The Tsuia Family's Request

"So in other words, you want to attach a fiancé who can be cut off at any time to keep bad influences away from your cute young lady?"

"Exactly."

Vonodoru nodded in satisfaction.

Here's how the story went:

Thanks to the recent discovery of a certain tunnel, the lord of Pavera had been requesting Maiodoru's hand in marriage for his son. However, the rumors about Pavera's lord's son weren't good. He wanted to refuse, but he needed a reason to do so.

So he decided to attach a better fiancé as a pretext for refusing the engagement.

In other words, a feigned engagement rather than a fake marriage.

"If she had already been engaged, it would have been fine, but since the request came after that, I needed someone with enough prestige to serve as a reasonable excuse. On that point, Kehma-dono, you discovered that tunnel, you were the first to retrieve a magic sword from [Cave of Desires] after its transition phase and proved its usefulness, and you have a track record of developing and governing Golen Village."

I see, when you put it like that, it sounds impressive regardless of the actual circumstances.

Moreover, I'm not a lolicon. In other words, I'm the perfect candidate for a feigned engagement.

"However, there is one potential issue… the suspicion that you're attracted to young girls. Is that true?"

"It's not."

"But you bring Kuroinu-dono with you. And her name is… Niku, isn't it?"

"Kuro is an important member of my family. There are various circumstances regarding her name."

Suddenly, something soft started patting against my waist. When I looked, Niku's tail beside me was wagging back and forth. How soothing.

"Very well. But I want my daughter to remain pure until marriage. You understand?"

"Excuse me, but it sounds like you're proceeding on the assumption that I've already agreed. Am I imagining things?"

"Well, yes. But as a capable person, you understand what the advantageous move is, don't you? Naturally, I've prepared a sufficient reward. What do you say? Think of it as a quest, adventurer-style."

"I'm not particularly struggling for money, so I'd still like to decline if possible. I have my own circumstances."

"Well then, how about some information on a divine treasure? About a divine tool called the Divine Pillow."

"… Mm, mmm. W-well, maybe I could hear you out a bit more?"

The lord's information-gathering ability is formidable. He knew what I wanted… Wait, come to think of it, I did tell the Adventurer Guild that I'd buy any information about the Divine Beddings. Maybe that's the route?

But this is information about new bedding (divine tool). It's not a duplicate this time. I want it.

Up until now, it had been hard to refuse the forceful Vonodoru while trying to stay humble, but if that's the reward, I'm willing to let him lead the conversation a while longer.

"It's nothing difficult. Just lend me your name for about a month."

"A month?"

"Yes. That's all I need to properly refuse Pavera. What do you say? Just one month."

Just then, there was a knock and a maid came in. She whispered something into Vonodoru's ear.

Vonodoru nodded with a "hmm."

"Kehma-dono. I've had a guest room prepared, so please stay the night. It would disgrace my name as lord to send you right back after expressly calling you here from Golen Village… Even with the new road, you'd arrive in the middle of the night if you left now, wouldn't you?"

Right, this is one of those "You wouldn't refuse my hospitality now, would you?" situations. I was sure I'd timed things to let me leave quickly… Did I space out longer than I thought while waiting?

What should I do? Wozuma told me not to upset him, and…

Well, I should probably accept for today… I do want the information about the bedding.

"Then I'll take you up on your offer."

"That's wonderful. Since it's such a rare occasion, please tell my daughter some adventurer stories later. That girl loves hearing about such things."

A feigned engagement for just a month might be acceptable.

With the Divine Bedding dangled in front of me as bait, that's how I was starting to feel.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"Goshujin-sama."

"Hm?"

When I arrived at the guest room prepared for me, Niku quietly approached. Then she whispered softly.

"… We're being watched."

"Hmm."

Niku subtly pointed at the wall. She pointed in a way that couldn't be seen from the other side of the wall.

… So there's surveillance. Well, it makes sense to want more information about someone who might become your daughter's fiancé, but it doesn't feel great.

I'll play a little prank.

I sat down on the spacious sofa in the guest room. I sat with my back to the wall.

"Niku, come here."

"…! Yes."

Niku seemed to grasp my intention and sat in the same position as me.

She leaned back against me, fitting snugly inside the space in front of me. Nice fit.

We were well-practiced at this from her being my hug pillow night after night.

"Nn… haah, Goshujin-sama."

"Good girl, good girl."

I tickled and stroked Niku all over, squeezing her occasionally for some skinship.

Each time, Niku let out little sounds like "ah" or "haa."

… Huh? This is a bit different from what I imagined. I was thinking more along the lines of showing off how I play with my pet to make whoever's watching feel silly for monitoring us.

"No, no, it must look like a parent and child from the outside… Right, Niku and I are family. So it's fine!"

"… Parent… and child… Otou… san?"

Whoa, my kid is so cute. Let me pet her more.

… Is this why the suspicions of me being a lolicon keep accelerating? Well, whatever. My kid is cute, cute is my kid. Wait, she didn't turn into a Succubus, right?

"Mmm～"

Niku rubbed her body against me. She really is like a dog. Good girl.

Since we're being watched, we can't really talk about anything anyway. Just as I was thinking I'd keep doting on Niku until someone came to call us, there was a knock at the door.

"Kehma-sama, it's Maiodoru. May I come in?"

"Ah, one moment please… Yes, come in."

I had Niku sit beside me and called Maiodoru in.

The door opened slowly and elegantly, and Maiodoru entered along with one maid. That's her attendant, I suppose. Maiodoru sat on the sofa facing mine, while the maid remained standing diagonally behind her.

"Now then, what can I do for you, Maiodoru-sama? Ah, you wanted to hear about my adventures, was it?"

"Yes, I'd like to learn more about you, Kehma-sama… Um, please call me Mai."

"No, I'm just a humble adventurer."

Maiodoru said that while placing her hand on her chest. That's the thing, right? Where close acquaintances call you that way.

"We're engaged—well, candidates for engagement, so we have that kind of relationship."

"… Then I'll call you Mai-sama."

"Could you drop the '-sama'?"

"Mai-sama also addresses me with '-sama.' We're even."

Refuse once, then offer a compromise. Yeah, that seems like an appropriate response.

Now then, time to tell her about my adventures — or so I thought, but come to think of it, I haven't really done much adventurer-like adventuring.

Toilet cleaning, deliveries, rabbit hunting, and dungeon stuff are about all I've done. And more than half of it I can't tell anyone about. Maybe I should just make something up…

"Well, to be honest, we haven't done much adventuring that's actually adventurer-like, so there isn't much I can tell you. I do know some stories I've heard from other adventurers though. Would that be alright?"

Mai seemed to take a liking to the Momotaro story, the one where I skipped the birth-from-a-peach part.