Chapter Eighteen #4
“Now that you’ve got a family, what comes next is becoming a Justicar to judge sinners and punish evil. Also, I’ll ask that you forgive me because I’m imagining you wearing a police uniform and enjoying it too much.”
“You are such a strange man. However, if that would make you happy, then I would be happy to satisfy your requests.”
“Come on, we just became family only a few hours after meeting. You can’t also agree to satisfy all my cosplay fantasies right away.”
Jeanne reached up to place her hand against my cheek.
“I have pledged myself to you twice now. Once the way of vampires, and now again as a human. No matter what darkness befalls this world, I will stand at your side, even should we face impossible foes.” Her smile widened just a little.
“Dressing up for you does not even begin to compare to what I am willing to do for you.”
“… wow.”
“What is it?”
“I’m—just… fuck, you’re smooth. I didn’t know it was possible to sound that romantic.”
“It is a lady’s job to sweep her man off his feet, is it not?”
“This world is something else.”
“That reaction of awe to my words was something else as well. I did not know a man could show me such an adorable—”
“Alright!” Rosie shouted, bursting into the room. “All the sentimental stuff is over, so I’m interrupting!”
Jeanne didn’t react at all, but I sure jumped at the sudden intrusion.
“How—how long have you been waiting there for?” I asked.
“We got home a few minutes ago,” Rosie answered, narrowing her eyes at me. “But I didn’t want to ruin the mood.”
Lupa then poked her head out from behind Rosie.
“I’ve also been waiting. Rosie told me to.
” She didn’t waste any time after that to come into the room and climb up onto the bed between my legs, curling up between them with her head resting on my thigh.
It was impossible not to pet her head when she acted like a literal dog.
Well, it was also impossible to resist petting her head even when she wasn’t.
As for Rosie, she let out one of her increasingly classic sighs.
“First, Lupa beat me to sharing a bed with you. Now, Jeanne beat me to sharing a name with you. What’s next?
Is the next girl going to skip straight to getting pregnant with you?
At least Stella hasn’t beaten me to anything... I think.”
“Stella beat you to getting my phone number,” I said, just to be mean.
“It’s so over…”
“Also, vampires can’t get pregnant, nor can they impregnate others, so… besides, I’d rather adopt if anything. Not that I want kids in the first place.”
All three women looked at me as if they just heard something outrageous.
Maybe… it was too soon to say something like that. What if they wanted kids themselves? Did I just crush their—
“You… seriously are from another world,” Rosie said.
“What?” I asked.
“Guys—the guys here barely tolerate sex, but they all want kids still. Mainly sons, but yeah. It’s crazy rare for a guy not to want kids, especially since most of them…
kind of see women as only being useful for having kids with.
Even if you share fetishes with us, I thought you’d probably still want kids. ”
“… right, I remember thinking about that last night.” It was crazy how mix-and-match the standards were.
I would have thought that in a world with reversed roles, it was women who only viewed men as being useful for children.
The sexist ones, anyways. Instead, the women just cared about fun sex that didn’t result in babies and that catered to men’s fantasies, and men were still the ones who viewed women as only being useful for having children. “So, none of you want kids?”
Jeanne was the first to say, “I could not even if I wanted to.”
“Mm, same,” Lupa answered.
Then there was Rosie saying, “I’m fine either or... but I’d probably prefer not. I know my sister is a weirdo who actually wants kids someday, so she can continue our bloodline for us.”
It was my turn to sigh. “I don’t think you three understand just how insanely lucky I feel. Also.” I turned to look at Jeanne. “Are you comfortable… having these kinds of discussions already? I mean—”
“Is it not too late to ask that?” Jeanne asked. “We already share a name, and you have insisted on acting like my lover and savior since we met. As far as I am concerned, we are already wed, so it is only natural to partake in such conversations without discomfort, is it not?”
Rosie took a staggering blow from that. “Al—already wed. Even though I was here first… and am supposed to be the easy route…”
“You said it,” I said. “Not me.”
Lupa kept on inching up my torso until her face was right in front of mine. “Me next. I want Master’s name, too. Can I?”
“I would never say no.”
Lupa nodded, received the prompt, and accepted it. Her name in the party list changed from Lupa to Lupa Rosehearth in an instant.
“Wha—Lupa!” Rosie whined. “You passed me again!”
Lupa was happy to ignore Rosie and nuzzle my chest instead.
“You know,” I said, “you’re welcome to change it, too.”
Rosie grumbled some but then shook her head.
“No. I like my last name, so I’ll keep it for a little longer.
Besides,” Rosie’s lips curled to show a smug smile, “this means I’m no longer the easiest route, huh?
That’s right! You have to actually work to get me to change my last name to yours!
I’m not going to let you get away with that before we put matching rings on our fingers! ”
“But we got matching rings from our very first dungeon together? Isn’t… isn’t that even better than normal rings?”
“Gah! That sounds like an excuse, but knowing you, it totally is more meaningful than a regular ring… no! I won’t give in! I’m standing by what I said!”
I clicked my tongue in response. “Tch. Awfully stubborn for the easiest route.”
“I’m going to smack you.”
“You’re too nice to do that.”
“At least let me pretend I’ll do it!”
While Rosie and I playfully bickered with each other, Jeanne silently watched before… starting to laugh.
We stopped to look at her once she broke out laughing.
“Wh—what’s so funny?” Rosie asked, genuinely confused.
“It is just—… fun,” Jeanne answered. “I have not seen such playful behavior in many years, especially not with a man involved. To think that this is the kind of family I have found myself having joined… I am having fun. I know that may not sound like much, but… to me, it is something I never thought I would experience again. Thank you for accepting me and bringing me here.”
Rosie scratched her cheek and looked away. “It’s not a big deal. This guy just has a habit of picking up girls in trouble. Oh, but you better not almost kill him again.”
Lupa opened her eyes and got serious for a moment. “What Rosie said.”
Jeanne panicked and leaned back in her chair. “I—I am sorry, alright? I was starved and had no idea his blood would taste that incredible. I had no intention of allowing his health to drop so low…”
Wait.
Huh.
“No, it’s good you did,” I said. “Thanks.”
“How is that good?!” Rosie whined.
“Seriously. I had no idea that was possible. I would have thought that it’d be impossible to pass out without reaching zero health.
Don’t forget, I have no idea how things like that work even if they’re common sense to everyone else.
What if I kept on fighting convinced I would stay standing as long as I had health, not knowing I could pass out and be left defenseless before that? ”
“A-ah… yeah… that would be bad.”
“So, bleeding effects are even more dangerous than I thought. If something inflicts a bleeding status on me, then even if it doesn’t kill me…
I might still end up losing so much blood that I pass out.
Not to mention that Jeanne sucking my blood wasn’t even a skill or status.
It was just… a normal, real part of the world, but it still did damage to my health bar.
That’s something else to keep in mind that I hadn’t considered.
I also don’t know if the potions were restoring my health or my health and blood.
Maybe I only passed out because I had that plant on my arm for so long, or maybe I would have passed out sooner if I wasn’t chugging health potions. ”
I looked at Jeanne.
Even though she was a vampire who was hundreds of years old, if I was right, then because of the way the game was…
she was going to only be level one. She would, however, have the Vampire class.
Seth apparently didn’t like the idea of a vampire girl not being forced to have the Vampire class, even if it meant going against how every other character was implemented.
I asked her just to confirm that, and her response was, “Yes, as shameful as it is to admit.”
“Do you have any combat experience?” I asked. “I mean, in the game at least, you were fighting off your father’s spies and assassins for over a hundred years.”
“I do have quite the experience with fighting them.”
“Perfect. So, because I haven’t invested my attribute points yet, we’re equal there. Your weapon and armor—are they basically level one stuff?”
“Yes, they are. They offer no significant bonuses.”
“So, I’m actually beating you when it comes to gear. That’s good. Jeanne, I want to spar with you.”
The girls all looked confused about why I wanted to do that, but I had an experiment I wanted to run.