"Ryou!

　An impressed Tina dives straight into my chest.
　I let go of Stella's hand and hold her tightly.

''Uhhhh~, Ryou~!
Tina I'm sorry.

　Tina is sobbing.
　I pat her back as gently as I can.

"Don't cry, baby, don't cry.
Oh, Shinji. I'm sorry. Mom's fine.

　........Mom, hey.
　Tina turned to the child who clung to her feet and wiped a tear with her cuff.

'Speaking of which, who are these people?'

　Tina looked at the wives after a quick reunion event with me.

'Yeah. These guys--'

　.... hmm?
　Wait a minute.
　This is a pretty bad situation, isn't it?

　I'm going to stop for a while.
　There we go. Let's all be calm and clear about this.

　First of all, Tina doesn't know anything about my harem.
　This is only natural, because I met Tina before the current harem system was built.
　It was even before "Eva's Oddity" where a total of 13 b*tc*y bad girl wives were released, where the harem rules were laid down by Eva. As I recall, when I was in this world, I didn't even have a sealing bead, and I must have been an adolescent who was just a tenguy with a canned soul ladder (level).
　In a manner of speaking, I would be the fourth person in the order, but Tina was only the first wife of the first period, before the rules were established.

　In other words, if I continued to introduce Itsuna and the others as my wives, it would be an unnecessary shock to Tina.
　Some people might say that it's sincere to be honest about everything, but I have a different opinion. I think the only thing that would make you feel better is your petty conscience to be honest about your affair or affair. I'm just saying, don't be so distressed by such things that you don't want to betray them in the first place.
　In this case, however, I thought I was completely done with Tina. Because until I took care of Tina, we were going to spend the same amount of time together, and then I was summoned by a surprise fulfillment of my pledge, and after thousands of years of trial and error... I finally couldn't go back.
　I never thought that we could meet again after so much of my subjective time had passed.
　No it seems like thousands of years ago to me, but from the looks of Tina, it seems like only about five years have passed in this world.
　For this long, Tina could have been waiting for me to come back. Of course, she could have made a new man and blown me out of the water a long time ago. As far as I'm concerned, that's more comforting, but either way, Tina is not at all at fault, and talking about the current harem is taboo. Even if I were to talk about it, it's not the time.

　While informing the wives of the current situation to some extent, the answer that would make it easier for them to adjust to our conversation and also break the situation is.......
　.........Okay, let's do this.
　Time stop lifted.

"These people.........are.......guests.

　Ituna and Sianne jerked at my answer.

'Sir?'

　Tina is upset.

'Yes. I met her on the road and brought her here today.

　I'm not lying.
　I'm just not explaining everything.

'You should have come through the front door then.
That's fine. So, since we're not going to stand around and talk, let's get inside.　I'll take my guests to the front, so be ready.
Oh, hey!

　He pushed Tina back somewhat forcefully and drove her toward the kitchen door.
　I pushed her to the other side of the door, as well as the child who was attached to her together.

'Whew. That was close.

　When I took a breath and turned around, I saw my wives all together glaring at me with zit eyes.

'Sakahagi-san?'
Well you're not going to push rule number three in this particular instance, are you?
Nee-cha. Furin?　A real-life wife?

　I put on a desperate sales smile while being driven inch by the wall.

''Yes, welcome, travelers. Welcome to 'Nesting Wings Pavilion'!



　Nesting Wing Pavilion.
　It is one of the inns in the inn town on the road stretching from the royal capital.
　Not to mention adventurers, merchants, and villagers who come to pay taxes, all kinds of people use the inn town.
　Among them, the Winged Pavilion was said to be a popular inn with delicious food.

　However, one day... the owner of the inn is run over by a carriage and never returns home.
　The owner's daughter takes over the inn, but her mother died when she was very young, and she is left alone to run the inn.
　The innkeeper had left her with the recipe for the ingredients, but he had no idea how to prepare the food except in his mind. Despite his daughter's best efforts, the number of guests was dwindling.

　Other inns take over the business, and in the blink of an eye, Tsubatei falls into disuse.
　The daughter, despondent but unable to give up the inn that her father had left her, decides to see if he had left behind any cooking methods in the storeroom.
　As it turned out, there was no such thing, but the daughter found another item instead.

　A handbook of summoning techniques.
　It was a grimoire with various magic circles written on it.
　Why was there such a thing? I don't know now.

　But the girl who was hoping to rebuild the inn was a white enough thing to summon me.
　I was summoned in a small storeroom, and while struggling with my daughter, I descended into this world.

''........I see. I understand most of the story.
So the innkeeper's daughter is Tina, is that right?

　I nodded back to Cianne and Ituna as I sat down at the dining room table in the nesting wing pavilion and explained the situation to my wives.

I nodded to Sianne and Ituna, "Well, that's what I thought. You know, don't say unnecessary things to Tina. Especially when it comes to wife-related topics, it's strictly forbidden.
All right. I'm not interested in your old girl anyway.
Aye!

　As if Cianne didn't care about my reminder, Stella raised her hand cheerfully.
　However, Ituna is the only one who doesn't reply and gazes back into my eyes.

'Hey, is that okay with you, Sakahagi-san?

　I see your point, Ituna.

　I mean that I won't tell her about my situation.
　I mean, once again, I won't add her to my harem and let her accompany me on my journey.
　And I'm not going to stay in one world.
　And I will not stay in one world, even if the woman I once loved is there.

Yeah, that's fine.
Yeah. Okay.

　When I answered immediately, Ituna easily withdrew.
　Her expression is sluggish, without her usual smile.

''Well, I'm going to go talk to Tina for a bit.
Yeah, go ahead.
Have a nice day!

　Sianne and Stella saw me off and I headed to the kitchen where Tina was.
　Ituna was the only one who didn't say anything, she remained prone.



　After bowing, I walked into the kitchen and a sense of nostalgia filled my heart at a scene I had seen so long ago.
　Although the arrangement of the utensils has changed slightly, I almost sobbed with joy as I felt like I was being welcomed back to a scene that had been burned into my mind.
　I was able to hold back my emotions because of Tina's eyes as she adjusted the heat on the pot.

'Tina,'
Oh, Ryou!

　Tina's face flushed with joy as she turned around.

'Okay, watch the pot. Can I help you with anything else?
No, that's okay. I'm almost done with this one.

　The contents of the pot look like hashed rice.
　This was one of the dishes I had invented to rebuild the inn.

'I was just going to take a break. Oh, do you want a cup of tea?
I'll take it.

　The two of us moved to the modest common room and sipped our tea.
　Meanwhile, neither I nor Tina opened their mouths.
　The words don't come out. But this time is not unpleasant at all. It's more of a time of just being here now, which I can't quite get to, even if I tried.
　I wonder what it's like for her.
　I can't help but complain about the old man who showed up now, and which side of me he's coming from.

'I'm so glad you're alive,'

　I had no idea that he would say that to me.
　Because I don't remember my current wives ever worrying about my life either.
　But that's for sure. If you think about it, we hadn't heard from him in years, so it's not surprising that he might be dead.

'It's funny. There are so many things I wanted to say to you. I can't get it out of my face.
Yeah.

　Tina's tone of voice is unfailingly gentle.
　I'm sure she has something against me, but she doesn't even try to say it.

I'm sure you're not the only one. I've been having a hard time since you disappeared, but everyone in town helped me out, and thanks to the recipes you left me, I was able to run the inn. I'm finally getting used to life without you...

　After saying that much, Tina suddenly burst into tears.

'Oh, I see. This is real, isn't it? It's not a dream, right?
I'm not dreaming. I'm right here.

　Tina looked me straight in the eye as I wiped away the tears.

'Can I ask you something?　Where the hell have you been?　What have you been doing?

　...Well, I didn't tell Tina about my situation.
　I knew I had to tell her someday, but finally I couldn't tell her.
　I regretted it so much that I forgot I even regretted it for so long.
　I won't make the same mistake.

'I've been summoned to another world.

　That I was originally summoned to Tina by the wish to rebuild the inn.
　That if she fulfilled her wish, she wouldn't be able to stay in the same world.　
　That she was too happy every day to speak the truth.
　I was not summoned to rebuild the inn even though I was on the verge of rebuilding it, so I let my guard down.
　Then one day, he tells her that he was suddenly summoned and separated from Tina.

'That was it. It was hard on Ryou too...''

　I didn't need to use my abilities to get Tina to believe me.
　Oh, yes, she did. She had always been this kind of girl.
　Kind and good-natured, falling for this bastard of a man.

I'm so glad she didn't just leave me in disgust.
Of course not. I was going to live in the world with you. But I was still trying to figure out all the rules of the vows. I'd go to the inn and cook every day and have my guests tell me how good it was. That was all I really wanted to do back then...

　This world had all the human peace I could ever want in a human being.
　I have a home to go home to, friends to laugh with, and a companion to love.
　At least for me, this is not a 'different' world.

Hey, can I ask you one question too?
What?

　I decided to ask her what was on my mind.
　Tina nodded her head, looking completely relieved.

'That girl who called you mom?'
'Yeah, that's right. Ryou's child. His name is Shinji.

　I guess he didn't doubt that I would be happy about it,
　Tina said with a smile.

'I see,'

　I barely managed to form a smile at the corners of my mouth, and I didn't let her down.

''Aren't you happy?''

　Still, he sees that I'm not sincerely surprised or happy, and he looks into my face with concern.

'How could I not be? How could I not be happy about a child with Tina?

　I'm not lying.
　I'm genuinely happy that I was having a child.
　It's not the first time I've had to carry my wife or some random woman in the area to begin with.
　It's the quickest way to make your wish to have a child come true, and it's also the quickest way to use pregnancy magic to make it happen.
　I'm sure the genes I have left behind are sprouting up in various other worlds, so I'm not surprised or uncomfortable with the fact that I have a child or two now.
　It's just a reminder that I'm not qualified to be a father because I can't be with my children.

　But that's not what I'm worried about this time.

"Tina. This time it was Shinji who summoned me.
What?
I'm sure of it. When I came back, she was the only one nearby.

　It's the same as it once was.
　The magic circle on the example grimoire that was stored in that shed - though probably Cianne had erased the entire shed without a trace - and the pledge child playing nearby. The same thing had happened before.

'Do you have any idea what that child's wish was?'
Oh, you're going to leave me, you're going to leave us again?

　Tina backs away from my serious questioning.

'Calm down. I need to know if you're going to make it or not. Otherwise, it's going to be like what happened to you.

　I put my hand on Tina's shoulder and stare into her eyes.
　Unlike those b*tc* wives who were hunting around wildly after being separated from Tina, she is very understanding. If she can communicate her sincerity, she can talk properly and understand each other.
　So even if you don't use magic or cheat abilities, you can kind of guess what she's thinking by looking at her eyes.

'Tell me. You somehow know what you're thinking.

　Tina didn't turn her face away from my pursuit, but swept her gaze over.

　Me and Tina's kid, Shinji's wish.
　If it's at least a wish to have someone to play with, like the kids one day, I can handle it.
　I'm not going to say that I'm going to take the shortest route this time or anything wild. If you want, you can imitate your father until he's satisfied.

　That's what I was thinking.
　It's a good idea.

I'm sure you're not the only one who's been through this. I'm sure you're not the only one. I haven't told Shinji that you're my father. I had hoped that you would be the one to tell him.

　No, I'm sure I sensed it myself, and I'm sure I felt it too thinly.
　When Tina stopped running away from my gaze and looked up, I decided to prepare myself, too.

'I'm sure that what she wants is to see her father and talk to him.

　That this world will be the greatest test of existence for Ryoji Sakahagi.