097. Pregnancy Labyrinth Day 52.
A day had passed, but the exploration team was still deep in the ocean. It wasn't taking long because of the Deep Guardians. Thanks to the newly tamed Deep Guardian, they were diving smoothly—by banishing the others with Banish.
They'd already banished five Deep Guardians so far.
If they hadn't tamed even one and made it an ally, the team would still be stuck on that uninhabited island outside the sea.
Anyway, it was just taking time because the door Neo Hyung-seok mentioned was buried deep in the ocean's abyss.
"Neo Hyung-seok."
—［You called, Master?］
"You're not lost or anything, right?"
—［No worries. We're on the right path.］
"Good. That's a relief."
Of course. He'd said he remembered the route perfectly, so no way he'd get lost.
I stood up and headed to Zapan. As I gulped down a bottle of spring water to quench my thirst...
"Gauntlet-yang! Gauntlet-yang!"
Merino came running from afar, flailing her arms comically. She stopped in front of me, caught her breath for a moment, then looked up with sparkling eyes and an excited voice.
"I think I'm pregnant-yang."
"Pfft!"
I spat out the water I was drinking. The spray flew through the air and rained down on Niara Nephensis's face like a shower—she'd been hovering nearby.
Leaving Merino—who'd blurted out something ridiculous behind me—I first apologized to Niara.
"Uh... Niara, sorry."
［It's fine, my son.］
Niara replied like that, then slowly raised her hand and elegantly wiped the water from her face. A droplet formed at her fingertip. She brought it to her lips, savoring it delicately. A satisfied smile spread across her face.
［Slurp. As expected from something from my son's mouth—it's so sweet.］
I shot Niara a disgusted look, sighed, and turned back to meet Merino's eyes.
"...Pregnant?"
"Yang!"
"Who's the dad?"
"Obviously Gauntlet, who else-yang."
"So I am the dad..."
I'd been shocked by the sudden pregnancy claim, but as expected, it was utter nonsense. I hadn't slept with Merino, after all.
She was either trying to mess with me or had bumped her head somewhere and lost it. One or the other.
Merino beamed innocently and asked me,
"What should we name our baby-yang?"
"Name what? No naming."
"Parents always name their babies together-yang. You gotta think about it too-yang."
"Sigh... Merino, I'm not the dad. And you aren't even pregnant to begin with."
"D-don't deny our child-yang! The baby will be sad-yang!"
My head spun a bit. This wasn't a joke—she genuinely believed she was pregnant. And since she'd used the word "pregnancy," she knew what it meant.
"Merino. Just to check... you don't think holding hands or just being together makes you pregnant, right?"
"Yang? Who'd think that, I'm not a kid-yang."
"Then do you know how pregnancy actually happens?"
For some reason, Merino's cheeks puffed up like they were about to burst. Was she mad? As I was about to ask why she was frowning...
"You think I don't know that-yang!?"
Merino flopped onto the ground and started miming the entire process from start to pregnancy in explicit detail. Embarrassingly thorough.
"Like this, like this-yang! Pound pound smack smack, receive the baby seed, and get pregnant—I know it all-yang!"
"...Got it, so get up, you lunatic."
"Don't underestimate my sex knowledge anymore-yang!"
"Fine, I won't..."
She seemed pissed that I'd belittled her "sex knowledge." What a weird thing to be proud of.
"But Merino, I've never done that with you."
"You didn't-yang?"
"What're you asking? Of course not."
"But we definitely did it in my dream-yang?"
"Dreams don't make babies."
"Really-yang? That's weird-yang..."
"You're the weird one."
"It really is weird-yang. I definitely got pregnant-yang..."
Merino slowly lowered her head. She lifted her top, revealing her belly, and patted it lightly as she continued.
"See this-yang? My belly's sticking out. If that's not pregnancy, what is-yang!"
Her belly was indeed protruding. But as Ha Yu-mi said in chat, that wasn't pregnancy—it was just a bloated gut from overeating. In other words, she'd gained weight recently.
"That's just from you eating too much lately. Your belly puffed up."
"Yang-yang?"
"Not pregnant."
"Really-yang? For sure-yang?"
As we talked, Niara—who'd been watching quietly—called out to Merino.
［My daughter-in-law, come here.］
"Yang-yang! Mother-in-law-yang!"
Niara placed her hand on Merino's belly and gently caressed it.
［Hmm. No life stirring inside. You're not pregnant.］
"Yang-yang..."
［Don't be disappointed. Keep trying hard, and you'll get pregnant someday.］
"Yang-yang! I'll try hard-yang!"
Merino clenched her fists, steeling her resolve. I approached her, poked her belly, and said,
"Merino, you need to exercise. That's why you're gaining weight so fast."
"Ack-yang! I do exercise-yang? I play ball hard-yang!"
"Standing still kicking a ball isn't exercise."
"Isn't it-yang? And cooking counts as exercise too-yang!"
"Not enough."
I turned to Melody Fox, who was munching on a rock on the ground. I flinched for a second but relaxed when I remembered it was one of Merino's rock candies.
"Melody Fox."
［Kyuu?］
"Take Merino and make her exercise. Not ball play."
［Kyuaa!］
And so Merino Ulla was dragged off by Melody Fox for forced exercise.
Labyrinth Day 53.
The second day since the exploration team set out. At last, in the deepest part of the abyss, they discovered a massive door.
—［Piii! We finally made it!］
—［Took forever for real.］
—［Neo Hyung-seok! That's it-nyong? That door-nyong!］
Jellyfish Princess, Arachne, and Bastet sped up excitedly toward the door.
—［Yes, that's it. We've reached the door at last.］
Neo Hyung-seok followed calmly. The other team members, without any joy, placed their hands on the heavy door and began pushing.
Rumble—!
The door opened. No water flowed beyond it. Some strange force was blocking the water's entry.
Probably classifying the space beyond as entirely separate from the deep sea.
—［This the machine factory?］
Necro Puppeteer cautiously stepped through and asked Neo Hyung-seok.
Neo Hyung-seok scratched his head and shook it.
—［No. Still a long way to go. It'll take quite a while from here too.］
—［Hm? Didn't you say the door in the deep sea connects to the machine factory?］
—［Ah... I meant it's connected to the path leading to the machine factory.］
It looked like they still had a long way to go.