Diane also has a daughter. Her name is Janet. Of course, she’s as beautiful as Diane, inheriting her mother’s looks. For some reason, she’s made it her style to have only the tips of her long hair braided.
She looks like such a proper young lady… but she’s become a bit of a handful.
“Father.”
“What is it, Janet? Are you going to play with Papa today?”
“No, I’d rather leave that to someone else. I just want to clear up a simple question.”
”…………”
Does a seven-year-old ever talk to their father like that?
“According to various historical texts, Father seems to have been a battle-hardened veteran who fought quite frequently. Why isn’t he utilizing that experience now?”
“Honestly, those texts are probably exaggerating… they’re just saying you defeated dragons and demon lords or something, right?”
“She also eradicated holy beasts, pirates, and the Ogre Mafia.”
“Didn’t you think it sounded a little fishy when it got to that point?”
“A lie?”
Janet looks up at him with innocent eyes.
It pains him to shatter the image of his daughter who thinks of him as a great hero, but there’s no point in pretending. The truth is, even if she asked him to fight something, he’d just have to rely on others. He hasn’t touched a crossbow in years.
“It’s not completely false, but there are quite a few cases where it was actually a draw or I was just present at the scene.”
“Hmm… why would such descriptions arise?”
”…Well, everyone just accepts it if they say it was Papa’s doing.”
“I don’t understand. Why? Was Father some kind of ogre-like brute in his youth?”
“Well, there were a few times when he accidentally won against opponents who seemed impossible to beat… mostly thanks to luck. And yeah, the dragons and Mom helped out too, but everyone insisted it was all Papa’s doing. That’s how he became secretly famous for being that kind of guy.”
“So that’s how the story of Father being a hero began?”
“Something like that. And Mom’s even more amazing, you can see that yourself, Janet.”
“I don’t dispute that Mother is a monster.”
“Don’t talk about Mom like that…”
Still, Janet herself has quite the talent for combat. At her age, she can freely manipulate shockwaves with her bare hands, and her physical abilities are beyond those of an adult. She clearly demonstrates her lineage through her talent alone.
That’s probably why she also realizes just how infinitely strong Diane is.
But she’s not a brute by any means—in fact, she’s such a bookworm that she spends all her free time holed up in the Baron’s study or the Polka Academy library.
The fact that she can read so much at this age must be thanks to Diane’s inherited intelligence. I was just a foolish kid who could get away with mischief and snooping even at ten.
…Where did my blood go?
“If you had such military achievements, wouldn’t you be in a position to command an army like Grandfather? And that Sieg Becker too.”
“Becker-san is a true hero…”
After retiring from the field, Becker-san apparently still trains successors and works behind the scenes as a staff officer for the Intelligence Brigade.
“I’ve been living in the world of rough-and-tumble since I was a kid. Laziness just doesn’t suit me,” he used to say.
“Sometimes, through Onyx’s connections, I come to Polka and either service the wives or join the peeping squad and get chased around.”
“I should be well past fifty, but whether it’s because I still come to Polka sometimes, or just his own nature, he hasn’t changed much since we first met.”
“But the dragons all say your father was a great hero worthy of history. Yet, as his daughter, I find it hard to accept that he was just a country blacksmith.”
“Dad wanted to be a blacksmith here more than any general or noble. Just like his own father before him.”
“Why? Was he such an impressive grandfather?”
”…Yeah. He was easygoing and cheerful… a good dad.”
He nodded, thinking wistfully of his father, whose face he could barely remember anymore.
“But the grandmother and neighbors only ever told me stories about how careless and pathetic he was…”
”…Well, yeah, there were those things about him too, I guess.”
“He’s the opposite of your father. The reality and reputation are worlds apart.”
“Nah, Dad was a great worker too. All the craftsmen in the royal capital and even Jackie always said so.”
“It’s hard to know people, isn’t it?”
Janet twisted her head and turned away with a sigh.
Looking at her back, she still looks like a seven-year-old. But when she talks, you wouldn’t think so.
Even so, the way her sharpness in conversation contrasts with her occasional cluelessness or how her desires sometimes outweigh her judgment—there’s something endearing about it.
“She’s not a bad kid.”
As I muttered that and watched her go, Diarne appeared out of nowhere and walked beside me with a wry smile.
“This is an exciting time for her to learn things. Let her do as she pleases. She might find it lacking when she’s just with Elenia and Freya, but they don’t dislike you for it.”
“No, I’m not complaining or anything.”
“Maybe you’re sad because she doesn’t dote on you?”
“Well… a little… no, I don’t want her to be like Elenia and the others, never!”
“Hehe. Well, try not to be surprised if she suddenly develops an interest in your lower half.”
“No way, Diarne! I’ll guard against that!”
“I want to be a fair mother. If Elenia and Freya are allowed it, then I can’t say no if Janet feels like it.”
“I have to make sure she doesn’t feel like it…”
“But would you get angry if Janet brought home a boyfriend?”
“Don’t ask that question—it’s unfair!”
How many fathers could laugh off their daughter bringing home a stranger and saying, “I’m going to have sex with this man”?
W-well, that was crude.
But yeah, that’s the reality of it.
I’ll have to face that pain honestly someday. But it’s only natural not to acknowledge my own feelings now.
“I… I’m just a father who dotes on his daughter… it’s not like I’m so twisted that I’d rather be her sex partner than give it to her boyfriend…”
“Alright, alright. It’s still too early for her anyway.”
“Ugh, I wish she could just stay this way forever…"
"Don’t worry, she’s got a long lifespan."
"It’s not that… well, it is that…”
Ideally, I want her to find a boyfriend after I’m gone and be happy… It’d be less painful that way.
No, even that’s a pretty awful wish. Young people should be in love when they’re young.
…By the way, Janet basically lives outside the Palace these days. Diane isn’t particularly strict with her education, but Janet lives with the Smisson family outside the Palace, doesn’t want to play with the other kids, and unless Diane’s entertaining her, she’s always buried in books at the Baron’s mansion or the academy, so there’s really no need for her to be in the Palace right now.
I’m a little worried she’ll just become someone who struggles to make friends… but I guess we can worry about that when she’s older.
As for my daughter, things haven’t been looking great lately, but it’s a bit easier since I only have one son.
”Hearing you talk like that makes me laugh, though,” Beatrice said.
”Beatrice, you’d hate it if your daughter was getting all worked up over her father, right?!"
"I don’t have any daughters yet, so I can’t say."
"You can probably imagine it, though.”
Beatrice leaned on the counter with a smirk.
Her shop was located along Polka’s main street, with a sign that read “Treasure Trove.”
It started as a store selling handicrafts like stuffed animals and tote bags, but Beatrice kept finding things she was interested in and adding them to the inventory—foreign spices, soaps, art supplies, books, perfume, weapons, furniture… it became a hodgepodge of items, turning it into a “treasure trove.”
She also has her own exclusive supply route for erotic picture scrolls, which is great because she occasionally gets stuff I’ve never even heard of.
I mean, I could get them from Onyx all day long, but it’s hard to check in with them regularly. Plus, if I go to contact them, I usually end up in some wild orgy with the maidens or the brothel whores.
“We’ve had three boys in a row, you know. Well, I’m not exactly unhappy about being a man, but I’d like to try having a girl sometime."
"I wouldn’t mind getting pregnant, but it might just be another boy."
"Then we’ll just have to look forward to the next one.”
Beatrice smiled, wearing something that showed off her shoulders.
She’s got a gutsy business sense—using her looks to attract customers.
Since she stopped wielding swords and started working with her hands in business, Beatrice has grown into a woman in more ways than one.
Not just physically (though she was so scrawny when I first met her), but mentally too—she’s become much more stable. Now, she can hold her own against Cosmos and Lady Swallow with complete confidence as the shop owner.
“Speaking of kids, where are they?"
"They’re probably at the hot springs by now? Sharon takes a bath around this time, so all the brats go with her."
"…Sharon’s going to the men’s bath again, huh…"
"The kids are happy to take baths, so she’s semi-officially allowed. Not just the kids, though."
"Well, there aren’t many people she can actually attack, but still…”
Sharon often helps out at the church.
She fights monsters in Renfanger during the high season, but otherwise, she sticks around Polka. Surprisingly, some of the kids here hate baths and will skip them for days if left to their own devices, so Sharon or Lauree takes them after church classes.
Of course, she doesn’t give the boys any special treatment—she just takes them to the bath and washes them. But Sharon is the type of woman who doesn’t hide anything, so a bunch of young boys and a few older guys end up stuck in traffic outside the bathhouse, trying to memorize every detail.
That’s another one of her troublesome fetishes—she’ll taunt them by saying, “This body everyone’s obsessed with? Only your dicks can make me feel it…♪” So even showing off her vulnerable side is just part of her game.
Lauree doesn’t really share that interest, so she wraps herself in a cloth when she goes to the bath. But even then, she complained about how disappointed people look at her.
“Just being in the bath in Polka is amazing—wounds heal and everything. The middle kid broke her arm playing Annette Hammer from the roof the other day, but she’s already back to normal.”
“…Does the current generation even know about Annette Hammer?”
“They somehow do. I guess someone copied her and it’s been passed down through the ages. I wish it would just disappear—it’s dangerous.”
Annette, the Great Knight Commander, retired a long time ago… I wonder if she’s already considered some kind of fictional hero now.
I return to the palace, take off my shoes at the entrance, and hand them over to the naked, aproned Onyx maids who greet me.
As I walk, I shed my upper clothes, then my lower, entrusting those too to the maids. By the time I reach the bathhouse, I’m completely nude.
“Tired again today…” I think, wanting a rest and a soak, but…
The density of bathing girls is so high that there’s nowhere to lie down in the fetal position.
“Why are so many people taking baths right now…?”
“Master hasn’t been getting any action since this morning, so everyone thinks it’s gonna be a group sex party when he gets back!”
A nearby maid says this, and the naked beauties surrounding me cheerfully raise their fists in agreement.
“…Alright, let’s do it then. You first.”
“Kyaa! I’m gonna get pregnant!”
I tear off the reporting maid’s apron and toss it aside before grabbing her hips and going to work on her.
…Then I notice Elenia and Frena watching from close by, which makes me hesitate for a second.
“…What are you two looking at?”
“We’re getting screwed too, right?”
“They’re so used to this…”
They murmur, then lean their naked shoulders together and smile at each other.
“Just need the collars now, yeah?”
“I want the black ones!”
Ugh, I haven’t issued any new black ones.
No, not just black’s a problem. Putting collars on kids and shoving dicks in their mouths is seriously the worst.