What Do You Do on Weekends? (4)
[March 2nd Week, Saturday Afternoon.]
While Unia and Rydmila are devoting their weekend to honing their magical abilities, someone here is using that precious time off to build up a different kind of power. Wealth.
"Ta-da! What do you think?"
"You've already finished packaging them all?"
"Of course! You bet!"
Evangeline pointed proudly at the stacks of fully packaged Magic Pants, flashing a grin. The ones I'd mass-produced by Friday were set to be distributed to the academy undergraduates next week, but Evangeline had sacrificed her holiday to get the packaging done.
Of course, it wasn't for free. We could justify the time during regular class hours as part of mana theory lectures and practicals for the undergrads, but working weekends for the academy's freshmen was a whole different story.
"How much did the academy agree to pay?"
"What a commoner in the di Ershi Empire earns in a month."
Chump change from the empire's perspective. But for an undergrad—or a princess—it's not easy to make that kind of money in a single day.
But.
"Here you go."
"Ooooh."
That was just the academy's student worker scholarship payout to Evangeline. The real reward for her golden weekend hours came from elsewhere.
"If you sell these, you could get at least ten times that, easy."
"Got any more work for me? I could package Mana Bread super diligently too."
"Haven't started making Mana Bread yet, so nothing to pack."
Evangeline had earned enough in a few hours of packaging to buy a whole carriage. In terms of hourly rate, only B-rank or higher monster hunters could probably top it.
"Oh... okay."
Evangeline's face fell. For her, the sweetest gigs were the ones from me—no surprise there. Without them, she'd have to spend her free time less productively.
Academy classes were an investment for future scholarships, sure. But the rest of her time had to be strategic: padding her tuition funds and boosting the empire's budget. That was Evangeline's reality.
"Don't be so impatient."
I rested a hand on her head.
"I'll casually float the idea of building a mass-production factory for Magic Pants in your empire."
"For real?!"
Her eyes sparkled.
"W-wait. Hold on. ...Is that really okay?"
"Considering production costs, unit prices, and profits, retooling existing factories makes sense. But a new one would create a ton of jobs, right?"
"W-well, yeah, obviously...!"
"Whether it's Yurha Silverstar or Alheina Silverstar, I'll chat with one of them and get a factory built. They're quick on the uptake, so when we bring it up with the empire later, it'll look like you did all the convincing."
"......"
Evangeline fidgeted with her fingers, falling silent. She bowed her head, a mix of embarrassment and gratitude.
"I... I..."
"No need to think you have nothing to offer in return."
I scooped up the moping princess in one smooth lift.
"Kyaa?!"
"Think of it as payment for being my stress-relief cuddle doll."
"You really say that right to my face?"
"Even if I said you don't owe me anything, you wouldn't listen."
"......Hmph."
Evangeline threw both hands up in surrender.
"Fine, since you said it, I'll act shamelessly?"
"Go wild. Oh, want me to give you a justification so it's not too shameless?"
"What's that?"
"I'm building experience with mana massages. Wanna volunteer as a research subject? The fee for participation will be pretty juicy."
"That's how you're making it legit?"
"No harm in it."
We both knew the score, but pride meant we couldn't just lay it all bare. Understanding without crossing that line—that's consideration.
"Sigh, fine. Do whatever you want."
"Sweet. Like this, then."
I kept her hoisted up, pulled my arm back, and cradled her like a baby or doll, hand supporting from below.
"Pervert?"
She narrowed her eyes at my hand—right up against her inner thigh, inches from her butt.
"Unavoidable contact for research?"
"What kind of research?"
"Hmm. How to use mana massages to stretch the body nice and tall?"
"You get to grope Unia and Rydmila and make 'em grow busty and long-limbed, but for me it's all about height?"
"Don't like getting taller?"
"No, it's not that."
She puffed her cheeks, then sighed.
"Ugh, whatever. It's my room, so okay. Anywhere else, no way."
She looped her arms over my shoulders, swung her legs behind my waist, hooked her ankles, and clung tight.
"10 gold per 10 minutes."
"Cheap. I figured 1 gold a minute."
"...Should we?"
"Kidding."
To ease her flicker of unease, I perched on the edge of her bed.
"Just so we're clear, I'm not handing out perks to everyone. This is only for girls I actually want in my harem."
"Ha, really..."
She giggled, meeting my eyes.
"You can say that to an imperial princess?"
"Even if it was this world's true goddess, I'd make her mine if I liked her."
"...You say the wildest stuff."
She grumbled but didn't let go.
"Oh, right. You should watch out."
"Huh?"
"I got a magitech DM about you."
"Magitech... DM?"
Like modern SNS—but with magitech networks and all these oddly contemporary vibes, it kinda fit.
"Yeah. Unlike you guys, I'm the only one in the old school building on magitech SNS."
Slap "magitech" on anything, and modern tech melts right into this world. Kinda like the early 2020s, maybe.
"Got an anonymous message. Asking if I could smuggle some Magic Pants. Offered big money for one on the side."
"An academy undergrad?"
"They get 'em free, but they've got brothers or dads. Especially sons desperate for parental approval."
She traced a crown over her head.
"The more responsibility on their shoulders, the less they care about methods."
"......"
"I get it. Me too. Ha, seriously."
She hugged me tight, her hands on my back moving with exquisite care.
"But... I don't do this with just anyone. It's because it's you."
"Music to my ears."
"Not a joke."
"Didn't take it as one."
"...Hmph."
She turned her head aside, cheeks flushing.
"......Seriously, going this far for a tiny girl like me."
"Tiny, sure—but you're a beauty, so no issue."
"What?"
"You'll be staring at my face forever anyway, not the body. The body's just for baby-making."
"You never hold back."
She squished my cheeks with both hands.
"And during baby-making, tiny girls like me suffer big time. Especially with those Magic Pants you spread—guys get huge, and we might straight-up die."
"Won't know till you try."
"Never done it myself, but as a princess, I see reports on injuries and deaths from it."
Raw stats, not the sanitized public ones— the unfiltered data rulers need.
"Worst case, if every woman hooked up with someone like Dean Ederson Lionheart, or, uh..."
Her eyes flicked downward.
"...someone like you, we'd break."
"What if you don't?"
"Huh?"
"There's... ways."
I whispered in her ear.
"......!!"
She jolted back, scrambling away to put distance between us.
"W-what..."
Then she reached down, gauging with her fingers up past her navel.
"That's... possible?"
"Duh. Bodies are amazing, but magic's even more so."
I figured academy talk wouldn't cover it, but it's not impossible.
"There's a light-attribute spell for that. For fair and square matches—tuning the body."
"Fair and square...?"
"Matching 'weight classes.'"
I clenched one hand's fingers tight, then covered it with the other.
"Boosts... elasticity, basically."
"E-elasticity...?"
"Yeah. With magic, your body accommodates anything without strain."
One of the world's secrets.
"How do you think beastkin happened?"
"......Huh?"
"Born that way? Or humans loving sacred beasts and monsters?"
"W-wait. You mean..."
"If a 5-meter monster's humanoid and smart, how'd its ancestors breed?"
Far ancient times.
"All thanks to magic that lets bodies match up without breaking—powered by Cumming Dream."
There were eras of interspecies love, and the God of Light wrought miracles so life could bloom from it.
No matter the size.
With love's power, no pain, no wounds.