out the other?!"

"I hear you with my semicircular canals."

"Graaaah!!!"

Killing intent boiled up.

Just as Setsuna, riding that fury, was about to lash out with the edge of his hand, Kotori—having noticed the racket outside—poked her head out.

"Oh? My lord?"

"Kotori, have you finished unpacking?"

"Yes!"

At Kotori's appearance, Setsuna ground his teeth. He shot Phantom a glare, clicked his tongue, and went back to his own room.

"My lord. Did something happen?"

"Nothing of consequence. I was only playing with Setsuna for a moment."

"You were?"

Kotori hopped up and hung from Phantom's arm.

"Then play with me now!"

"Haha. Shall we?"

Phantom lifted Kotori and spun her round and round. Whatever had delighted her so, she broke into a bright, bubbling laugh.

"Is there somewhere you'd like to go? You've come a long way; it wouldn't do to send you home empty-handed. Three days and two ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nights isn't very long, after all."

"Of course there is!"

Kotori held her smartphone out to Phantom.

Thirty sheets of A4 unrolled in a cascade.

"........."

"Hehe. A little much, isn't it?"

She had gotten excited and looked into this and that...

"Even so, we can't manage all of this."

"Not even one page?"

"A single page would make a two-week tour."

"Ah."

"Still, hold on to it. There'll come a time to put it to use."

"Ah!"

Kotori smacked her knee.

I can use it as a honeymoon itinerary!

"Shall we head out for now? I'll show you around Seoul."

"I'm yes to all of it!"

So long as my lord is beside me!

At Kotori's fierce rush of affection, Phantom smiled a thin, wry smile.

Phantom and Kotori went outside.

Three people watched them through the living-room window.

"You aren't going after them?"

Sipsado was the one to speak.

Pele, sprawled boneless across the sofa, answered.

"I don't have a hobby of surveilling a girl who came all this way to see the Child of Man."

"If she came to play, she ought to enjoy herself and then go."

"The ease of the one in the lead?"

"I never meant to own him all by myself in the first place, you know? I've been burned a few times, getting greedy."

If she could love him, and be loved by him in return.

As a goddess, could she not permit a slight concession?

"Come to think of it, why did you suddenly take an interest in him?"

"The first reason is to repay the grace I owe him."

"The second—"

"Are there so few dragons?"

"Yes. Ransack the world and I doubt their number would reach a hundred."

Dragons, besides, were not given to easy conception.

"One needs a strong and excellent male. If I may have my wish, I would like to bear twins ten times over."

Sipsado stroked her belly. At that blatant signal, Pele's hand went to her own stomach before she knew it.

"Tsk. I'm a god, so it's hard for me to bear a child..."

"If one wrings hard enough, will it not come to something?"

"...I'll have to make a space cut off from time."

A year in there would be enough.

They were parceling out rice cakes the man in question had no thought of serving. Hong Yumin swallowed a sigh.

Lucky bastard. He went around singing that he'd been a virgin since the womb, and in the last act he'll be carried off and wed by force.

She stole a glance.

A week still, until Christmas?

Hm.

I ought to tell Soryeong we should go to a department store.

Hong Yumin propped her chin on her hand and hid the twitch trying to claim the corner of her mouth.

It was the look of someone who truly had room to spare.