Intermission

No matter how much I psyched myself up, the timing was fixed, so I'd ended up with about an hour and a half of free time before the match.

If I had time to kill, what should I do…

"Sex? Wanna have sex?"

… The person casually lobbing sexual harassment at me was…

"Silvana-san."

"Yes, yes～. Everyone's idol, Silvana-chan, at your service～."

Wave, wave.

For some reason Silvana was waving her hand and tagging along after me.

"Please don't keep chanting 'sex' when you're an idol… Did you need something?"

"Mmh, what about you? You don't need anything from me? So cold."

Silvana pursed her lips. Cu… cute…

"Oh, was the reason you took on commentating for this tournament thanks to that promise before?

If so, thank you very much."

"Ahaha, it's fine, it's fine. Aqueria asked me too, after all.

That kid's Liviath's husband as well, so I just can't help spoiling him."

So Aqueria-san could steer this person too. As expected of Goddess Aqueria-sama.

Silvana-chan had a reputation for drifting around and never being pinned down, yet here she was looking bored, so I figured I might as well make the most of it and have a nice, slow chat.

I led her into my own waiting room.

Silvana came along without a hint of caution… Well, there was no way someone like me could do anything to the invincible Silvana anyway.

"Heart-pounding… I've been lured into a closed room. Is something erotic about to be done to me…?"

She was saying something idiotic…

"If you're okay with it, I'd gladly do it."

"Heh heh heh. Well, that's still a little too soon."

Rejected… So it was just a little too soon!?

My heart was pounding.

No, well, let me just talk about what I actually wanted to talk about.

"By the way, somewhere along the line I broke through the mid-S-Class wall…"

"Yep, yep, congrats～."

"Julian… was that really all he had? Honestly, he wasn't all that tough."

"Ahh, well, you know? Whether that was Julian's best is debatable.

But you both built your rosters anticipating consecutive battles, so the conditions were equal and fair.

You won under those terms, so there's nothing to complain about.

… Besides, part of Julian's strength is pressuring his opponent into shrinking back.

A pampered rich-boy Master who's lived above C-Class so long that he's long since forgotten the fear of having his Garumon taken away will think, if I lose this, my ace Garumon gets stolen, and he shrinks back, his hand freezes, his mistakes pile up.

He can't take bold measures when it counts. It induces timid decisions.

Inducing mistakes to win is also part of that guy's strength.

He himself has nothing he'd be troubled to lose… or so he believes.

And yet there you were, with your own life on the line, not flinching at all."

"No, even I think a little about what I'll do if I lose. When I'm cornered.

But it's not something to dwell on before I'm even cornered…"

The time I'd most resolved myself to death so far was…

probably the Griera fight. That one was bad. I'd been driven into a spot I couldn't do anything about myself…

In the Black Rhino fight too, if Libera hadn't pulled that 10%… I'd bet on the off chance that Ursula would pull her 10%, but that was the extent of it.

"But you actually kind of like fighting with your life on the razor's edge, huh? You're a battle junkie.

Good for you. So fiery, so passionate.

But I wonder if that type can live a long life… your big sis is a little worried."

Praised, and worried over.

"Well, you're now my son-in-law too, same as Aqueria.

Aqueria's got it together so I don't have to worry… but you, you worry me in all sorts of ways…

Do you understand how it feels to marry off a daughter to someone like that?"

To be given such a perfectly proper warning by this person…

"S-sorry…"

I could only bow my head.

"Ahaha, just kidding. I'm the last one who should be talking, right?

It's fine, it's fine! A man should hold ambition and charge straight ahead. A woman just has to support him, that's all! Ah-ha-ha!"

Slap, slap!

But then, flipping completely, she clapped me on the shoulder and praised me.

Hmm, so this was what being a futanari, both father and mother, meant. She held both the bold, magnanimous heart of a father and the delicate heart of a mother.

… Though Silvana was probably nine-tenths the former.

Still, I didn't think her worry was a lie either. That part I was truly grateful for.

"You're going to go recruit Soleil soon too, right? I'm looking forward to it～. That kid's all brains, arms herself with theory after theory, and shuts herself in, refusing to come out.

If she's giving you any lip, just use that prized thing of yours to make her listen～."

Squeeze, squeeze.

"Whoa, hey, h-hey…"

Silvana's slender, supple fingers wrapped around my thing… Cold… cold enough to freeze my spine. And yet it felt good…

Crap, this was the bewitching touch of a woman that drives men mad.

No, seriously, this person was dangerous. If she put her mind to it, she could absolutely seduce men by orders of magnitude more than Rosalia.

She was a vampire, after all. Of course charm was a piece of cake if she felt like it.

It wasn't even about magic; purely through the allure of her beauty and body, she was utterly impossible to resist.

I, who'd sooner die than be subordinate to anyone, was starting to feel an attraction to being subordinate to Silvana.

… No, this was bad. As expected, this person was no mere funny big sister.

She was Silvana, the pinnacle of legendary vampires, the Vampire Goddess.

"Heh… so you really do have a splendid one. So this is what satisfies Yuria and Patty… heh…"

Squish, squelch, squerch…

Silvana stroked me off with an erotic touch.

Crap, I was going to melt… I clenched my teeth and endured.

"Huh, you don't want to come from a handjob?"

A sweet sigh… I was being won over…

"It's not that I don't want to… I'm working hard not to get charmed…"

I answered honestly.

"Oh dear, sorry. I didn't mean to tease you."

Silvana let go of her hand.

"… Haaah… I thought I was about to be made into Silvana's kin…"

I let out a deep breath.

"Ahaha, kin, huh. Vampires do take kin and use them as blood supplies, true.

But me, I prefer someone I can have a fun conversation with over kin～."

… Talking alone with this person might be dangerous in a lot of ways…

… But, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Dangerous or not, there was no option in which I'd choose to stop talking with Silvana.

Or rather, it was simply fun. I mean, having a peerless beauty who seemed to have stepped straight out of legend chatting with me so amiably was a dreamlike situation. It'd be a lie if I couldn't enjoy it.

"Well, let's continue our talk."

"Yes, please do."

Talk resumed.

"Also, if you want to get close with my daughter Liviath, negotiate with Aqueria.

If you get close with Aqueria, she'll come along inevitably, so work hard and win over the Goddess."

"Ah, well, I'll do my best."

"Yep, yep, that's the spirit, my boy! I'm rooting for you! Eh-heh-heh～. Maybe this isn't the time to say it, but…

I've got my eye on you, big time.

I think that at this rate, you might just become an amazing Master."

"Of course, that's what I aim to be."

"Good, well said.

And so, as a prize for that expectation I hold for you, I'll lift the ban on you laying hands on my brides."

"… Eh?"

"Though, just Pamela for now. The other seven are still off-limits. And Pamela, you negotiate with her yourself, properly."

"E-eh… I-I mean, that makes me happy, but, is that all right…?"

"It's fine～. I mean, the moment I condoned you drinking her milk, wasn't that already practically permitting sex?

If it were me, I'd have done it ages ago.

But I liked that you dutifully, honorably refrained from laying hands on her.

It's fine, it's fine～, go ahead and do it plenty.

Once this tournament's over, enjoy a big mother-daughter feast with Pamela and Patty's giant tits to your heart's content."

"Um… thank you very much."

But was simply thanking her enough? As thanks for being given someone's own bride, the only thing I could think to offer in return was a bride of my own.

If it were after I'd made Silvana my lover, I'd say go ahead all you like, or rather I'd want to share her, but being told it'd be before that, I felt resistance, even toward a Silvana I held such fondness for.

… Yeah, if I felt resistance, I couldn't go against that feeling. And I couldn't think of anything to offer in exchange.

"Ha ha ha. Look here. The young get to have it good. From your elders, take, take, take.

And the kindness you receive that way, you don't repay to the person themselves. Kindness too great can't be repaid in the first place.

Pay it forward to the next generation. That's how kindness gets passed down and connected."

Pat, pat.

Silvana suddenly said this in a gentle, admonishing tone.

… Saying such admirable things out of nowhere…

"… Th-thank you very much. I see, so that's how it is…"

As I thought, she really was a person worthy of respect…

"Well, once Patty and Yuria get pregnant, I'll have no reservations about drinking their milk, I suppose."

Hey.

"No, that much is fine. I think Patty and Yuria would be happy too… so please, go ahead."

"Fu-hihi… can't wait."

Silvana slurped up her drool. As I thought, maybe she wasn't worthy of respect after all… A complicated person.

"Well, what I expect from you going forward is for you to surprise me, like, wow, you did something this interesting!?

You won't let me get bored in the period leading up to the S-Class Tournament, right?

And naturally, I'm looking forward to the S-Class Tournament too."

… Well, this carried its own heavy weight of expectation.

"Understood. I don't know if I can live up to your expectations, but I'll think of something."

In any case, if she expected something, I'd answer.

"Yep, yep, that's a real boy."

So Silvana said.

"… But, I'm surprised. The Eclair fight hasn't even happened yet.

Everything you just told me ends up wasted if I lose, doesn't it?"

… Or did Silvana already foresee me winning?

"I think Eclair's strong～.

But, well, at the point where you beat Ursula, it's hard to imagine you losing to Eclair."

Whoa now. It wasn't that her evaluation of Eclair was low, but beyond that, her evaluation of Ursula was high.

"You rate Ursula highly, huh."

"Of course. Ever since the previous generation's Esta, she's someone who's stayed at the bottom of S-Class purely by choice.

Until the previous generation, the common reputation was that the strongest of the lower S-Class was Esta Belzebute.

When Ursula took over, that reputation got reset once… but I think Ursula's strength when she fought you was in no way inferior to Esta's. Not after watching that match."

"I see…"

… But for someone as accurate and precise in her reads as Silvana to say she couldn't imagine me losing, that was practically equivalent to prophecy…

"The match is still to come, so I'll try not to get complacent."

It'd be a problem if I let my guard down. Even if I currently held the edge in fighting strength, if I got careless I could lose any number of ways.

"Fufu.

Of course there's a chance you lose too, sure.

But, well, if that happens it happens, so it'd be pointless for me to think about you losing before you've even lost."

She said this and laughed breezily.

"It's a shame, but you know, it happens fairly often. You think a promising rookie has appeared, and then they die in some early monster-subjugation. When you've watched over S-Class as an NPC for nearly a hundred years, you see it."

Silvana made a far-off look.

"… So there are cases where rookies I'd consider as promising as me died too, huh."

"Hmm, let's see."

Silvana thought it over anew.

"Harris… Leroy… Ricco. Around those, I'd say.

The ones I thought might be a little something, only for them to die fairly easily.

Though whether all three were as promising as you, that's questionable.

It was more like, they're a touch stronger than Zeiros, maybe they could reach Fergus-class?, the kind of expectation I had…

When they died, it was more of an aw, too bad feeling.

You're different. If you died, I'd be far more shocked…"

It seemed Silvana held expectations for me.

"I've evaluated your achievements up to now, I've been moved by them, and I look forward to your achievements going forward.

I just wanted to pay a reward fitting of those results. That's the sex with Pamela.

This conversation just now was fun too, and I don't think any of it was a waste～.

… So, this expectation of mine… what is it you can do in return?"

"I'll make sure not to waste your time, Silvana-san. I'll beat Eclair properly and accept the wonderful reward you've given me."

"Good, well said, boy. Do your best!"

And then…

Chu. Silvana-san kissed me on the cheek.

"Now… I'd love to keep lazing around, but I guess it's about time. I should get going soon.

You've got preparations to make too… so let's leave it here.

Well then, until next time on the Silvana-chan Hour, please wait warmly～."

With that, Silvana waved her hand and went off, fluttering away.

… She really was a person like a storm…

A concert was being held in the arena.

Garumon idols had absurd physical abilities, so their dances, leveraging flashy acrobatics, were on a whole different level from Earth's.

And of course, what was even more amazing was probably the effects produced by magic.

This world… huh.

To the me of now, the Garumon idol show unfolding before my eyes felt vastly more valuable than the idol shows I'd watch on Earth's TV.

The food was tastier here too. The girls, needless to say.

Little by little, my way of thinking was tilting more and more toward this world, here is better than Earth's.

For me, this was a happy world.

Even when my life was occasionally put at risk, even so… I thought it was far better than my original world.

What about Eclair?

She'd known about this world since childhood.

She'd yearned for it, imitated it, and consoled herself with slave battles that looked like bad taste.

Having finally reached this world that way, was she enjoying it from the bottom of her heart?

That answer, I'd learn from here on.

If the winner was the one who'd enjoyed this world most after coming here, then I'd already won, and I wouldn't lose to anyone.

The next battle might be nothing more than proof of that.