I met El again at the Hunter’s Guild, bought some of the disassembled Cloudless Deer meat, and returned to Alka. After parting ways with Ed and Fiana on the first floor of the main hall, I went up to the second floor.
However, in the living room on the second floor, my wife and fiancées were all gathered.
I understood that Rika was pregnant, but with Hilde and Yuri here too, had some kind of emergency occurred?
“Welcome back, Yamato. We were waiting for you.”
“I’m back. Did something happen?”
Even if it was an emergency, no one seemed flustered.
Besides, it wasn’t definitively an emergency, but I couldn’t think of any other reason for Hilde and Yuri to be here, so something must have happened.
“Today is your monthly regular check-up day, isn’t it?”
“Ah. Because of Mana and Rika, the healer comes weekly instead of monthly. …No way!!”
“Yes. Prim and I were pregnant.”
Oh, Prim and Flam are pregnant!
Since Rika’s due date was in April, I thought we’d know soon, but I didn’t expect it to be revealed here.
Prim had been refraining from getting pregnant until she could avenge her father, Duke Ternal, and Flam was scheduled to be appointed baron and take over Prada soon. I’m truly happy that both of them are pregnant.
“Oh, oh… ohhhhhh! Congratulations, Prim! Flam!”
“Thank you, Yamato.”
“Thank you very much, Yamato-san.”
But that was secondary; I was simply happy about their pregnancies.
“Prim didn’t have any particular symptoms, unlike Mana-sama or Rika-sama, but Flam hasn’t been feeling well lately. She was also studying to become an acting official, so she might have been a bit weak.”
“Now that we know she’s pregnant, she’ll have to rest for a while. Considering future plans, she can’t completely stop working, but…”
Because of Mana and Rika, I had assumed they wouldn’t have any symptoms, and it seemed Prim didn’t. But had Flam experienced symptoms herself?
It’s just that there are individual differences, so perhaps that’s why. Still, Flam had been overexerting herself recently, so it seems her fatigue hadn’t fully recovered.
She is an Ancient Undine, so she has stamina, and with Regenerating, her stamina should recover, albeit slowly. However, there are stories that pregnancy affects it differently.
Flam is also studying to become Prada’s acting official, and that’s a decided matter, so she can’t completely halt her studies due to her pregnancy.
Prim also has her role as my first wife, but that’s something that can be easily substituted by someone else, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
“Speaking of which, if Prim is pregnant, who will take over her role as first wife?”
The first wife is the representative and organizer of the wives.
So, when guests arrive, it is primarily the first wife’s role to greet them.
However, once pregnant, even the first wife becomes unable to move.
In such cases, another wife would act as a substitute, but who would it be in our case?
“Originally, my older sister would have taken on that role, but she just gave birth, so we can’t push her.”
“The next in line is Sir Yuri, but since Sir Yuri is not yet married, he can’t act as a substitute unless he were a fiancé.”
“Rika is pregnant, and Sister Hilde has duties as the acting official of the Solemne region, so neither of them can do it.”
I see.
For the same reason as Sir Yuri, Aria is also out of the running. That leaves Mina, Lydia, Ludia, Athena, and Mako, a total of five people.
“Therefore, in this case, it will be Mina, who you got engaged to second.”
“M-me?! Not Mako-san!?”
Mina, to whom Mana turned, was greatly flustered.
Indeed, Mina got engaged the day after Prim.
At that time, I intended to greet her parents in Float and marry her immediately since I was already an adult. However, due to various circumstances, I also got engaged to and married Mana, so my marriage to her became my third.
I have no interest in the hierarchy among my wives, but it’s sometimes necessary for etiquette, so I had to decide.
The first wife is the one who married first, and her position is unwavering regardless of the husband’s status. So, among us, led by our first wife Prim, the order is Mana, Hilde, Yuri, Rika, Athena, Mina, Flam, Lydia, Ludia, Aria, and Mako, considering status and the order of engagement.
By that logic, it should be Athena. However, Athena is a Dragonian and is not very adept at etiquette, so it would be too much of a burden for her.
Therefore, if we go by the order, it would indeed be Mina.
“I’m the oldest, but I’m at the bottom of the hierarchy, so there’s no way I can do it.”
“Me neither, I have my older sister above me.”
“Besides, neither Ludia, Lydia, nor Athena are from Amister. From that perspective as well, I believe Mina-san is the most suitable.”
There were no objections from Mako, Ludia, or Lydia either.
I’ve heard that the role of the first wife can be troublesome, and I can tell from seeing Prim and Princess Elice in action, but it seems they’re all subtly conveying that they want no part of such bothersome affairs.
I can’t say I don’t understand their feelings though.
“She won’t be incapacitated immediately, and she’ll have to make introductions as a substitute, so for a while, Mina will be acting with me.”
“Ugh, fine…”
It seems like things have gotten difficult in a different sense, but all I can say is to do her best.
“I’ll help and support you with that. Oh, and earlier at the Hunter’s Guild, I bought some Cloudless Deer meat. Let’s have it tonight to celebrate.”
“Huh? Cloudless Deer? The Anomaly variant from Snow Drop? Who hunted that?”
“Falcon’s Beak. They said they’d be based in Feel for a while.”
Changing the subject, I took the Cloudless Deer meat I’d bought earlier from storage and presented it to everyone.
“Is that so?”
“Come to think of it, the Krater Labyrinth and Solpreza Labyrinth both had snowy regions, but no monsters like that appeared.”
“They might be there if you look, but both are high-difficulty floors, so ordinary hunters can’t handle them, and even we would have a hard time.”
The last time a Cloudless Deer was hunted was over 30 years ago.
I heard that since then, only individual specimens that were hunted in some labyrinth were brought to nearby Hunter’s Guilds.
That’s why, even though the purchase amount was for only a third, 200 kilograms, it cost 1.8 million El.
A little less than half of the purchased amount will be presented to His Majesty Emperor Reinhardt, but even so, over 100 kilograms will remain, which is enough for a celebration. And since it’s a monster we’ll be eating for the first time, it has a special feel to it.
“It’s fortunate that we get to eat such a rare Cloudless Deer.”
“It really is. We had grand celebrations when Mana-sama and Rika-sama got pregnant, and when Saki-chan was born, but the ingredients were not much different from usual.”
Prim and Flam are happy about it, and Mana and Rika are too. But when Mana and Rika were pregnant, and when Saki was born, the celebratory feasts, though lavish in terms of dishes, used ingredients that were mostly A-rank and M-rank.
Moreover, they were all monsters we hunted ourselves, so the special feeling was diminished.
“It can’t be helped regarding the ingredients. We’re using much better quality ingredients than ordinary people, or even royalty and nobility.”
“For that matter, A-rank monsters are something even royalty might taste at most once in their lifetime.”
Mana and Sir Yuri reminded me, and it’s true. Although G-rank monster ingredients are now becoming available, before the alloy was completed, I-rank was common, let alone C-rank. Even S-rank was considered a luxury item, and anything P-rank or above was considered legendary.
Yet, considering we procured them ourselves, we use ingredients that are at least B-rank, and sometimes on M-rank, or even A-rank. It seems our senses have completely numbed.
“That’s right. We got used to eating them every day, so our senses have become numbed.”
“We also have the advantage of being able to procure them ourselves. If we run low, Mylight has Feather Drakes, and we can make day trips to labyrinths like Krater Labyrinth, Solpreza Labyrinth, and Instant Labyrinth.”
“We can still hunt a sufficient number.”
As Lydia, Ludia, and Athena say, Mylight’s Feather Drakes are highly valuable, so we hunt them every time we go to Mylight.
Furthermore, the three labyrinths mentioned by Ludia are labyrinths with high difficulty in their lower floors. In these labyrinths, B-rank and S-rank monsters appear from the first floor. If you proceed to around the third floor, you’ll encounter monsters of the ranks we usually use.
Moreover, Wing Crest has many Ancient Classes, and those Ancient Classes have learned Traveling, making day trips truly possible. We can go with a small group of one or two people.
Therefore, we’ve never been short on ingredients, but we’ve also never gone to a labyrinth with just a few people.
However, we can’t say that won’t happen in the future, so we need to prepare a sufficient stock of ingredients.
Wait, that’s not it.
Well, stocking food is certainly important, but we have plenty of inventory right now, and at worst, we can just hunt at Mylight, so there’s no problem thinking about it later.
Now is the time to celebrate Prim and Flam’s pregnancies.
“Have you told Marina and the others?”
“Not yet. I thought I’d report to my husband first. And Edward was with Yamato and Fiana at the Crafter’s Guild, wasn’t he?”
“Raus and the others are also out hunting to raise Seras and Reina-chan’s levels a bit before they enroll.”
Ed and the others are one thing, but Raus and the others are out hunting.
However, it makes me happy to be reported to first.
“Then we’ll report to everyone when Raus and the others return.”
“That’s the plan. Yamato coincidentally bought some good meat, so it will be around dinner time.”
It was a coincidence that I bought the Cloudless Deer meat, but it’s good that the timing was perfect.
Apricot already knows, but Rebecca probably doesn’t, so she’ll surely be happy.
“Ah, I forgot to ask the most important thing. How many months are they?”
“They are both three months along.”
“The due dates are around September.”
September.
It will be a cooler season, but Amister’s summer isn’t as harsh as Japan’s, and since we generally won’t be moving from Alka, it seems there’s no need to worry about that.
Alka is isolated from the outside air, so it’s not cold even in deep winter, nor hot in midsummer.
It’s generally comfortable, with temperatures equivalent to April or May.
Alka has mountains, forests, and lakes, so my familiars and summoned beasts are also living freely.
The Silkest Crawlers that Butler Alice contracted recently have settled in their preferred Fusang Trees individually, and the fifth contracted individual is leisurely spending its days in the large Fusang Tree in the center.
Alice reportedly took them out hunting a few days ago, and I heard that even though they are small, they are G-U rank, so they easily defeat the monsters around Feel.
Be that as it may, tonight, we’ll have the butlers and homunculi prepare a lavish feast to celebrate Prim and Flam’s pregnancies, and also because it’s exactly one month since Saki was born.
We haven’t hired a cook in Alka, but they are employed at Esmeralda Tenchaku Residence and Fraydlancia Tenchaku Float Annex, so perhaps we can share some of the celebration with them.
Ah, and we also need to share with the Torencia Phantom King Family, the Marquis Amatista family, the Viscount Fallhight family, the Grand Order’s Master, the Highwind Marquis family, and Sir Gaia.
I have many wives, and I can easily visit them using Traveling, so it is quite a commitment.
It’s troublesome, but I am married, and I have enough financial余裕, so I must do this properly.
