Hello, friends.
Sorry for the lack of chapters.
You can still catch me on Journalister, as I update the story there at least once every two days(currently, it's at Dawn.)
University life, know what I'm sayin'?
Well, anyway-- have some NidexDylon yaoi!
Okay, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, geez.
NaitoxNiana is a legit thing and I don't really plan on changing that.
At least for now.
You guys have a say in this, y'know?
I SHIP AYA AND REINA AND THAT'S FINE.
Fun fact! It is around these parts that I started making up some quotes on the spot, planning on making use of them as a basis for the chapter. They're like a "subject", making it easier for me to write.
Just a tip.
Part 1
"...This is legal, isn't it?" I asked long nose once again.
Just making sure.
"Of course, milady. This business has been approved by the king himself."
Long nose's assurance was accompanied by a deep bow.
"I see." I didn't even look at him during the entirety of the exchange.
I lifted my dress a little bit and knelt down to reach the bunny girl's eye level.
"What is your name?"
"..."
The girl didn't respond and she only looked at me blankly.
It was then that long nose interjected,
"Ah, milady... the nehorunes do not receive their names until their tenth birthday.
That child is only seven, if I recall..." He placed his hand on his chin, as if contemplating.
Stop that.
For some reason, it makes me want to hit him.
That smug face...
Grr... In any case, tenth birthday? Is that so they can be named in accordance to their attitude?
That's rather inconvenient for them.
"I see." I don't really mind if she's unnamed.
I'll just have to name her.
Yes, yes. I'm good at that.
I stood up.
"Bunny." I muttered.
"Your name is Bunny." I said once again.
"...Bu... nny..." Bunny lightly parrotted my words and she nodded once.
Just at this moment, I caught long nose staring at me.
What, you have something to say about my naming sense?
Haah?!
"What is it? Do you think it's strange? ...It doesn't matter, I like it." I said, a little bit annoyed.
Long nose only smiled wryly, "Ah, no, milady. The name certainly is unique, but... perhaps you could purchase it before giving it a lovely handle..."
"Oh." Surprised by his words, I found myself blushing.
H-How... embarrassing...
"R-Right. My apologies. So, e-erm... the price, then."
I'm not avoiding his gaze.
I'm not...! Geez...
"I regret to inform you, milady... but perhaps you do not have enough. This little one is worth fifty gold coins. Nehorunes are not only agile and efficient wielders of magic, they are also an endangered species. Keke... looks like their patron goddess has abandoned them..." Long nose released his annoying laugh as he spoke.
...Can I kill him? He keeps calling Bunny "it".
Urgh... whatever.
"Just fifty gold, right? No problem."
I threw a sack containing a hundred gold at him and he caught it with both hands.
"That contains a hundred. Do you have another child like her? ...Preferrably younger. A girl."
Slavery is commonplace here, I get it. I must... find them a good home, right?
But what will I do, take them home with me? But, father...
Oh I'll just wing it!
"Erm... milady..." Long nose spoke in a nervous whisper.
"What is it?" I responded.
"M-M-M-M-My ap-apologies, but t-that is our most expensive slave a-at the moment... I-I'm afraid we have no other ones that could match her..."
I didn't understand what he was implying at all.
Long nose was a stuttering train wreck, shaking as he peeked inside the sack full of gold.
Fed up, I gave him my conditions.
"Fine. I will buy four others with the rest of the gold. If there's still some in excess, you will keep it with the condition that it must be used for the other slaves here." ...At least keep them in better cages. The poor things...
Better rough him up a bit first.
"If I find out that it hasn't been used to help them--" as I spoke, bright purple flames circled around my feet.
"Eeeeek! Y-Yes! Yes, milady! As you say!" The man got on his knees and bowed down.
H-Hey... stop that...
I snapped my fingers once and the flames disappeared instantly, leaving nothing behind.
Oh whoops... I left a charred trail on the ground.
I turned around to look at Bunny only to see Lyra, white as a sheet.
Oh no! D-Did I scare her?!
I showed Lyra a reassuring smile as I helped Bunny stand.
"It's fine, I won't hurt you."
There aren't any rabbits in this world, are there?
If there are, I haven't seen any yet...
Maybe I should pick a different name...
"Bunny... I... I am Bunny..."
The white-haired girl looked at me with her dull, red eyes.
A small smile appeared on her face.
Was it an illusion that the emptiness in her eyes had been replaced with a little bit of light?
I guess... I'll never know.
But the name... she seems to like it so I'll keep it for now.
Part 2
I was introduced to five girls.
There was one child with long brown hair that reaches the ground.
She has long ears and droopy, brown eyes.
Doggy.
A hound demi-human.
She's about four years old, the same age as Aya and she already had a name, Ran.
It looked like she still didn't trust me, however and she looked at the others in a warm way.
A sense of camaraderie towards the other slaves, maybe?
Another child had black hair and yellow eyes.
Her ears were almost the same as mine, except hers were styled like an elf's.
She had horns sticking out of her head and she had little black wings growing out of her back.
She also had a cute tail.
Long nose said she was a succubus judging from those characteristics, but I don't know since I haven't met any so far.
They say succubi don't have caring parents, so she didn't have a name.
In the end, I named her Reina.
...I scolded myself for almost naming her B*tman.
The third child was an actual elf.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
She looked about four years old, but long nose said she was just a bit older than Bunny.
I also read in father's library that the Taifo race, the elves of this world grow slowly and lived up to 250 years.
She wasn't born with the racial ability of demons, the gift of tongues like Reina, so she doesn't understand what language I'm speaking in.
She seemed to understand that I was... adopting her, however as she excitedly introduced herself as,
"Patrice!" before smiling elegantly, her long yellow-green hair fluttering.
Oh my~
The last child was a sleepy one.
A blondie who seemed to be afraid of the dark.
She had clear, blue eyes.
How pretty~
She was a normal rovietal named Anna, six years old.
I looked at long nose suspiciously and questioned why a normal child was being sold as a slave here.
He averted his gaze and reasoned out that her father was a criminal and her mother was long gone.
At her father's execution, she was taken as a slave.
...Why not an orphanage?
Well, at least she's with me now.
Now then.
I gathered the five girls and walked out of the tent with Lyra, not saying another word to long nose.
Look at all these colorful heads!
There's brown, black, yellow, yellow-green and white. Add Aya's blue-green and... Oh I should've asked if they had any Rines, she could've been the red ranger.
Is there even a brown one? Erm...
I handed each of them a paperbag containing a dozen of the sweet bread.
Poor Lyra's been carrying them the entire time.
The children adorably nibbled at the bread.
I found it adorable, but then, suddenly--
sniffle... sob...
Anna had started crying.
"Waahhhhh~" (x5)
...Then everybody started crying.
The five of them all embraced me as they chewed and cried and gulped.
"Ran, Reina, Patrice, Anna, Bunny." I called out to them solemnly.
"I am Alice of the Icelance. If you can, please do not label me as your master. You may call me--"
"...Mother!"(Anna)
"E-Eh...? W-Wait, I--"(Alice)
"Mommy...?"(Bunny)
"Maamaa~" (Reina)
"Ma'~"(Patrice)
With the exception of Ran, the girls started addressing me as their mother.
With that as a starting point... I had six daughters.
Part 3
And that's how it came to this situation.
For some reason, Aya was in town accompanied by Kidnapper.
Of course, because the children were in rags I had bought each of them three sets of clothes.
They're girls, after all.
After I had left the tent, Lyra and I went to a public bathhouse and washed them all clean.
Ran seemed to enjoy the water most of all as she splashed around.
It was quite troublesome to wash her hair.
Anyway, the current situation, right?
"Aya has sisters?!" Aya looked shocked as she clung onto Kidnapper's shirt and looked at us.
Unfortunately for Patrice, who could only speak the sacred language of the Taifo, she could only look with a "What's going on?" expression.
I received Aya warmly, I hugged her tight.
She tried to separate so she could question me, but as soon as she did,
"Aya~ Say aaahh~" I instructed her to open her mouth and fed her some sweet strawberry bread.
"Sweet~" Aya smiled before quickly recalling what she was doing.
"Mama~ Aya has sisters...?" she asked with an absolutely baffled expression.
The other girls quickly hid behind Lyra as I carried Aya in my arms.
With one exception.
Anna approached Aya, so I let Aya down and watched them make their exchange.
"Hi! I'm Anna! I am... I am your new sister!" Anna beamed as she spoke to Aya.
As Aya was a simple being, Anna's bright personally soon infected her and she introduced herself as well.
"Hello, Anna~ Aya is Aya! Nice to meet you~" Aya smiled back at Anna.
Ah! I was right to find her some friends.
Later, all of them introduced themselves to Aya and to each other formally.
They all started playing, running around together and all that.
Kidnapper, Lyra and I followed quickly, getting tired in their place.
As a child, one does not need language to catch the other's attention and have fun, so even Patrice was giggling adorably as they all played.
Is that hide and seek?
...Ran will sniff you out, won't she?
Why make her the catcher?
It was then that out of nowhere, Lyra poked my arm.
"What is it?" I whispered in a soft voice that only we could hear.
point point
Following Lyra's finger, I turned my head.
There, Kidnapper stood with a smile as he watched the children.
Oh gods... kidnappers will be kidnappers.
I turn to look at Lyra, "I know, right? How creepy."
shake shake
Eh? What do you mean no?
Lyra then began making gestures with her hands.
[Talk! Talk!] her hand acted before she pointed at him once again.
I averted my gaze and spoke in the same quiet voice,
"B-But... I have nothing to talk about... and besides... we're both recovering from what happened last night, so..."
Growing smaller as I made excuses, I gave up when I saw Lyra putting her hands on her hips and huffing once.
"Okay, fine... I'll go already so don't scold me later..."
I walked towards Kidnapper--
"H-Hey, um... N-Nide... about yesterday..."
"A-Ah, right... yes, m'lady?"
Is my face red? I-Is it...? I hope not...
With useless worries like so, I apologized to Nide.
"They say heroes never die, and I agree.
The difference between a soldier and a hero--
is that a hero is dead.
And that is exactly it.
Heroes never die.
Heroes are born dead."