Qualifications of a Legal Wife (2)
Qualifications of a Legal Wife (2)
After the misunderstanding-fueled fight ended,
Haru's opinion of Aika improved dramatically.
'That lady tried to protect Daddy. She hit him, but she was still good.'
Aika had thrown her own body in the way to stop Haru.
She had done so even at the cost of disheveled clothes and exposed skin.
Unlike Haru, Aika wasn't shameless about nudity.
Now that the misunderstanding had been resolved, she was blushing furiously with embarrassment.
To Haru, that proved Aika had valued protecting Daddy above even her own shame.
Haru couldn't help feeling deeply impressed.
That wasn't the only thing that impressed her.
'And... she was huge. Bigger than Haru. Bigger than Pinky.'
Haru had known they looked extraordinary even through Aika's clothes.
Once the wrapping came off, the reality was overwhelming.
They were even larger than Alice's.
A checklist rapidly formed in Haru's mind.
'What if that lady became Daddy's Mommy?'
Was she a bad person who shouldn't marry Daddy?
No. She was a good person who had thrown herself in front of danger to protect him.
No one in the world could dislike Daddy, so there was no need to ask Aika's opinion.
The important question was whether Daddy would like her.
Haru was not sure, but she thought he would.
Finally, the most important factor: her chest.
"If Daddy's Master becomes Daddy's Mommy, the baby will eat until it's full and smile."
An immediate pass.
Having approved Aika as potential mommy material, Haru smiled brightly.
"So starting today, you're Mommy."
"W-what!?"
'What in the world was this girl saying!? My disciple's adopted daughter was calling me Mommy. This was...'
Aika forgot her embarrassment and plunged into confusion.
She already believed she had a fair idea of Yujin's feelings.
Deep down, he wanted to marry her—or so she thought.
She'd planned to take him as her disciple first and leisurely decide whether to accept his feelings.
Now even his adopted daughter had immediately accepted her as his mommy?
Was the entire world cheering for a relationship between her and her disciple?
Was this heaven's reward for protecting Japan—and the world—until the age of thirty-two?
Could she truly claim that earnest, diligent, and exceptionally substantial young man
despite being twelve years older than him?
The thought brought Aika's mind to a halt.
"W-w-wha..."
"Hey, what are you saying!? Aika Ninomiya is twelve years older than Yujin!"
One woman hurriedly launched a counterattack.
Yoo Sia.
'What if that inverted-nippled old maid got ideas above her station!? If Japan stole Yujin away, Korea would genuinely riot!'
"She's Japanese too! Japanese! Do you want Yujin dragged off to Japan and kept under her thumb!?"
Sia's attack targeted both Haru and the flustered Aika beside her.
With such an age gap—and with Aika being a foreigner—marriage was obviously unreasonable.
Sia was preemptively reminding Aika of reality before she began acting shamelessly for her age.
Haru responded with another brutally one-sided exchange.
"Granny said age doesn't matter when people love each other."
"That's a nice sentiment, but..."
"Being from another country is better. If Daddy marries a flat-chested Korean like you, the baby will be hungry and cry."
"———HAAAAH!?"
'You brat! After happily eating the chicken I bought you last time!?'
A critical hit on Sia.
The dirty tactic of striking the same wound twice left Sia unable to do more than splutter.
Unlike last time, she couldn't even argue back.
'Then again, beside Aika Ninomiya, ninety-nine percent of humanity would look inadequate...'
"Wait, Haru!"
This time, however,
Sia was not alone.
Alice, who had called Sia a vixen last time, now stood on her side.
"Alli...ance?"
—Whisper, whisper.
"A temporary alliance."
'I couldn't watch a fellow Pine-Needle Snow enthusiast like Yujin be devoured by that lecher. As his comrade, I had to save him.'
Alice had even formed a temporary alliance with Sia.
Just as Sia feared losing valuable talent overseas, Alice had a goal she considered unavoidable.
She would protect her friend Yujin from a lecher who seemed to have stepped out of an 'Eye' story.
Alice believed it was a mission only she could fulfill.
A mission she had to accomplish by any means.
She leaned toward Haru's ear.
—Whisper, whisper.
"I hate to say this, but... you saw earlier, right? Her nipples were inverted."
"Yeah."
"Then... wouldn't the baby cry because it couldn't nurse?"
It was a merciless attack that exploited even Aika's deepest insecurity.
It worked devastatingly well.
"......!!!!"
'No matter how big they were, they meant nothing if the baby couldn't nurse!'
What use was enough milk to fill a baby's belly
if the baby couldn't drink it?
Haru whispered back with a grave expression.
"Couldn't the baby use a straw?"
"Of course not. That sort of thing only happens in erotic comics."
'Honestly, what did Japanese people think a woman's body was?'
"Aww..."
Haru's shoulders slumped.
So that was why Aika's chest was so large. Why prepare so much milk if the baby couldn't drink it?
The thought left Haru deeply dejected.
Yujin, meanwhile...
"......?"
'I had no idea what was happening, but I should stay quiet. Completely, absolutely quiet.'
He kept his mouth shut throughout, afraid that interfering would make him the next target.
It was the Second-Round Hypnosis Breeding Guy's survival strategy.
* * *
After the chaos passed,
"Sorry. You can't be Mommy yet. Haru will think about it more."
"Y-yes. Do that..."
Whatever spell Alice had worked, Haru meekly withdrew her explosive declaration.
I could not have been more relieved.
'If she kept pestering my master by calling her Mommy, Master might start disliking me instead.'
I was Haru's father, and she was demanding that my master become her mother.
She was effectively throwing a tantrum for Aika to marry me.
She had even tried to give me away to her.
Even my compassionate master would find that difficult.
We'd known each other for only a few hours.
Being told to marry a complete stranger could only make her uncomfortable.
Worse, I genuinely intended to make my master my bride.
For someone like me, Haru’s behavior would only obstruct that goal.
I didn't want my pure and devoted harem romance mistaken for a passing whim because of her.
'Still, at least she seemed to have given up for now.'
"Anyway, Master. Shall we...?"
"Ahem. Yes. First, let me see your forms."
My master and I reached an unspoken agreement.
We would pretend none of it happened and continue with our original purpose.
After that, things became peaceful.
I demonstrated my sword forms, and she checked my total across the three major lifts, among other things.
I showed her every part of my current capabilities without reservation.
"You're weak. Haru is hundreds of times stronger than you."
"......."
'Well, that was true.'
Her assessment was brutally harsh, but it didn't offend me.
Even I knew I had an immeasurably long road ahead.
And,
'Besides, Master would give me a fortuitous opportunity.'
My master was not the sort of person to point out flaws and stop there.
Whenever she found a problem, she also gave the exact method for correcting it.
She possessed an artifact obtained from an S-rank Gate.
It was useless to my master, whose attributes had already reached their limits, but...
to me, it was an invaluable consumable.
"However, I can solve that problem. I happen to have just the thing."
'As expected, she would give me the Heaven-Sent Spring Water again!'
Heaven-Sent Spring Water.
A spring obtained when my master cleared an S-rank Gate, dramatically accelerating an awakener's attribute growth.
Thanks to that elixir, I'd rapidly risen to the top rank among S-ranks in both the game and the First Round.
"However, it works only if you train relentlessly. Show any laziness, and you may become weaker than you are now."
Its drawback was clear despite the overwhelming benefit.
Anyone who drank it could not stop training for even one day.
It was like pushing a boulder to the top of a mountain as Sisyphus did.
Once every attribute reached the summit of 10, it was fine, but...
if the user gave up before then, every hard-earned gain would roll back to the bottom.
That drawback had made me regret taking it in the First Round.
In the game it had taken only a click. Why did I have to suffer so much in reality? I'd often wished I had refused it.
'Still, it had completely cured my rotten lack of discipline.'
In the Second Round, it was a drawback I could accept with a smile.
I already intended to train every day, so it hardly counted as a drawback at all.
I grinned broadly.
"That's fine, Master! I love training!"
"This will not be gentle training you can simply enjoy. You will grind yourself to dust and work your body to the bone every day..."
"Even better!"
'I'd literally ground my body down every day before!'
My eyes began to sparkle.
I could begin the rapid attribute growth I'd expected only in my second year from the very start.
My heart pounded with anticipation.
My master stared at me.
There was a trace of pity in her gaze.
"...Your muscles will ache so badly every night that you cannot sleep."
"Yes."
"I won't allow you to rely on painkillers. The same applies to hypnosis. If you evade pain that way, your soul will never grow stronger."
"Of course."
"......Haaah."
My master even sighed at my response.
Haru, meanwhile, patted my head proudly.
—Pat, pat.
"Daddy is doing great. Daddy works hard, so Haru gives pats."
"Yeah, thank you~."
'She was beginning to feel like a real daughter. Adorable, even though she was older than me.'
Thanks to Haru, the serious mood softened.
I rubbed my hands together playfully and smiled.
"So when can I receive that useful item? I would like to start training immediately."
"......."
—Whisper, whisper.
"You appear to be my disciple's friends, so let me ask: is he always like this?"
"Yujin has always been diligent!"
"Almost foolishly so. Haa... He really seems addicted to working out."
For some reason, the three women began whispering together.
From my master's perspective, my enthusiasm must have been hard to believe.
Of course she'd want to hear about my usual conduct from them.
As I waited confidently, my master looked at me again.
"Haa. What I intend to give you is the Heaven-Sent Spring Water. I obtained it by slaying the Divine Dragon that ruled an S-rank Gate."
"Oooh!!"
"However, I cannot give it to you immediately. It is stored in a vault in Japan."
"Yes, yes!"
The conversation began exactly as I remembered.
I pretended to listen with interest, though I already knew everything she was supposed to say.
She would return to Korea in about a week.
Then I would drink it and train with all my strength while she was away.
My body couldn't yet keep up with my techniques, so she would say there was no need for her to remain beside me.
She'd demand regular reports and occasionally make surprise visits.
If my rotten discipline finally collapsed, she would kill me herself...
"I'll have my secretary bring it immediately."
"......Huh?"
That was not the line I remembered.
A secretary? The item was priceless. Wasn't my master supposed to retrieve it personally?
"I-it is extremely valuable. Don't you need to retrieve it yourself...?"
"I cannot be bothered to travel back and forth for something so trivial. I already have too little time to teach you."
"......?"
She had dismissed an elixir valuable enough to affect national power as 'something trivial.'
Her tone suggested that teaching me mattered far more.
Unease crept over me, and I asked,
"W-when you say time to teach me..."
"From now on, I'll stay beside you and instruct you around the clock. Prepare yourself."
"...Is it all right for you not to return to Japan?"
"I have no intention of returning until my disciple has matured."
"What?"
The top-ranked S-rank—my master, who stood on another level even among awakeners—
the walking Strategic Nuke had declared that she would remain in Korea.