"Orphne, let's go."

"But...!"

Now that the preliminary event was over and we had switched over to the main event, I walked over to Orphne as she still tried to goad her opponent into a rematch.

"You need to give everyone else a chance to play as well. You can have your rematch another day. And imagine. By letting others learn to play today, soon players who are good enough to challenge you will start to appear from amongst them."

As it stood, Orphne was one of the best players at Goddess's Realm. The demon she faced off today was supposed to be the second best after her, but it looked like the rankings would have to be revised. Though with the huge influx of new players, that ranking didn't really mean much until they had time to reach a reasonable skill level first.

Orphne sulked for a bit longer, but eventually she caved in and followed me out.

Claret on the other hand, who's duty it was to make sure that all the magical tools that were being used were working without issue together with a few others, chased after us as we left the building.

"Good job Claret. Looks like everything went well on your end."

"Thank you Master! There weren't any problems, so the others can probably handle the rest!"

Since all the technology used was quite new, there was only a limited amount of testing that was possible before being publicly used. But if Claret said that there wasn't any worries, then I had no reason to doubt her words.

With our business done for the day, I put on Alicia and Fate's hats. They were simple summer hats with only medium length brims and a string so it would stay put even if the two ran around wearing it. They not only blocked out the sun, but they were even enchanted to further protect them. As a final benefit, one of the enchantments even shaded their eyes so things wouldn't be too bright for them.

The way they cried the first time they were exposed to the harsh sunlight even when wearing protective clothes still rang harshly in my heart.

We stepped out of the building, only to be met by an even larger crowd that had arranged itself on one side of the structure.

They were all watching the large screen that had been attached to the side of the building. At the moment, it was showing a side view of each of the tables where people were playing Goddess's Realm for the first time.

The golems' movements were quite clumsy, but it didn't fail to elicit excited reactions out of the crowds.

(Looks like we're gonna have to make a lot more screens soon.)

If there was this many people watching here, there was plenty of space to expand as long we could find places to hang the screens. Maybe the Hunter's Guild might work? And maybe some of the pubs and eateries would let us place a screen or two at their places as well.

It would be amusing if we created the first sports bar this way, though making a screen wasn't a quick thing and the materials weren't cheap either, so we needed to prioritize properly.

Not only that, but we needed to make more golems and tables to play at. Looking at the reception today, it was clear that as long as we didn't mess up somewhere, this was going to be quite the popular form of entertainment in our little country.

Though maybe that had to do with the lack of entertainment in the first place?

At best, there was drinking, telling stories, music, and partying. There was also some rudimentary sports, but that was mostly on the level of kids games and make believe, with the older people doing what was at most casual level duels.

But now, for the first time, there was a sport where people could play at an equal level regardless of their personal stats, as well as a way to watch these matches in a completely safe way. Not only that, but even from a distance, even if at the moment it was simply from outside of the building the matches were being held at.

It was the beginning of both an organized sport on top of a broadcast system for that sport. It didn't take much thought to realize that it was going to become a huge hit.

And thus, the crowd that had gathered around the building despite its capacity having been maxed out already with no chance of any of these people being able to directly participate in playing Goddess's Realm this day.

Maybe because of that, quite a few groups spectating the crude matches between beginners had started their own entertainment: betting.

(I guess that'll happen in any society.)

I could only be relieved that they were at least being responsible enough to not let any kids get involved with the bets though.

But even with that said, any bets made at this point was a complete crap shoot as nobody here was familiar with the game beyond the most basics of the rules, which was effectively team death match. Not to mention that none of the players had any history with the game for the bets to be based on anything but pure luck. At most, the players' experience in real combat played a role, but that could only go so far when everyone was moving the golem bodies for the first time.

Advanced combat strategies didn't mean much when simply swinging a weapon was a challenge already.

But even still, people enjoyed watching the clumsy matches and cheered loudly.

All in the meantime, another group was specifically taking advantage of the situation.

The traditional merchant class who always had a keen ear on profits.

There were many amongst the crowds who, rather than watch the matches, concentrated on selling food and drink to those who had gathered here.

The drinks weren't much of a surprise, as they were various alcoholic beverages in cheap wooden tankards ranging from beer and ale to vodka. Of course, the people here were sensible enough to only give the younger audience members juice to drink.

Beyond the drinks, there was food as well. But this side wasn't quite what I had expected.

There were of course sandwiches in hand and and soups in wooden cups being served, but the most popular item seemed to be various types of meat pies. The crust extra thick so that the contents didn't spill while being eaten in hand. While there were a few that more closely resembled those Jamaican patties I was familiar with, most were of the more traditional pie shape, but simply sized as a single portion.

(Huh. Never though of that being treated as street food.)

When I thought about it for a moment, it made sense that it could be eaten in this way, but the thought of eating a pie with a fork was so ingrained in me that I hadn't even considered treating a pie in a similar vein to a burger or hot dog.

By the way, both burgers and hot dogs were being sold, but they were far less popular to the meat pies. It seemed like people had trouble eating the street food I was used to without spilling any, while the meat pies were much easier to consume for them.

It was a little sad that a food which I had introduced was being side-lined, but at the same time it was nice to see some native foods were capable of holding fast against the foreign invaders.

Though the most sad thing was that I couldn't try those meat pies myself. The most I could do was smell them, but it was a completely different thing from experiencing the food for myself.

Fate was probably pretty fortunate on that front, as she would have no memories of what it was like to consume food which was normal for the other races. Hopefully Alicia's memories of solid food would be weak enough that she wouldn't miss them either.

But that would require them to actually drink blood first.

While Alicia should have memories of drinking blood while she was inside of my body and sharing my senses, for some reason the two of them continued to refuse drinking any.

It wasn't exactly a big deal, but I did worry if maybe I was letting them continue on milk for too long.

Each race weaned off of milk at a different time, and since us vampires were one of the longest lived races, the argument that we took the longest to wean did make sense. Dokkalfar, elves, fairies, and imps all took longer to wean than the other races, while they also lived longer than any of them.

But at the same time, spirits didn't wean since they didn't drink milk in the first place. And frankly, Alicia and Fate were the only pure blooded baby vampires I was aware of. Elli and everyone else was in the same boat there. It was as if Alicia and Fate were the first ever baby vampires or something, as impossible as that sounded.

I simply didn't have any credible reference points to work off of.

But their teeth had started to come in now, so maybe it was a good idea to at least start get them to have some blood.

(Then again, their fangs hadn't even started to poke out yet.)

On the other hand, it wasn't like they actually needed teeth to drink blood in the first place. I still got the benefits of drinking blood even when I didn't suck it out using my fangs. Though it was more enjoyable that way.

The two had refused every attempt at giving them blood, but it wasn't like they weren't reacting to it. They definitely liked the smell, just that they weren't equating the smell to something to eat.

(Then again, the food of other races smells good, but tastes worse than sawdust to us.)

It could be that they were having problems associating the smell of food with something to consume, since they were always exposed to all sorts of nice scents, yet none of them were edible for us.

(Maybe I'll have to force it on them once so that they'll be able to make the mental connection?)

I didn't really like the idea of forcing them, but they would have to be weaned eventually one way or another. I couldn't be their only source of nutrition after all. Not only would it be really difficult after a while, but it would seriously stunt their skill acquisition.

My eyes drifted down to the two of them.

Both Alicia and Fate continued to chew on the limbs of the poor stuffed animal while they watched the loud crowd. They jumped a little in surprise when a loud cheer spread like a flash from something that happened on the screens. It seemed like they had gotten used to such outbursts as they didn't seem to get scared from such a surprise.

My cheeks rose up at the realization of the tangible proof that they were growing right there before my eyes.

It was such a little thing, something which was simply common sense and normal, and something that would be considered so normal that it wasn't worth mentioning if it was regarding an adult. But even still, because it was coming from my adorable little babies, it was something which brought pride into my heart.

After a little bit of time, Alicia turned her little head up and looked at me. Fate, almost like as some sort of mirrored instant replay, did the same and looked straight up at me.

"What's up you two?"

"I'm hungry."

Alicia answered, and Fate nodded right after.

"Oh? In that case how about we try some..."

"Milk!"

"Yea, milk!"

I couldn't help but wonder if maybe Alicia had purposely cut me off right then. Though Fate just innocently followed suit like she often did.

"Well, alright. Let me just find somewhere..."

(A little bit more private.)

 

"And so, you thought my office was more private?"

"It was originally my office, remember?"

Though I did give her my answer, my attention was almost wholly devoted to my babies as they suckled in my arms, their eyes barely open as they concentrated on their task.

"Past tense. And this is hardly private with me being here. Or is it supposed to be some sort of private show for me?"

The sound of a silver pen nub scratching on paper continued as she didn't even bother raising her head.

"Of course not. But it's far more private than doing it outside."

I remembered that some women were fine having their babies suckle out in public, but I wasn't comfortable with doing such a thing. I already drew quite a lot of attention, and on the rare times I tried that, the attention that came was far too much for me, even if it wasn't sexual in the slightest.

"It's not much further to your house. Couldn't you have just done it there?"

"I guess I could have..."

Frankly, considering how fast I could move, not to mention straight up teleport, the difference between where I was and my home from where I started was practically not even worth mentioning. Though on the way here, both Orphne and Claret had things to do, so I waved them off on the way here.

"But I did have some business with you, Peitho."

Finally, the sound of scratching stopped.

"You're not going to throw even more work at me, are you?"

"Of, of course not!"

I did my best to refute her words, but the bags under her eyes as the elf glared at me affected my nerves.

"...Good."

After a good handful of seconds of receiving that attack, her eyes went back down to her papers and I was released from her pressure, free to enjoy the sight of my cute little babies.

"If you're being so over worked, why don't you hire more people?"

"Like you did with me?"

"Well..."

Even I knew that finding astounding talent like Peitho was quite a tall order. In fact, when it came to doing paperwork, I was probably the second best at it in the entire country after her. And it wasn't me gloating on my ability in that field, but at the reality at the people of this country's inability to do proper paperwork.

It was something which I had already suffered quite a lot over before I managed to forcibly shove the work onto...or rather, hand the baton to Peitho when I hired her.

"I mean, you can train some new people to work under you, right? You and I both had already done that before."

"And how much work did that take, do you remember?"

"Erk..."

It was a nightmare. Trying to get all the paperwork done back then, while at the same time training people from practically scratch on how to do the paperwork. It was almost as if my work load had doubled for no appreciable benefit.

In the end, I didn't even benefit from it as Peitho was the one who finished training the first group, and quickly started training the second while I was slowly slinking away from my responsibilities using my pregnancy as an excuse.

Though looking at it now, I had quite a lot of free time before Alicia and Fate were born. There was no way I could come back to work in this dusty office while caring for the two full time. At best I could only do some side projects for a short amount of time each day at the moment.

"But do you really have a choice? The work load's only going to get even greater as the duties of the Hunter's Guild expands along with the population and the demand for the dungeon materials."

"Haaa...it's true. Maybe I should open up recruitment again."

Peitho's expression though looked like she really didn't want to do it though.

"So, why did you decide to come? It's not to show off your daughters ability to suck on your teats, is it?"

"How rude! They're amazing at it, you know!"

I raised the two up in my arms as I straightened my back a little, giving her a better look as they adjusted their posture in my arms.

"I'm joking! I'm joking!"

But I quickly returned back to my previous posture under the hail of Peitho's glare.

Though it was true I wanted to show them off. Alicia and Fate were so cute!

"The truth is that I wanted to talk to you about this."

Opening a hole to one of my personal pocket dimensions, a little figurine floated out and landed on the Hunter's Guild's master's desk.

"This is?"

"It's the thing we've been working on the last little while. We call it Goddess's Realm, and it's a new game where you control these little golems and fight each other."

The golem I handed her was wearing a green tunic and miniskirt, with brown knee high boots and a leather breast plate of the same shade. It sported long blonde hair and pointed ears to go well with the feminine features. In its hand was a bow, and on its belt was both a dagger and a large quiver.

"...It looks like me."

"Well, we needed inspiration, and you're the only elf I know."

"Elves aren't the only good archers you know."

It was true, but amongst those of this country, not many were actually good with the bow. In general, each race had their own that they preferred, so those that used the bow were the oddities.

"What's your highest weapon skill?"

"...The bow..."

I looked at the woman in surprise. I actually didn't think she was any good at the bow and was just trying to make a joke.

To think it backfired in such a way.

"Well, in that case, isn't it even better that the one I'm giving you is armed with one? It's not like the golems can use magic."

It was a problem which we were trying to solve. But in the first place, magic relied much more heavily on skills being as it was far more complicated a procedure compared to using weapons. I couldn't say I was too confident that we could make the golems ever use magic. Even if they could, there was the issue of using the already limited supply of mana that could be streamed into the golem bodies.

"Here, you can practice using it on this."

I floated over a small board fifty centimetres by fifty centimetres with a pair of half orbs in the corner. It was the final prototype we made to confirm everything was working before making the upscaled full-sized tables and control chairs. We've been thinking of releasing a production version of these little boards so people could practice moving their golems without the need to use the large tables, but that was for the future once we satisfied the immediate demand for both golems and tables.

After a little bit of fiddling around and some basic instructions, Peitho was able to make the little golem stand and walk, even if it was a bit unsteady.

"Amazing. So this is what you've been working on lately."

The little doll tripped on itself, but despite being a lump of metals and stones, it fell with its arms splayed out like a real person, reacting just how Peitho probably would have reacted under the same circumstance.

It was cute watching how peoples' little habits came out in the way the dolls moved.

"So why me?"

I looked at Peitho, not quite sure what she meant by that question.

"Why did you bring it to me? Is it to show it off or something?"

"Ah, no. Rather, it's kinda a thank you. Frankly speaking, I'm really grateful for everything you've been doing the last year or so. I know the work's hard and the money isn't exactly rewarding since I'm guessing it's just boring a hole in your pockets, right?"

"Well, true..."

She was really like me in some ways. Though the reason why she didn't spend much money had more to do with not having much time to spend it rather than having a lack of things to spend it on like it was for me.

"I thought you'd enjoy playing around with it on your spare time."

(If you had any, that is.)

"And who knows. Once you get decent at moving it around, maybe it could be a nice form of stress relief to go and play some matches against some people."

In the end, it was a game, and games were an excellent way to relieve some stress.

"I see. In that case, thank you."

Peitho carefully placed the board and golem off to the side of her desk, apparently done playing with it for the meantime.

"Well, maybe this would be better for a thank you then?"

A bit discouraged from the lacklustre response, I pulled out something different this time: a steaming bowl of katsudon.

"Bring that out first next time!"

With a loud growl of her stomach to match the growl in her voice, Peitho quickly grabbed the bowl and dug in like a person possessed.

All I could do at the sight of her sloppy smile as she chewed was give off a wry grin of my own.