Chapter 207 - Warning: Too Easy to Manipulate
――The next morning.
When I headed to the living room with sleepy eyes, I saw Rio performing practice swings with a wooden sword.
"Sei! Yaah!"
Standing beside her as if to stay close was Chloe, offering advice like, "Faster."
I was surprised. It seemed she had already started swordsmanship training the very next day.
"You're getting straight to it, I see."
As I spoke with an impressed tone, the two girls spoke in unison, "Good morning."
"How is it? Rio's sword technique."
"Not bad."
Chloe began to speak, her eyes sparkling.
"I was surprised. Even though this girl looks so scrawny, there's no hesitation in her blade."
"Heh... I guess being a delinquent means she's got guts."
"This is that, you know, the so-called removal of the body's limiters. It seems Rio is able to exert force up to the point where an ordinary person would feel pain. That attitude of not caring if her body breaks is truly the sword of a berserker."
"That's..."
"Is it because she's Japanese after all? Since she's from a nation of harakiri and kamikaze, maybe she has high pain tolerance. Other than that, once her base stats go up, I think she'll become a troublesome vanguard."
Looking at her, Rio seemed to be performing her swings with an ecstatic expression on her face.
Perhaps the pain in her arms is a pleasure to her. From tomorrow onward, thanks to muscle aches, she should be able to maintain that feeling of pleasure all day long.
It's a happy fetish.
Rio turned her moist eyes toward me and said with a dazed face,
"Just because she's Nakamoto-san's daughter... this girl's Spartan training is insane."
"O-oh."
"I think I might be able to get along well with Chloe."
"That's good to hear."
I had wondered what would happen if a personality mismatch occurred between teacher and student, but these two seem to have good compatibility.
"By the way, where did that wooden sword come from? Did Chloe make it with magic?"
"This? It's something Leo bought on a school trip when he was in elementary school."
"Why is something like that here?"
"When I called him first thing this morning, Leo brought it over."
"You really use your Big Brother heavily, don't you."
Since I don't have any sisters, I don't quite understand, but I wonder if all Big Brothers are this indulgent...
Since King Leo apparently has a girlfriend, it's probably not that he has strange feelings for Rio, but that he is purely devoted to his younger sister.
Despite behaving like a boyfriend, there is absolutely no sexual desire involved.
He truly is the paragon of a blood relative.
Of course, I am the same.
It's true that yesterday I took a bath with my actual daughter and washed each other's bodies, but I didn't feel any lewdness.
Therefore, it is an extremely wholesome act.
It is exactly the same as what King Leo did.
That guy delivered a wooden sword to his sister in the morning. I washed my daughter's body with my bare hands. Where is the difference there?
"No, there's a huge difference here."
Crushed by a guilt from which I could no longer make excuses, I performed a sharp about-face.
At this rate, Chloe will likely raise Rio into a proper swordsman.
After that, it's Philia and Angelica.
On top of their faiths and personalities being completely different, I wonder how I should bring together the pair who have a grudge from the Wraith incident.
I performed an about-face and made my way toward the room where Philia was sleeping.
I opened the door, stomped inside like an intruder, and without hesitation, ripped the futon off.
"Nnn~..."
A forty-five-year-old woman grumbling in a distressing negligee.
No one knows if the current Philia is sane, or if she is in an ambiguous state.
"Philia, Philia. Which one are you right now? Are you sane?"
"Nuu~..."
I have no idea whether it's acting or the real thing.
Since I am on the dense side (I can almost hear a voice pointing out that 'on the dense side' is an understatement), there is no way I can see through a woman's acting.
Since it couldn't be helped, I decided to resort to slightly rougher means.
"Elsa would have woken up immediately at a time like this..."
"..."
"As I thought, she really is a better woman."
"Good morning, Hero-dono."
I suppressed my honest thought of What, you're sane?
While soothing Philia, who was glaring at me with half-closed eyes, I immediately got to the main topic.
"Hey, what do you think about Ange?"
"So that's how Hero-dono is always, always comparing Lady Elsa and me. I know, you know. You were like that even when you were in that other world. You like young women with black hair, after all. In any case, among the women in this house, that little brat Rio is probably your favorite, isn't she? When I look at that girl, I remember the time you were stolen by Lady Elsa, and I feel like I'm going to go mad from the humiliation—"
She's noisy from early in the morning.
I could have shut her mouth with a kiss, but since Philia is the kind of woman who would melt so much that we wouldn't be able to have a discussion, I had no choice but to listen to her complaining.
Philia seemed to have quite a lot of grievances accumulated; after venting all her resentment toward Elsa, she began to spout things like how Japanese food doesn't suit her taste and how Japanese clothes have no sense, content that made me wonder how she could say such things in front of a Japanese person.
She is a foreigner who completely ignores the social trend of "Japan is amazing" type programs.
"At this point, the only thing in this country worth praising is Hero-dono."
"Don't use such a roundabout way to act sweet."
After that, Philia bashfully praised my facial features and muscles, and clung to me stickily.
Women really do get in a good mood if you listen to their complaints, don't they? From Elsa to my Mother, they are all like that.
That's just the kind of creature they are.
"...Can we stay like this for a while?"
Philia said in a nasal voice while hugging me.
"I don't mind, but before that, let's get back to the original topic. You, teach Ange Sorcery."
"I refuse. Why must I do something so troublesome? Besides, you have to explain first why I can even return to sanity, even if it is with a time limit. It's becoming more and more troublesome."
"That's your way of making amends. Just do it."
"Amends?"
"You're the one who had that girl possessed by plenty of evil spirits, aren't you?"
"...That is true, but..."
I threw the finishing blow at Philia, who was looking away awkwardly.
"I like women with a sense of tolerance. Elsa was like that too. I think being good at teaching things to others is a high-scoring point. It gives off that charm of an older woman, that kind of thing."
"..."
"I'll do it," Philia muttered in a small voice.
She was an incredibly easy woman.
One way or another, we're doing alright.
That was the strange feeling I felt.
End of Chapter Six.
As for Chapter Seven, who will be the main heroine... it is completely undecided!