Some time after that night, I discovered that I was successfully impregnated.
The proof of the sex slavery curse that had been tattooed on the soles of my feet was completely gone. And when I checked my tag information, those damned labels were gone, and I felt as if I had been freed from a heavy shackle.
The first few days after I found out I was pregnant were difficult.
Not only would they not let me out of my room, but they also did not even let me get up from my bed. Hector-sama and Sebastian-san came over to take care of me.
When I was urged to even use a small toilet on top of my bed, I, as expected, raised my voice and firmly refused.
Even though Sebastian-san was afraid, he still said that it was ridiculous to let Hector-sama take care of me. However, Hector-sama was very adamant about it so it was no useâŠ
Moreover, Alberto-sama and Cyril-sama came to see how things were going on in secret, and I also received heartfelt words of congratulations from Gail-sanâs parents.
After some desperate pleading, I managed to get permission to go to work at the guild, although various conditions were placed on me.
The staff, including Alex-san, were taken aback by the frequency with which my two partners took turns coming to check on me.
But when I went to work at the guild today, I found someone with pinkish-blonde hair.
âMintz-san!!â
âAah, Chika-kun. Itâs been a long time. Itâs good to see you looking well. And have you put on a lot of weight? I see those two are taking good care of you.â
âYes, not only those two, but everyone has been so good to me! Iâm really happy right now andâŠâ
I canât help but tear up at Mintz-sanâs kind words, which I have missed so much.
âOh, please donât cry. You are really living happily. Besides, I heard you have a baby in your belly?â
âYes! Itâs Douglas-sanâs child! Honestly, I havenât felt it yet, but thereâs a new life growing inside meâŠâ
âFufufu, Chika-kun, you really do have a nice smile on your face now. But, itâs the branch managerâs child, huhâŠ? Um, sorry to ask about âthatâ, but is your body alright?â
I recalled that Mintz-san referred to Douglas-san as âthe stallion of the guildâ.
He must know something about Douglas-sanâs sexual prowess and his one-night stands.
âEh, yeah. Of course, it was all right! He was very gentle and he did what I wanted.â
âI see. Itâs a little hard to believe but⊠Well, if thatâs just like Chika-kun has said, then I guess thereâs no problem. Once again, congratulations, Chika-kun!â
âThank you very much. But more importantly, is Mintz-san doing all right?â
If we look closely, Mintz-sanâs stomach is already quite swollen.
It was supposed to take about a month to enter a stable period, but now it must be much longer than that.
âYes, the baby in my belly is completely stable by now. I think the baby will be born in less than a month. Actually, we were supposed to arrive here earlier, but the clean-up over there took longer than expectedâŠâ
âOh, by the way, is Paris-san here yet?â
âParis is still over there. He seems to have received a mountain of royal orders from the former king.â
âUm, maybe thatâs my faultâŠ?â
âNo, I donât think so⊠Even if it is, itâs something that had to be done at some point, so donât worry about it.â
âIâm⊠Iâm sorry.â
I feel like it must have been somewhat important, but itâs no use worrying about it now. Letâs just forget about it.
âWell then, all we have to do is wait for the baby to be born healthy, right?â
âYes, I know. But this baby inside me is strangely lively. I have a very bad feeling that he got it from GlennâŠâ
âOh, surely a child who looks like Glenn-san must be very healthy.â
I wonder who my child will look like.
âBy the way, I want to ask Mintz-san, as my senior in being a parent. In my case, I think I will have either a human or a lion child. I was wondering if the growth rate of these children is the same after birth?â
In my original world, a cub grows up quickly, while a human child grows up slowly and needs a lot of protection for a long period of time.
âAbout that, I have to admit that I donât know much about this. When I can already remember, I didnât even see many humans anymore. But Cyril-sama told me that human children grow up quite slowly.â
âThatâs right. Well, at least in my case. My mother told me it took me many times longer to grow up than my brother did.â
Alex-san suddenly appeared and entered the conversation.
âOh, isnât it Alex-sama? Itâs been a while.â
âMintz is as formal as ever, isnât he? I told him I was fine with just Alex. Anyway, I heard that compared to beasts, humans take a lot more time to grow up after birth. SoâŠ, well, itâs not a very pleasant story, but it seems that the human race that was forced to have children by the beastmen, even if they gave birth to the same human race, the beastmen could not raise them well, so their number decreased rapidly.â
Alex-sanâs words made sense to me.
It seems that the human race was also used as sex slaves, but many humans must have been used as tools to bear children for the beastmen.
If so, I was wondering why the number of humans was reduced even though there was a one-half chance that humans would be born.
The beastmen who would kidnap the human race to have children of their own would probably want children of their own kind and not those of humansâŠ
âOh, sorry, sorry. It has become a depressing story. Anyway, now that Mintz is back, grandfather suggested that we have a gathering at Chika-sanâs house today to celebrate your pregnancy. Do you both have any plans?â
âMy pregnancy celebration? I think youâve done enough already.â
âWell, I donât really have much to celebrate either.â
âWell, thatâs grandfatherâs excuse, isnât it? He wants to have more fun with Chika-san. If you could, would you please entertain him? I have to admit, Iâm looking forward to it too. It looks like General Virgil and the others, as well as my brother, will be joining us.â
If Virgil-sama and Rickham-sama are coming, it might be rude to turn this down.
âWhat do you think, Mintz-san? Iâm thinking that since thereâs the occasion, it might be nice to have a good time with everyone.â
âWell, Iâm a little concerned that there are too many VIPs, but itâs still an occasion. Iâll be happy to oblige.â
I am sure Mintz-san must be thinking the same thing I am.
âThank you, both of you. Actually, Iâve already talked to the other two participants and theyâve agreed. By the way, the participants are Chika-san, Gail, uncle, grandfather, brother, General Virgil and his partner, Mintz, and Glenn. Oh, of course, Iâll be there, too. Actually, father and mother wanted to be there too, but they had something they couldnât miss, so they were rather upset.â
I was surprised to hear that even the current king and queen were likely to attend, given the VIP lineup, but at the same time, I was a little relieved.
I am a commoner no matter where I goâŠ
âOh, by the way, it seems that Sebastian will do all the preparations. I heard that he is very excited because Chika taught him a lot of things the other day.â
I donât remember teaching him much. But that pork cutlet sandwich, huh?
Indeed, that one might be suitable for a party.
Sebastian-san is probably much better suited to making hors dâoeuvres than I am.
âThen, I will take Sebastian-san up on his kind offer. Gail-san and Douglas-san donât want me to hold the knife or use the fire right now, soâŠâ
âHow overprotective are those two!â
âNo, well, considering what happened to brother⊠no, sorry, I shouldnât mention this. Forget it, forget itâŠâ
The overprotectiveness of my two spouses since I became pregnant knows no bounds.
For the record, I should note that I am now going to work with the two of them no longer holding me like a princess.
âAh, grandfather said that everyone else will take care of the preparations, so Chika-san and Mintz-san are to spend some time in town with me before returning home.â
âYou guys are going to do this for me? I feel like all these people shouldnât be allowed to do that.â
âAlso, are those two overprotective guardians of Chika-kun convinced? For him to go home with only weak people like us.â
âYes. It seems that it was extremely difficult to persuade them. But grandfather seems to have managed to convince them that all of this was to please Chika-san and that he will send all of his escorts to guard Chika-san.â
EscortsâŠ
Maybe they are already around here somewhere?
I imagined something ninja-like and got a little nervous about what kind of people they might be.
âIn that case, why donât the three of us have a relaxing cup of tea and go home later today? Iâm sure we have a lot to talk about.â
Mintz-san smiled at me with that comment and I nodded my head in agreement.
âUnderstood! Then, Iâll ask someone else to pass the word and Iâll see you later.â
What a great opportunity! Letâs discuss that matter over a cup of tea with the two of them.
And then, we went about our business in the health department.
The day went by without incident and no major problems arose.
Since I know little about tea leaves and herbs, I left it to the two of them.
The base of the tea was black tea-like, but it had a sweet berry flavor, and when I finished it, it was very tasty with a refreshing mint-like aftertaste.
âBy the way, may I have a word with you two?â
âWhat is it? If itâs something I know about, then sure!â
âAh, you mean that thing that Chika-san wants to talk to Mintz about, right?â
Yes. Alex-san is already aware of this. Itâs about spreading my knowledge to this world.
I told Mintz-san everything that Alberto-sama had suggested.
Mintz-san was listening to me with great interest.
âSo, what do you think about it, Mintz-san? I think Mintz-san is quite knowledgeable in this world. I wonder how I would be perceived by such peopleâŠâ
âI see what you mean. It is my personal opinion, but if there is someone out there who has knowledge that I donât have, and that knowledge can help a lot of people, then I will do whatever it takes to have that knowledge taught to me.â
Mintz-san continued over a cup of tea.
âIf you were in a similar profession, Chika-kun, surely you would understand, wouldnât you? Apothecaries and healers like me are in the profession because we want to save as many people as possible from illness and injury. Then there is only one option.â
âEven if that knowledge is from a strange, otherworldly person like me who says things that are far beyond the common sense of this world?â
âOf course. With the knowledge I have now, I canât even judge whether the knowledge that Chika-kun has is correct or not. That is why I want you to teach me so that I can understand it. However, I no longer have any doubts about your knowledge.â
âChika-san, I feel exactly the same way as Mintz. We have only worked together for a little while and I am not as knowledgeable as Mintz and the other staff. Still, I know that what Chika-san is saying is not wrong. I donât know how to put it, what Chika-san tells us makes us want to know more about that in detail.â
I sense quite a bit of enthusiasm and passion from Alex-san.
Even though he may be an adult, he is only 15 years old, and I suppose his mind may be greedy to absorb new knowledge.
And I can understand Mintz-sanâs feelings very well.
I am sure that he has taken care of many patients whom he wanted to help but could not.
If that is the case, then I too may be unable to run away from the weight of my responsibility and my fear of it. Letâs make up my mind and be prepared to face it.
âThank you very much. Thanks to both of you, I have made up my mind. I will tell Alberto-san that I will definitely do it. However, I know I will inevitably depend on both of you for a lot of things, so could you please help me?â
âOf course. Chika-kun, you are going to have the hardest time. Just imagining what would happen to those two guardians if we let it go is terrifying.â
âYeah⊠thatâs right. Iâm just becoming an adult myself, so Iâm still a bit unreliable, but of course Iâll be here to help you, Chika-san! Rather, I look forward to learning a lot from you.â
âThank you! I couldnât ask for anything more than for the two of you to help me out! Oh, I guess we should probably go home now.â
The sun was setting and night was slowly beginning to fall. A different kind of bustle could be heard coming from the marketplace than during the day.
âYouâre right. I am sorry to have kept you here. Letâs go home, shall we?â
As the three of us headed home, I glanced around to see where the guards were, but there was no sign of them at all.
Well, I guess theyâd be no good if even I could sense them.