A second after we returned through Akagi-sama’s gate, I was met with a rather displeased battleship, aiming her guns at me.

Why?

Because right behind me were two rather pretty girls, one of which looked completely unfamiliar to me.

“M-my dear sister… It can be explained…!” I raised my hand to stop her.

‘-1 Bond’

“S-so, erhm… I needed a… a v-very good pathfinder… a-and t...”

‘-1 Bond’

While I was shedding tears in my mind, Bretagne’s face was getting darker and darker.

It would’ve turned even worse, if not for the petite Kasumi stepping forth.

“Greetings. May Eastern gods bless thee. Thy Lord willed it that we put our efforts into fulfilling thy mission. This humble miko shalt be in thy care.” Unlike the carefree girl I used to know, this Kasumi was way more refined. To the point Bretagne’s focus shifted to watching the teenager miko’s movements.

‘Bang’

While two battleships were mesmerized by Kasumi, the back of my head was hit with a fist.

“I have no idea what happened, so let’s get it straight: is this… lady (?) – the little bastard we were dealing with for so long?” I glanced at Elina.

She too underwent a huge transformation, turning from a toothless granny into a teen. Bypassing her 30s in the process. The muscles she built up in that time also appeared to be lost, as well as scars from the countless fights. If not for the full suit of leather armor, I wouldn’t even believe she is an adventurer.

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” Elina shook my shoulder while pouting.

‘Cute…’

“HA?!” She immediately started back.

“U-fu-fu~.” Kasumi’s refreshing giggle was cute too, but I already heard it many times before.

The only character here who was not involved at all was of course the fox.

The kitsune was simply rolling up her eyes, as if saying ‘when will they end it?’.

“Girls! Let us continue with the mission! We will go and search for the divine artifact, and then we will have all the time in the world to be chatting!” I turned towards the road and the setting sun, walking away in a cool way.

‘+1 Bond’

However, even though I went somewhere, I was completely oblivious of whether we are going in the right way. I already forgot where the machine town we encountered was, and asking for the right way was impossible. Asking the only goddess who knew would result in nothing.

We walked until the sun completely set, and only then we started preparing to camp for tonight.

“Maestro, it’s all yours.” I put a batch of firewood in front of Mommy Elina, leaving the campfire to her.

While I was gathering the supplies and Elina was clearing space, Bretagne and Kasumi were left to set up the tents. Aqua’s twin sister already disappeared nobody-knows-where, so we were going to have two tents.

[I wonder if I can cuddle to anybody but Bretagne…]

It was not that I disliked my sudden happiness of a sister, it was more about me wanting to make up with my wives. But there was a huge problem I couldn’t resolve: the bond points…

I went to find Bretagne, and probe whether she will be fine with me sleeping with somebody else. Searching for her didn’t take much time, as I found her praying in the nearby bushes.

I knelt like her, and pretended to pray too.

‘+1 Bond’

We continued praying until she was done.

“It is a great pity that we cannot dedicate much time to it.” I said to her, as if I was actually concerned about praying.

‘+2 Bond’

[?!]

“Sœur, if you wish, I can put even more zeal into praying to Lord! If we channel our fervor and double the efforts, I am sure we will make up for it!” Bretagne overwhelmed me in a second by clutching onto my hands. Her eyes were giving some ‘crazy’ vibes of a hardcore sectarian.

[A note for myself: do not say bad things about religion. Ever.]

“Your heart is already in flames from being so fervent. You better calm it down, otherwise you will start making mistakes~.” I tried to reason her, even for a bit, but I never expected what would happen afterwards…

‘+5 Bond’

[?!]

[What a simpleton. I guess…?]

I raised the bond so much that I even wondered whether I can drop her a hint that I want to sleep with somebody else.

[Wait a moment…? If it can be more than +/- 1, then… -20 is also an option…?]

While the doe-eyed Bretagne was oblivious of my pondering, she simply cuddled to me, cutting off all escape paths.

AFP_Writer

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