Later that night, just before I entered the room, I noticed the girls were waiting for me. They were all kneeling on the ground with their heads lowered. I cautiously walked over to them and sat down on the bed. The girls present were Lydia, Miki, Celeste, Terra, Shao, Salicia, and Carmine.

“Okay, what is this about?” I asked.

“Master, we’ve been doing a lot of thinking the last day, and we’ve all decided to leave,” Lydia spoke quickly.

I maintained my calm. “Oh?’

“It’s just, after the battle with the demon lord, we’ve all come to realize something. We’re not strong.”

“That’s… not true.” I frowned.

They were the strongest women I knew. They had even left the armies in awe over their strength.

“We should say that… we’re not strong enough,” Miki added. “For me, it took everything I had to make sure that the demon lord died. If I was a stronger spiritualist, I wouldn’t have had to continuously keep the barrier on him until he died. Every time he tried to pull that bond apart, it felt like I was being ripped apart. If I had slipped up, then all of our sacrifices would have been for nothing.”

“But… you didn’t slip up?” I frowned.

“Master, it’s more than just the demon lord. We believe that eventually, Master might face greater threats, and we need to be strong enough to face them.” Lydia spoke up.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“We weren’t able to save Master. In the end, you had to self-sacrifice both of your bodies to finally stop him.” Miki continued. “It worked out okay this time, but what about next time. We need to become better.”

“You’ll level up faster in my care.” I reminded them of my experience bonuses.

“There are some parts of growth beyond levels and experience,” Terra explained. “There are things we need to learn, and we can’t do that under Master’s protection. The bonuses you give to our status make us feel powerful, but it is a power we borrow from you. We need to become powerful on our own.”

“I… see…”

I could only understand too well. We had all earned jobs and levels far faster than this world was designed for us to do it. Some things needed time. They needed to become used to their abilities and grow comfortable using them.

“Master is also outdistancing us,” Carmine added.

“What?” I raised an eyebrow.

“You said it earlier in the hot spring,” Shao said. “You’re changing. You’re growing. We need to change and grow as well, or we’ll never be able to be worth being by your side.”

“You sent us out as a group once.” Celeste continued. “But the truth is, depending on each other keeps us from being able to work on our weaknesses. For example, I learned that as a mana creature, my mana is just far too weak. I wouldn’t have dispersed so quickly in that fight if I had properly trained my body to handle the high-level spells I was depending on.”

“You all feel this way?” I asked.

“We do.” Lydia nodded her head. “When you split your body apart, you were able to see your weaknesses clearly and turn them into strengths. You were able to build the army in the same way. We need that as well. We wish to split up, so that we can see where our weaknesses lie and become a team that is powerful for master, alone or together. Master, please allow us to leave and get stronger.”

As she said this, all of them lowered their heads even more. It seems like my girls had given this a lot of thought. Part of me wanted to hold them close. I wanted them near me at all times so that I could protect them, and perhaps so they could protect me too. They made their point though. I had to give them the room to grow into their own.