86. New World
86. New World
One day before summer vacation.
The cadets each submitted their internship applications for the guild they wanted (or a guild they had no choice but to go to...).
"...You're really going there?"
"When else am I gonna get to fuck a slime."
"Eeeek...!"
"They say there are rabbit-eared beastkin too."
".........."
"Wanna come?"
"I'm in."
Heumi....
Those kids passing by over there.
One looked like a sexual deviant, but the other didn't seem to be one yet.
He seemed to have been swayed by the mention of rabbit-eared beastkin, but apparently still didn't quite grasp the definition of 'beastkin.'
A rabbit-eared beastkin was a beastkin with rabbit ears, sure.
But it felt close to calling an actual rabbit from the animal kingdom a beastkin, so it'd be closer to an 'animal' feel than a 'person' feel.
May the departed rest in peace....
I prayed they at least wouldn't catch any STDs and waited for my turn behind them.
"Jupiter, you're... Ares Guild, huh. A decent choice you picked."
Ares Guild?
So the Protagonist chose Ares Guild.
In that case, the guild I would choose was also decided.
"So, Chrono. Which one are you planning to apply for?"
"I'll apply here."
Athena Guild.
The objective was NTR prevention.
If the Protagonist isn't sticking by the heroines' sides....
For better or worse, NTR events would occur.
To prevent that, I decided to pick a guild that was the complete opposite of the Protagonist's.
"This... son of a bitch...!"
"...???"
On my way back, I saw the Protagonist glaring dirty daggers at me.
What the hell.
What was the problem.
You hated me from the start anyway.
Shouldn't you actually be happy that I'm getting farther away from you?
What a weird guy.
I went back to my seat and waited for the closing ceremony to end.
And then.
"Ah, for your information, the dormitory will be closed during the vacation. Everyone, return to your respective homes."
".......?"
A bombshell was dropped.
******************
"Um......"
Did I even have a house?
Come to think of it, ever since I possessed this body, I'd completely forgotten the concept of a 'family home.'
Since this was an academy story, I figured I'd just keep staying in the dormitory, but suddenly a family home— what fucking family home——wait, there was a separate event for this?
"Hyaa... the Intelligence issue really is serious."
I remembered.
To be precise, it wasn't part of the main events, so I hadn't remembered it at all.
The 'Summer Vacation Event.'
It was an event where, after the internship event ended, you'd return to your family home and spend about two weeks in days of harem + pure love.
It was a great opportunity for the Protagonist's party to do some affection point grinding.
And from the player's perspective, it was days of watching the Protagonist's family get NTR'd in real-time and daring to applaud.
"There was definitely a mom and an older sister too, right...?"
What was the mom's name again?
Theia, was it? From what I remembered, she was a goat beastman.
And the older sister was Hestia's apostle, 'Star,' as I recalled.
The mom gets her milk squeezed in real-time while getting fucked, and the older sister gets fucked by the guy next door in a naked apron state right in front of the Protagonist....
It was a scene that proved, no matter how long and flashy the game got, it was still an NTR game.
Of course, you could avoid the NTR events if you tried.
However, if you did, conquering the main heroines would be delayed, so whichever you chose, seeing the harem pure love ending became dirt-hard.
"So usually the fork was either 'give what must be given' and go for a hardcore virgin playthrough, or allow a bit of NTR while somehow maintaining an ironclad defense...."
...But come to think of it, they weren't my family, right?
The Protagonist's business was for the Protagonist to handle.
Family matters were for the family to resolve among themselves.
"More importantly, is that even the problem right now?"
My house.
Where the hell was I supposed to live?
I hurriedly logged into the academy homepage and checked my personal information.
A resident registration number, a name, all the other things that should be there—huh...?
What was this?
I looked at the address written on the site and frowned.
"No... sure, it was never shown anywhere, but...."
There was never a setting anywhere in the story that 'this guy' had a 'family,' but...
"...It's not that cliché 'orphanage setting,' is it? That's a bit harsh."
No wonder I never got a single phone call from my parents during the semester.
Turns out it wasn't that they were too busy to call or that I was an abandoned child, but that they simply didn't exist.
So the lines that come out now are about threefold...?
One was going back to the orphanage and asking to be put up for the vacation.
Another was temporarily entrusting myself to one of the heroines.
And the remaining one was——
"Mai, the people down there look like ants. I feel like something amazing."
"That's because we actually came somewhere amazing."
—Just straight-up buying a place.
It's fine. I was loaded.
Compensation money, money earned from missions, and so on.
I had more than enough saved up to buy a whole house somewhere.
"While we're at it, you still haven't finished all that, right?"
Things like the compensation money for the 'bracelet' to wrap it up.
I pulled out the business card I'd tucked in my phone wallet and read it.
"Hephaestus.... He had a heroine too, I think."
I knew she was coming in next year, but that was a matter for next year's me. This year's me needed to collect the money.
I started roughly sketching out a plan in my head of what to do over the vacation.
"Big Brother, Mai hungry."
"..........."
But as they say, even the sights of Mount Geumgang are best seen after a meal.
I debated whether to go buy things from the mart myself or order delivery, and decided to just roughly order delivery.
I'd never ordered delivery food since getting transported here.
"Let's see... should I try some chicken for the first time in a while?"
"Big Brother."
"Huh?"
Just as I was about to tear into some meat, Mai asked me.
"A horse is a herbivore."
".........."
You, outwardly, are a person, you know.
How about using this chance to get a taste for meat.
"Give it to me."
".....Hey?"
The phrasing sounded weird somehow.
I looked at Mai with a 'no way' kind of stare.
"Give it to meeeeeeeeeeee!!!"
"....???"
Mai started throwing a tantrum.
As I panicked at the wholly unexpected situation, a flicker of reason returned to Mai's eyes.
"....Please forget that."
"That was way too shocking to forget."
An expressionless blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl rolling on the floor and going "Waaaaaaah!"
Every part of it was so disjointed it was rather deeply impressive.
"This, it's Big Brother's fault."
"How come."
Why was it suddenly my fault?
I looked at Mai, and she spoke to me with righteous confidence.
"Because you cheated."
".........."
"Trait: Wise Mother and Good Wife. If Big Brother cheats, Mai gradually turns dumb."
"....I see."
Come to think of it, we did enjoy a threesome.
She was slightly dazed even when I just tangled with one other person, so it made sense she'd get like that if I tangled with two.
Definitely during the vacation....
Let's go to the library together.
If we both raised our Intelligence a bit, these kinds of incidents would surely decrease.
...
..
.
The next day.
"An unfamiliar ceiling....."
Seeing something other than the dormitory ceiling the moment I opened my eyes was unfamiliar.
I got up from my spot and looked out the window, and was startled once more by a completely unexpected city view.
Only then did I truly grasp that I had moved, and when I opened the fridge to find something to eat, I was startled a third time by its complete emptiness.
Now that I think about it, yesterday....
We ended up ordering in after all.
[...Are you seriously only eating that?]
[It's tasty. Does Big Brother want some too?]
[........Urgh.]
Ultimately, we did order and eat chicken,
but Mai insisted to the bitter end that she was a herbivore and would absolutely not eat meat, so she just picked out and ate the pickled radish cubes one by one.
The sight was so pitiful in many ways that I ordered a salad for her via delivery.
"Uung....."
"......Ah, shit."
But I never dreamed the price would be my Intelligence stat.
I lightly performed [Power Chord] to shake off the Intelligence debuff and quelled the firmly pitched tent.
Scary, so scary.
I almost unconsciously pulled down my underwear and shoved it into her mouth.
When I wasn't conscious of it, I might not have noticed, but once I started being conscious of it, the effect of the debuff was palpable as my body was half-unconsciously flowing with it.
I immediately went to the bathroom, washed my face, and shook off my dazed mind.
"Uu...?"
"You're up?"
"Uuu......"
Mai came out of her room, shuffling.
Seeing that I felt no particular emotion at her collarbone visible between her half-slipped-down pajamas, it seemed the immediate debuff had worn off.
"I'm going out, so you drink some carrot juice."
"....There isn't any though?"
"Whoops."
Come to think of it, the fridge was completely empty.
If I thought it was leading to the conclusion that I'd have to go out and buy it after all——I'd say that was far too complacent a thought.
"I can just buy it online."
"............"
"What."
Why are you looking at me like that.
Mai quietly hugged her knees and said,
"Normally, in a situation like this, going out together to buy it is the standard, I think."
"What have you been watching on my phone lately?"
"Cannot say."
"I already know anyway since the watch history is all there."
"............."
You.
Smartphone banned for one week.
The reason is excessive addiction to animation and comics.
"That... is an excessively harsh measure! It's Mai's only pleasure!"
"You should at least know how to distinguish between comics and reality."
I placed a same-day delivery order for the necessary groceries and carrot juice (the big kind, 6 bottles, important).
Now, was the problem with Mai finished with this?
I got up from my spot to finally head to Athena Guild.
"Cannot let you go."
"Hey?"
But Mai blocked my path.
She confronted me with both arms spread wide.
Soon, she struck a bizarre pose and spoke toward me.
"Mai is the Heavenly Demon, and she won't back down from a place like this!"
"Just how seriously into anime are you?"
It wasn't like you could only watch anime on a phone anyway.
I grabbed the remote control lying next to the sofa and placed it in Mai's hand.
"Watch it with this."
"....?"
"It's bigger than a phone, wider, and there'll probably be lots to watch."
".....!!!"
I simply explained how to use it.
When I showed her how to turn the TV on, off, and how to change the channels....
"I'm going now?"
"Mhm."
"...I'm really going now?"
"Mhm."
".........."
"Mhm."
....You, aren't you addicted?
I found myself worrying if I should get her an examination later.
As an aside.
After Chrono left the house.
Mai diligently flipped channels and began searching for a channel worth watching.
"......?"
What she saw after scrolling down, and down, and down.
[Uehara Sora, 1 vs 100 Tag Game Where Getting Caught Means Getting Fucked!]
".....???"
[Press Confirm Button to Watch (Small Automatic Payment)]
"Confirm... button....."
Adult channel.
Mai pressed the 'Confirm' button on the remote and moved forward.
And so....
[No! Stopppppppp...!!]
".....!"
Mai had discovered a new world.