Chapter 114. Formed! The Baby-Making Alliance! (3)
Chapter 114. Formed! The Baby-Making Alliance! (3)
The uproar died down as suddenly as it had erupted.
Afterward, Ymir pulled away from Dave and drew only Katarina and Heira aside, speaking with them in hushed voices.
A secret meant only for women, never to be overheard by the man who had already deceived them once.
"So that's how a baby is made."
"...You mean if you mix your bodies, a baby really does come?"
Heira nodded along as she listened to Ymir's explanation.
She seemed to grasp the principle from the rough account, but a look of bewilderment lingered on her face as she glanced down at her own body, still not quite able to believe it.
It was hard to accept that the pleasant act they had been doing all this time was, in truth, the process of making a child.
"Yep~ You know that white, sticky stuff that comes out of that hideous thing? If he shoots that inside here, fertilization happens, and a life slowly starts to grow."
"...But Dave has never done it inside me."
"Ah, right. That guy is a massive coward and a scaredy-cat."
Wasn't it absurd?
The man who had seemed so terrifying when he took her chastity actually had such a pathetic, hopelessly weak side.
"Lady Ymir. Forgive my impertinence, but I must ask you to refrain from assessing my lord in such terms."
But perhaps she found that assessment disagreeable.
Katarina, who had been listening, furrowed her brow and glared, drawing a snicker and a shrug from Ymir.
"Oh my, have we got a loyal subject here? Well, I suppose you wouldn't want to admit the man who took your virginity has a worthless true nature."
"That is not the case. I simply..."
"Don't worry, Miss Loyal Subject. A cowardly, scaredy-cat side like that just gives you more corners to love him for."
Ymir slung an arm around her shoulders, a gesture almost generously accepting. The smile on her lips was hard to dismiss as a simple sneer.
"Be honest, our dear Confidante~ Wouldn't you love it if Dave depended on you more? Begging you for this and that, sobbing and clinging to you when danger strikes?"
"Th-that is..."
Katarina shrank back at her words. The fact that she reacted to a probing remark meant the sentiment wasn't entirely absent from her heart.
'I think I know how to handle her now.'
A wry smile flickered briefly across Ymir's face at the thought.
"Dave's... child..."
After hearing the full explanation, Ymir's eye was caught by Heira, who was staring down at her own stomach, lost in thought.
Vacant eyes and flushed, reddened cheeks. It seemed she was now imagining herself carrying a child after that explanation.
"...Come to think of it, I'm late in asking."
Curious about Heira's expression, Ymir met her eyes and quietly asked,
"Why did you decide to follow Dave around? I know you got involved by chance, but..."
Every elf she knew was conservative and innately shunned pleasure.
"...At first, it was like that. But now, it is different."
Heira didn't deny Ymir's confusion, but instead voiced her own sentiments firmly.
"I will live longer than any of you. So I know we will part someday, and I want to build as many experiences with you all, the ones I have bonded with, as I can. Even if it is just to remember this moment—this moment that will never come again—in the far future..."
"...Ah, I see."
Ymir felt a jolt of surprise at the unexpectedly mature words.
She recalled that this girl was a being who had lived longer than even herself, a sage... and then, suddenly, Ymir rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought from a notion that popped into her head.
'So this is what long-lived species who assimilate into human society are like.'
Indeed, the general emotional detachment of elves was likely a defense mechanism to let their lingering attachments to the passing ages fade.
By that logic, this girl's fate—forced to cling to a mere moment in time—could be called tragic, but Ymir soon realized the solution.
"Then you just have to have Dave's child."
"...Huh?"
"Isn't it obvious? An offspring is something that retains every last trace of its parent."
Ymir herself had been longing for a child to keep him by her side—a man who might leave at any moment—and, more than that, to leave a memento of their connection, even if he vanished.
That purpose aligned remarkably well with the fate that Heira carried as a long-lived species.
"Offspring... Me? Dave's?"
But Heira had only ever imagined the possibility; she hadn't expected it to actually happen.
She could feel that ambiguous desire being elevated into a tangible reality through Ymir's direct mention.
"Mm-hmm~ Even if your lifespan is limited as you fear, if the child you bear has another child, and it keeps going on, won't you be able to keep a trace of Dave with you forever?"
"...R-Really?"
"Yep~ And what's more, you can share that trace of Dave not just with yourself, but with everyone. The numbers growing terrifyingly with each generation, too."
Ymir grinned and whispered once more into Heira's ear.
Heira's keen senses could read the ulterior motive behind it, but the words themselves struck so deeply that she felt even her wariness go numb.
"Is that so?"
"Mm-hmm~ That's right~"
Ymir smiled brightly and patted Heira on the shoulder.
Then, pushing her forward, Ymir spoke as if encouraging her.
"Alright, so you know what you have to do now, right? Go be honest with Dave and express your feelings."
"Okay, I understand."
Mustering her courage thus, Heira left Ymir's side, stood before Dave—who had been merely watching them from a distance—and stated her business.
"Dave, I want Dave's baby..."
"No."
A refusal cut in before she could even finish.
Heira, stunned speechless, tilted her head vacantly and asked again.
"N-No?"
"...Isn't that obvious."
Dave's head throbbed as he expressed his bewilderment.
Seeing that, Heira could no longer find any words, and with her head lowered, a deep gloom began to show on her face.
"...Ooh, uh..."
"Wow, making a girl cry. Dave's trash~"
"...What on earth did you tell the kid."
Ymir draped an arm over Heira's shoulders, consoling her.
Yet the smirk on her face looked downright comical.
As if she were enjoying watching him squirm.
"...Ahem."
Unable to watch any longer, Katarina cleared her throat and addressed Ymir quietly.
"Lady Ymir. I understand your desire to deepen ties with my lord, but even so, causing him trouble..."
"Look, Miss Action Leader. I understand you were willing to let yourself be stabbed in the gut to prove your loyalty, but you're at a marriageable age now, so wouldn't it be wise to start thinking about an heir?"
Katarina flinched and drew back.
That reaction meant she, too, couldn't simply dismiss those words.
No, more precisely, it was as if she had been secretly expecting this situation quite a bit herself.
"...An heir, you say?"
"Yep~ From what I've heard, Dave was a confidante even your father acknowledged. So if you just sweet-talk him well and create a new heir to lead the organization..."
Mumble, mumble.
The devil's whisper poured into Katarina's ear for several minutes.
"Well then, you know what to do now, right?"
"Y-Yes, I understand."
Soon, Katarina, having been persuaded by Ymir, stood before Dave and voiced her wish.
"My lord, for the organization's continued existence, I beg for your child..."
"No."
It was the obvious answer.
"...I have failed."
"It can't be helped. Then, like before, we will just have to force ourselves on you..."
"Don't!!"
"Whoa-aah~!!"
Ymir felt her body seize up from the mental domination that struck alongside his shout.
Soon sprawled on the floor, her body trembling excessively, she cried out at Dave with difficulty.
"Y-You pervert! You're restraining my body—what do you intend to do to me!? You're planning to ram every hole I have and ruin me completely, aren't you!? Just like in those lewd novels!"
Haaah, haaah. The blatant desire was palpable in her ragged, panting breaths.
Feeling the anticipation filling her two eyes as she stared at him, a thoroughly fed-up Dave clutched his head.
"Please, stop. I already know exactly what's on your minds."
The moment he released the mental domination.
Ymir, having regained her freedom, dusted off her clothes and faced Dave again.
"...If you know, why not just accept it?"
"The problem is that even if I wanted to, I cannot. To begin with, the organization needs time to stabilize to some degree, and more importantly, the party isn't in proper shape right now."
Right. The problem lay with external circumstances, not with them.
If his own life were the only one on the line, perhaps it would be different, but the issue was that he now had far too many responsibilities toward these women.
Even taking Ymir alone, she was a Grand Archmage representing the human forces, and Heira was slated to grow into a core member of the hero party. Katarina, who had to lead an organization that the demonic race would treat as subversive, went without saying.
"...In short, you haven't settled into your position properly yet, and you don't want to add to your burdens right now?"
"Yes. If that is what you all want, then eventually, if not right now... Can you not at least understand that much?"
He had already resolved to accept a woman who might bear his child even if he didn't want one; what did he have left to fear now?
It was just that, having avoided leaving any traces until now, he needed some time to mentally prepare before doing so in earnest...
"...Hey, shorty."
As he earnestly laid out his reasoning, Ymir quietly called out to Heira.
"Yes, Ymir."
Heira didn't find her attitude entirely unpleasant.
In fact, Heira was aware of her own youthfulness, and Ymir was the one who had taught her so many things she did not know.
Now that her trust in her had grown nearly as high as her trust in Dave, Heira was in a state of mind to mostly agree with whatever the mage said.
"Shall we defect to the Demon King's army at this opportunity?"
Even if it was an utterly preposterous idea to anyone else.
"What!?"
Dave burst out in shock despite himself at the sudden, absurd statement.
Katarina was just as surprised by her bombshell declaration; she simply wasn't shouting.
"...Lady Ymir, what do you mean by that?"
"Oh, well... I've already finished all the research I wanted to do with the Magic Tower's support, so I have no lingering attachment to the title of Grand Archmage. And more to the point, this child here wasn't a member of the hero party to begin with, so she likely cares little for humanity's survival."
"Uh, yes. I just... want to stay with Dave and Ymir, that is all..."
"See~ The three of us following you around because we like you are all people with no real attachment to humanity~"
Ymir slung her arms over the two's shoulders and stared at Dave.
The bright smile on her lips looked every bit as wicked as an officer of the Demon King's army.
"So I don't think there'd be any problem with throwing everything away, following you, and defecting to the Demon King's army~"
"...Don't talk nonsense."
"Then hand over the baby batter."
"Why does the conversation keep looping back to that?"
"Because our aim is to get your seed until we are pregnant with your child. If we can just have your child, we wouldn't even dream about defecting to the Demon King's army~"
As she spoke, Ymir pulled even tighter on the arms she had draped over their shoulders.
Though swayed by her hands, Heira's and Katarina's gazes remained fixed on Dave.
"Dave's child."
"My lord's..."
The two were already completely subjugated by her rhetoric.
Feeling his stomach churn at his numerical disadvantage, Dave let out a deep sigh and clutched his forehead.
"...Cut the jokes. You know perfectly well what state Serika is in right now."
"Yes, and that is exactly why I am saying we need to enlist the help of the Demon King's army—to save that girl."
"What?"
Enlist the Demon King's army for Serika's sake... what did she mean by that?
For a moment, he thought she might be joking again, but her face as she pushed up her glasses and turned to Katarina was utterly serious.
"Let me ask you something, Miss Action Leader. Do you think the human forces are capable of treating the aftermath of the mental damage caused by the Queen of Dream Demons?"
"...Impossible. If such a thing were possible, the Queen of Dream Demons would never have risen to the rank of an officer in the Demon King's army."
"Obviously. She is a creature who prances around relying solely on her mind-control ability; if the damage she caused were easily undone, she wouldn't dare invade openly. In reality, even the divine power of that walking slab of armor couldn't heal the girl..."
Right. Not even the divine power of someone counted among the Ten Greats of the continent had been able to heal Serika's mind.
It would likely be the same even if they sought help from other clergy or scholars.
So, if her condition didn't improve with time, they would have to take some risks to bring her back definitively.
"I doubt there is any human who knows the demonic race better than I do, but even so, the information available on the human side is still limited. In that sense, you two who have mingled with those bastards probably know better who might be capable of saving that girl..."
Click. Ymir pushed her glasses up and glared at Dave.
"Do you have any ideas?"
Gone was the sly, playful look from before; in its place was the gaze of a coldly rational scholar, intent on seriously investigating the demonic race.