Isekai Chearem

Using cheats to build a harem in another world.

That sort of development is common enough in stories. Strictly speaking, only in stories, though.

However, setting aside cases of full reincarnation, getting into that kind of relationship with specific partners despite having the possibility of returning to your original world isn't exactly praiseworthy.

Even if you brought them back to Earth, practical problems would arise, like how to handle their legal documentation.

Especially in this case, bringing your partners to Earth would be harmful to both worlds.

… Well, to play devil's advocate, if there seemed to be no way home, one might decide to settle down in this world and integrate with the locals.

And now, the Hero of Ability Theft, Ichido Teru, was troubled.

In a large lodging facility built adjacent to the labyrinth. The two parties had entered one of its larger rooms, with Sei and Teru facing each other.

"… So basically, you need to go back."

Sei explained the situation without hiding anything.

Teru's party had been giving off a dangerous atmosphere at the start of the explanation, but by the time it concluded, they were simply silent.

And Teru himself also remained silent.

He had two choices—no, three if you counted precisely.

The first option was simply to return to Earth. The second was to refuse to return.

And if he chose the second option, a third option would automatically arise: being killed by Sei's group.

Unfortunately, the option of defeating Sei's group in return wasn't available.

Whether he had acquired them through Ability Theft or not, his stats were incredibly high for his level, but not enough to overcome the overwhelming gap in levels—and more importantly, skills.

The man himself was crossing his arms and pondering, but this wasn't something he should need to think about.

In reality, there was only one choice.

"There's no need to agonize over this," declared the large ogre woman definitively.

"There's no guarantee these people are telling the truth. Therefore, Teru should stay in this world."

It was an emotional opinion, as if she hadn't thought about it at all. But the dark elf girl, the weretiger woman, and the vampire girl who was fatigued from being out during the day all nodded in agreement.

Only the male kobold kept looking back and forth between Teru and Sei, but it wasn't an atmosphere where he could voice an opinion.

(I thought isekai chearems only existed in fiction… Wait, could it be that if I hadn't become a woman, I might have ended up thinking the same way?)

Sei casually glanced at Mako, Lavi, and Laila beside her.

With Sei's broken-level combat power, she could probably build a harem if she wanted to. But if she did that and delayed the heroes' return, Ria would probably punch her. She'd likely suffer enough to curse her own immortality.

"So your collective opinion is that you have no intention of obediently returning to Earth?"

Perhaps her thoughts had been reflected in her voice, because Sei's tone had grown somewhat cold.

The four women across from them had clearly hostile expressions.

Teru seemed troubled, but his thoughts were probably leaning more toward their side.

Was this going to be like when they fought the seven heroes—would they have to settle things through combat again?

The enemy's levels were close to 100, excluding the hero. Teru was similarly near 100, but his stats were roughly double that.

If they could appraise Sei, Mako, and Lavi's disguised and concealed statuses, it wouldn't be strange for them to think they had a chance of winning.

Still, a harem with various different species in another world, huh.

Realistically speaking, in Nears, only elves and dark elves could produce children with humans, so the vampire, ogre, and weretiger must simply be devoted to Teru for other reasons… Incidentally, orcs and goblins don't get aroused by human women. If one did, it would be a deviant.

Considering that demon races tend to find combat power attractive, perhaps they admired his fighting ability?

"Just because you came to another world doesn't mean you had to go building a harem, you know."

Sei spoke to Teru in Japanese, sounding somewhat exasperated.

"I didn't plan on it. I heard that racially speaking, humans can only have children with elf species. But now, it's already…"

"Huh? Didn't they say on TV that genetic manipulation could make crossbreeding with other races possible too?"

Mako chimed in with an unnecessary comment from the side.

Apparently, she had seen it on NKH (Nihon National Broadcasting) at Ria's house while Sei wasn't there.

And even without that, if you borrowed the power of the divine dragons, you could overcome racial differences.

Teru looked at his companions' faces. They must have been through a lot since being transferred here. A party with such unique races wouldn't have formed easily.

It had already been almost a year since being summoned to this world. It might not be unreasonable to consider giving up on returning and putting down roots here.

Unlike a certain novel's Dungeon Master, it would be difficult to have the determination to return home even if it meant conquering a labyrinth of over a thousand floors.

Even the heroes from 1,800 years ago were only able to return after the divine dragons desperately supported them.

If Teru had known from the start that he could easily return with Sei's Return Stone, he might not have gotten so involved with the people of this world.

"So basically, you can't give us an answer right away?"

Sei spoke in the local language again. She would prefer to fight during the day when the vampire couldn't use her full abilities, but even against a nighttime vampire, leaving it to Mako would ensure a perfect stall.

She'd leave the kobold to Bungol, have Gantz fight the ogre, Lavi handle the weretiger, and Laila face the dark elf.

With Kukuri as a roaming fighter and herself taking on the most troublesome hero, they probably couldn't lose.

According to Sei's Omni-Identify tactical analysis, their victory rate was extremely high. As for the hero's Gift, while powerful, it wasn't as unreasonable as Mako's or the other heroes'.

If they fought, they would win. There might be casualties, but since she had one resurrection promised by Irina, they could push a little.

Though she'd prefer not to have casualties on the enemy side either.

"Please wait until at least tomorrow."

Teru said that, but it was probably just a pretext to let his party recover their stamina after returning from the labyrinth and to make the vampire girl combat-ready.

"… Then I'll wait until noon tomorrow."

"… Noon, huh. Understood."

And so the two parties headed to different inns.

"Now then, let's prepare for their attack."

Sei said this as soon as they gathered in their room.

"Ane-deshi, they're going to attack us?" Bungol asked.

Sei answered.

"The vampire isn't combat-effective at this time of day. But if we wait until noon tomorrow, she still won't be combat-effective. I think they'll attack around midnight tonight."

Neither Sei nor Mako expected them to obediently return to Earth.

And if they weren't going to return, they would either run or try to eliminate the threat—but for fearless explorers, the former option wouldn't be on the table.

"Let's take a nap while we can. It'll be a hassle, but I'll keep watch from evening on."

If they obediently returned home after all this, it would be anticlimactic, but that would be fine too.

After eating and bathing, the group stood by in a large room in nearly full combat gear once evening passed.

It would be much easier to attack them first, but they wouldn't obediently return to Earth unless their spirits were broken.

That meant receiving their attack head-on and crushing them.

It would be ideal if there were no deaths on the enemy side, but with a vampire involved, careless restraint could result in casualties on their own side.

That's why she was leaving the vampire to Mako, who was similarly immortal.

The sun set, and the afterglow sank into darkness.

When even that faint light disappeared, the heroes' signals appeared on Sei's Map.

"They're here."

At Sei's words, the party leaped out through the window. Gantz's and Bungol's heavy equipment made a tremendous noise.

Ahead of the party, not too far away, stood the hero and his chearem members.

"All prepared and waiting for us, I see."

Teru said this as he raised his longsword. He had a small shield on his back just in case, but apparently his basic combat style didn't involve using a shield.

The shield bearer was the ogre woman. And facing her was Gantz, also a shield bearer.

The weretiger woman had transformed into a massive tiger beastkin. Facing her, Lavi remained in human form.

The vampire girl held curved swords in both hands, facing off against Mako and her spear.

It was almost exactly the formation Sei had anticipated. However, since the dark elf girl also readied her daggers, Kukuri would need to protect Laila.

"Just to confirm—you have no intention of returning to Earth?"

"… I do have some lingering attachments, but the scales have tipped this way."

"Then be prepared to lose an arm or so."

Teru charged at Sei, and the battle began.

The situation was balanced for only an instant before it collapsed.

First, Lavi punched the tiger beastkin hard in the head with her bare hands.

From that single blow, the tiger beastkin seemed to have a concussion—her footing was already unsteady.

The dark elf hurriedly moved to the front line, but Bungol, supported by Laila's spirit arts, stood against her.

The kobold and Kukuri were keeping each other in check and couldn't move.

Lavi mercilessly pressed her attack and stripped the tiger beastkin of her combat capability in no time.

Her next target was the ogre woman, who was evenly matched against Gantz.

Conclusion: Never make an enemy of a divine dragon-sama, even in human form.

This time, she knocked away the ogre's great shield with her mace, then punched the armor with her bare fists.

The armor dented, and the ogre woman collapsed on the spot.

Sei called out a warning to Teru, who stood wide-eyed and dumbfounded.

"Think you can afford to look elsewhere?"

Teru's sword was a magic sword, so it didn't break in a single clash with Sei's katana.

But the subsequent exchange was completely one-sided.

Sei's sword techniques were ever-changing. Her swordsmanship level, trained by Ria, allowed her to face opponents with superior stats with room to spare.

The dark elf's spirit arts apparently surpassed Laila's. But that advantage only lasted until Lavi joined the fray.

Lavi grabbed the spirit's power with her bare hands and crushed it. The dark elf girl's jaw nearly dropped at this absurdity, but Laila's spirit arts enveloped the dark elf in that opening.

It was a spell that worked on the mind, and apparently a quite powerful one—Laila was breathing heavily. But the dark elf girl had also collapsed where she stood.

"You—!"

Realizing the disadvantageous situation, the vampire girl launched a fierce attack on Mako. But Mako deflected it with a composed expression.

Even the vampire's point-blank magic was blocked by Mako's armor. Ordinary chantless magic couldn't penetrate Ria's equipment.

Mako's spear gouged into the vampire, and with each strike, magical blades gradually drained the vampire's life force.

Kukuri and Kobold-shi continued their stare-down.

The next bout to conclude was between Mako and the vampire.

The vampire's swords pierced Mako's side and right shoulder, and the vampire smiled.

But Mako smiled even wider.

The vampire's movements had stopped. In contrast, Mako had been wounded but could still move. For a human, it would be a fatal wound, but before the Gift of immortality, it was merely a scratch.

Mako's spear spiraled with magical power and pierced the vampire's abdomen.

Ordinary physical attacks barely worked on vampires. But Mako's attacks were packed with magical power.

The magic power repelled the magic power that constituted the vampire's body, and the vampire let out a scream.

"Isn't it about time to wrap this up?"

As Sei spoke with composure, Teru's expression twisted as he continued attacking.

Even with his power and speed increased through Ability Theft, he apparently had little experience in combat against people. Sei's sword techniques had Teru completely outmatched.

Shifting from continuous deflection to counterattack, Sei's katana made a shallow cut on Teru's left upper arm.

The only one of Teru's companions still standing was Kobold-san.

He continued to earnestly stare down Kukuri.

"Not yet!"

Teru continued to swing his sword while chanting, layering buffs on himself. But to Sei, who had been trained by Carla on the assumption of using chantless magic, it looked like nothing but pointless struggling.

Constructing debuff spells and dispel magic one after another, Sei unleashed a decisive strike.

Teru's right arm was severed at the wrist.

Teru didn't resist as recklessly as the Hero of Wrath had.

When your dominant hand is cut off, you normally give up. Game over.

Apparently the dark elf and vampire could use restoration-level healing magic, but he wouldn't show such an opening.

The battle was decided.