“Wh-what? Why?”

I never thought myself a prideful man, but suddenly, hearing that Ruby didn’t want to adventurer with me felt like a slap in the face. I had called her big sister, and she had even soothed me when I was at my worst, after Lydia had been taken. I had considered her a friend, and I felt betrayed. It wasn’t like I expected every woman to fall in love with me, but… isn’t that what happened?

“W-why?”

“Ah… my lad… it’s just, she doesn’t agree with your methods. In the report, she called you reckless. She said that too many of your plans were dangerous, and that… well… I’m not going to say everything she said. The point is, she’s too scared to want to travel with you.”

“E-even so… if… I mean… as an Adventurer…”

“She’s retired.”

“What?” I jerked up with those words.

“She is no longer an Adventurer. Shortly after she came back, she put in her retirement. She’s applied to be the vice-guild master. I never needed a vice-guild master before, but with new Chalm growing bigger every day, the work has been a bit overwhelming.”

I didn’t know what to say. I had thought our relationship was going great. It was true, she had snapped at me numerous times, and we had several arguments over how to do things. However, once I had shut her down a few times, she had been much quieter and was willing to go along with everything! Wait… that actually sounded bad. Well, at least everything turned out fine, I had only led them to death once, and then there was the time we almost all died and my soul was ripped asunder…

I was beginning to realize why she might have been upset at me. However, all of the other girls were fine with my behavior, weren’t they? Was this the difference between someone enslaved to me and someone who wasn’t? Was that how much the bonds smoothed over? For the first time since the Capital, I was starting to feel like maybe all the girls around me didn’t really want to be with me anymore. I felt panic. I needed them. I couldn’t lose them. Even Carmine had been too much.

“C-can I at least see her? I mean… to apologize?”

The Guild Master sighed. “Just, give it some time, my lad. She’ll calm down with time. As I said, she doesn’t hate you, she just needs some time to evaluate things. Honestly, it’s been a long time coming, I think. Most Adventurers, when they reach a certain age, contemplate where they see the rest of their lives going. For women, it’s a bit younger than men, because they have their child rearing days are coming close to an end.”

“I could have her children!” I said.

He made a strange face. “Maybe you should just go…”

I found myself walking away with my head down. Did I really just propose that big sis and I had babies? I had two pregnant women right now I didn’t know what to do with, and I wanted to make another girl pregnant just so she’d like me? What the heck was happening to me?

Although I was supposed to meet the girls in ten minutes, I found myself heading in a different direction. I ended up in the basement of the mansion, where I took a secret path leading into the dungeon. Knocking on the door situated between the dungeon and my mansion, the door opened a few moments later.

“Deek? How rare of you to com- mmm!” As soon as Elaya opened the door, I grabbed her and kissed her.