A Nun Who's No Joke
Morning came, and Leyre introduced Marie to everyone.
A new maid had joined them—and a nun-styled maid besides, peculiar as that was. The others stared in astonishment. And yet—
"...Human. Widened the fence again, I see."
"Master, you're way too popular..."
"Our baby master? Farming is all well and good, but cultivation of this sort is dangerous, you know?"
"Master is... a lecher. The proverb holds true—a hero is a man of appetite... recording..."
They were jealous.
"Haha..."
Leyre laughed, awkward and sheepish.
"I am pleased to meet you all. My name is Marie. I have received a request from Master to relocate a nuclear reactor."
At the words nuclear reactor, the maids' attention was caught at once.
"Hmm? Wait a second. You don't mean you can actually move that reactor?"
Marie nodded, and told them everything she had told Leyre.
The maids nodded.
"Hehe. So you didn't just take her in for nothing. Master really is amazing."
Hias praised him as she stroked his head.
Marie watched the scene intently. Before long, even Marx came over.
"...Human. Don't know how you sweet-talked her into it, but you found the right person. I... I-I'll praise you, too."
Face flushed scarlet, she pulled Leyre into a tight embrace. He laughed, delighted by all the praise coming his way. Being buried in a maid's arms—Marx's most of all—was the finest moment there was, nothing but softness, and he loved it without reservation.
"...Tch."
Watching, Marie clicked her tongue so quietly that no one heard. Somewhere in her heart a sorry ache spread, and with it a great swell of jealousy. The master she had only just met ought to love her alone. She ought to be the one who loved him most of all. And yet she had to stand here and keep watching the other maids love him.
Marie stepped up to Leyre, who was drowning in praise, and shook the other maids off.
"Wh-what?!"
"What do you think you're doing, Marie?!"
She caught his arm and drew it in, pressing his hand to her breast.
"Huh? Marie, what are you—"
"As you said, Master, let us go to the university and relocate the reactor. We must see to it while the sun is up. Otherwise the dark will make the work difficult."
She kept his hand where it was, and turned him around.
"Let us go, Master. Let us return to the university."
"Uh, uh... could you do something about this hand?"
She simply made him keep walking.
Her breast was soft. Honestly, Leyre would not have minded kneading away at it for as long as he pleased. It felt good. A life spent forever fondling breasts was every man's wish, and his prayer.
But they were standing before several maids, and they still had to walk all the way to the university.
Even so—though they had met for the first time only the night before—Marie went on clinging to him.
She hasn't... gone and lost it, has she?
Was it all the praying toward God, the yearning for humankind, the prayers offered up for so long, that had her clinging like this now that she had met a person at last? Leyre could only guess. Honestly, the other maids were no different.
Marie, though, was strangely extreme. Offering her breast and forcing him to walk was a thing he had never seen.
"That nun... I don't like her."
It was Marx who reacted. She strode up to Marie and seized the arm that held Leyre.
"Hey. Marie."
"Yes. What is the matter? Your name..."
"Marx. Chairman of the Autonomous Independent Council. Head of a group of maids. Aren't you obsessing over the human a little too much? The human is my human."
Marx pointed at the other maids.
"He is our master. We can't have you alone dragging him around with his hand stuck to your breast."
Marie looked down at Marx, her face gone cold. At the sudden change in the air, Marx flinched and let the strength drain from her hand. Marie did not miss the opening, and pressed Leyre's hand to her breast once more.
"I intend to keep Master at my side. What is the problem?"
"...I told you. He is master to all of us."
Marx drew a cigarette from her coat. She had been trying to quit, but the thought of the human getting tangled up in this—and of the praise she would lose because of it—was giving her a headache. She lit it, breathed out a stream of smoke, and fixed Marie with a glare.
"Call him your master and yours alone, and you'll have to fight every one of us."
"..."
Marie looked around at the maids. Toria, Hias, and Agrippa came up to Leyre and took hold of his other arm.
"That's right. Monopolize him like that and there'll be real trouble."
"Yeah. I got scolded for that, I'll have you know."
"He is a shared resource, belonging to all of us."
Leyre felt sheepish under so much love, and fond of it all the same. Keeping a harem, he reflected, was a genuine pleasure—and a tricky business besides.
Marie gazed at the maids in silence, then at Leyre, and let go of his arm.
"...Good choice, Marie."
Leyre, still feeling that softness lingering in his palm, opened and closed his hand, again and again.
"You are truly loved by a great many, Master."
"I'm the only human, so... it can't be helped. Please understand. And bear with it. For everyone's sake, and for mine. I want all the maids to get along."
"If I followed my heart, I would do away with every last one of them..."
A frightening look came over her—wicked, truly, as if she might slaughter them all where they stood. But then she turned away.
"I cannot make Master sorrowful, so I shall relent. Come. Let us all make for the university."
She had resolved to grant Leyre's request. Whatever else, he was her new master now, and for a maid to defy her master's word was a thing that could not be.
"Whew..."
Leyre breathed out, relieved. The other maids were relieved as well.
"Thank goodness, Master. I really thought that nun was about to pick a fight."
Hias said it, stroking Leyre's head.
"Mmm. Seems we've picked up a scary friend... Still, if she can move the reactor, we've no choice but to live with her..."
Agrippa smiled, troubled. Even so, the family had grown, and what was good was good.
"The nun, Marie, was a frightening maid. A bearing like a yandere..."
Watching Toria begin to set it down in her record, Leyre was struck by a sudden thought.
"Recording again?"
"Yes. Records are important."
"...Let me borrow your chest for a moment."
He buried his face in Toria's book-scented breasts. Meeting a maid of a wholly different kind—one who gave off a yandere air—had drawn his nerves taut, and he wanted nothing more than to hide his face there.
"...?!"
Startled by the suddenness of it, Toria nonetheless felt a deep satisfaction, and a sweet fondness, at having a master act spoiled with her after so long. She stroked his head with a contented smile.
"Yes. You may stay buried until the tension leaves you."
"Mmm, the smell of books... Strange, how it puts me at ease..."
"...Human. Shouldn't we be getting to the university? That Marie is watching us, too."
Marx scowled and jabbed a finger toward Marie. Through eyes narrowed to slits, Marie was glaring at Toria and Leyre as they nuzzled.
"Just... let her know we'll rest a little and then go..."
"...Whatever."
With that, Marx went over to Marie.
"Pissed off?"
Marie clasped her hands and prayed.
"If it is for Master's sake, then it is a trial I must endure."
"You'd better get used to it. The human's always like that. Get back to base later and there's someone even worse. Name's Lucia."
"Ah... the leader of the Holy Fire Ritual Faction, you mean?"
"Yeah. So you know. Every maid here except me follows her word. And that one... she's got a quietly fierce possessive streak."
"..."
Marie closed her eyes.
"She's the first maid the human met, and the first maid to meet the human, so I figure that's why. Their feelings for each other probably run deep. Well, figure it out yourself. Oh, and I'll tell you one thing, for reference."
Marx lifted her skirt and showed the boxer briefs she still had on—Leyre's.
"I receive special treatment. Special enough that I'm wearing the human's underwear."
Marx laughed. A thorough display: if one meant to claim the upper hand in this harem, one had better manage at least this much.
Marie was so dumbfounded she let out a hollow laugh, but she would not be outdone. This time she would relocate that nuclear reactor properly, no matter what—score points with Leyre, and win his love.
"Hey, human! Hurry up and let's go already! Keep this up and the maids at the base are going to worry!"
"Oh, right!"
Only then did he remember Lucia, Karin, and the other maids. He lifted his face from Toria's chest and set off at a quick pace toward the university.
"Master, but what shall we do with these books and things?"
Toria asked. Hauling them along was out of the question. They were heavy, and it would be inefficient besides.
"For now, let's hide them somewhere around here, leave a marker, and come back. That'll do."
Toria nodded.
"Understood."
The maids began shoving the belongings into a corner of the building and stacked stones to mark the spot.
Only then did Leyre turn to them.
"All right. Let's head back to the university. This time we're bringing that reactor back for real—for the electricity!"
Their preparations to return to the university were complete.