Chapter 477

The result was far from what could be called flight, but Ai was still satisfied with having obtained equipment that allowed her to fly through the sky.

However, from Tatsuro’s perspective it meant fewer opportunities to princess carry Ai, and he wore a slightly troubled expression.

Ai, sharp-eyed as always, noticed this and lightly kissed Tatsuro’s cheek before sending him a telepathic message.

{If you want to carry me, you can do it anytime, you know?}

{Hmm. I’m grateful for that, but I’m worried it’ll reduce my total lifetime princess carry count.}

{What’s that even about—}

Ai giggled as she wrapped herself around Tatsuro’s arm.

While the other members, accustomed to such sudden lovey-dovey behavior from the pair, looked on in mild confusion, Prime Minister Ramos called out to them.

“Um... did you like it?”

“Yes. Thank you very much for such a wonderful item.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I’d love to see you flying freely through the sky with it someday.”

Emperor Fion subtly reminded them to visit again without missing a beat.

Tatsuro responded with an ambiguous “If the opportunity arises, absolutely,” dodging the invitation.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure if they’d come back here again, but Emperor Fion wasn’t deterred.

He racked his brain to deepen their relationship further and suddenly had an idea.

“By the way, I’ve heard that Tatsuro-dono has established bases in various inhospitable places and is developing them. Our country has such lands as well. How about it? If it’s something you all desire, I can grant permission right away.”

This country basically does not sell land to foreigners, so no matter how much money they offered, Tatsuro and the others couldn’t acquire any.

However, it seemed he figured that people guaranteed status as envoys of the gods—or at least socially prominent figures—would be acceptable.

And in the best-case scenario, it would deepen ties, allow humans to pioneer uncharted territories, and perhaps lead to discovering something new within his own nation.

Of course, Tatsuro could sense that much, but the possibility of obtaining something new was an attractive proposal for them as well.

If it was a win-win for both sides, there was no harm in going along with the offer.

“We’re quite busy with various things, so we can’t decide immediately, but we do find it a very appealing proposal. I think it would be good if we could discuss it further when both sides have time available. How does that sound?”

“Yes, of course. Whenever you have time, please feel free to visit anytime.

I’ll make the arrangements accordingly.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty Fion.”

With their respective intentions in mind, Tatsuro and Emperor Fion shook hands with smiles on their faces.

After that, they were held back with various matters, but Tatsuro and the others, eager to return home, exchanged brief farewells and left the imperial palace.

“If we come back here, it’ll probably be us from 228 years in the future, huh?”

“Who knows. Either way, even if we go in our original time, it’d be all ‘Huh? What are you talking about?’ so we’ll just go with the flow. We didn’t make any clear promises anyway.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Deciding to let things happen as they would, Tatsuro and the others left the city and returned to their original time from a deserted area.

“Now then, let’s get right to—”

“Before that, we’re eating dinner!”

“Ack!”

Nana grabbed the back of Leah’s neck as she tried to dash straight into her workshop without eating, and dragged her to the living room without a word.

Tatsuro and the others, along with Gramps who had come to meet them at the basement, carried the capsule containing the baby into the living room.

The baby showed no signs of crying yet, simply breathing quietly with its belly rising and falling.

There didn’t seem to be any immediate issues, but the question of what to do with this child going forward was becoming a problem.

No matter what future this child chose, it would need to be raised to a certain degree first.

However, Tatsuro and the others—though it wasn’t something to boast about—had never taken care of a baby before.

Moreover, even if they left it here, having only Gramps handle it long-term would be tough.

While Leah and Nana were cooking, they pondered what to do.

“Is there any monster good at child-rearing? Like a skill called Child-Rearing or something.”

“I don’t know of anything that convenient, but unlike us dragons, human babies probably need breast milk, right? We’ll have to think about that too.”

“I recall that in our world, giving regular cow’s milk as a substitute for breast milk to babies is bad. But is it okay for elf children, or is there something unique to this world? Leela-san.”

“Hmm. In this world too, store-bought cow’s milk is no good, and breast milk is the standard. I’ve heard that for each race, the milk from the same race is better than from others—human milk for humans, elf milk for elves. In fact, baby formula sold in department stores should be available by race.”

“Is that so... I’ve never been to that section, so I didn’t know. But well, if there’s store-bought formula, that should be fine. Finding an elf wet nurse would be hard anyway, and if we invite someone here, they’d have to be trustworthy or it could cause all sorts of problems. After all, we have things like the magical liquid generation device installed here.”

They thought breast milk would be better for the baby, but there was no helping it.

The only elf in the group was Leela, and she couldn’t produce breast milk anyway.

“But in that case, having only Gramps would still be tough.”

“If you order me to, I’ll do it, you know?”

Gramps, who had been helping Leah and the others, overheard and offered, but with only one person capable of thinking and moving properly right now, it felt problematic when considering the future.

“Looks like I’ll have to seriously try creating an intelligent monster tomorrow—preferably a humanoid one that can easily go shopping in town.”

“But that has a high random element, right? Can you aim for it?”

“Well, I’ll select the materials carefully to increase the odds. I had some things I wanted to test anyway.”

“Yeah?”

It was about simultaneously performing Tatsuro’s Celestial Demon Tribe Creation, Jeanne’s Celestial Creation, and Nana’s Celestial Demon Creation.

He wanted to try if mixed creation—rather than mixed magic—could be done that way too.

“So that’s what you were thinking about~”

“Yeah. Leah’s going to be immersed in research from now on, and there’s nothing for us to do but wait. So during that free time, let’s gather or make the things we’re lacking or need, and do some experiments I’ve been wanting to try.”

With that, the discussion wrapped up for now, and just then, they were called as dinner preparations were complete.

Since they had also completed another mission, it turned into a sort of celebration, and the meal time passed enjoyably.

For tonight, Leela would be watching the baby, while Leah excitedly charged into her workshop.

Nana followed with an exasperated look, and each went off to do their own thing.

After that, Tatsuro and Ai took a bath together, then lay on the bed feeling refreshed and playful.

“Gude-n”

“Gue...”

Ai lay on her back across Tatsuro’s stomach, stretched out, then went completely limp.

Tatsuro pretended to be in pain as he turned Ai around to face him directly and pulled her close.

“—chu”

“—n”

Ai kissed him, and Tatsuro accepted it while wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her tightly.

“A baby, huh...”

“Hm? What’s up all of a sudden?”

Ai rested her head on Tatsuro’s chest, and the pleasant scent of soap from her hair made his heart skip a beat. He kissed the top of her head before asking.

Then Ai wriggled up again, stole another kiss from Tatsuro’s lips, and rolled over to the side with a plop.

They both turned to face each other at the same time.

“Hmm. I was thinking how nice it would be to have a baby with the person I love the most.”

“Have you gotten the urge already?”

“Not right now. There’s too much going on. Besides, for the baby’s sake too, we need to make a proper environment where we can raise a child back there first, or it’ll be hard on both us and the kid.”

“Yeah. I want to go back to Japan properly, graduate high school, and go to university too.”

“Campus life with Tatsuro sounds fun~”

“But we’ve got university entrance exams waiting first.”

“Fufu. But we’ve got a bit of a cheat—we can study here after transferring to another world, then transfer back right after, giving us as much study time as we want~ It’ll be fine, right?”

“I was thinking the same. We don’t age no matter how many years pass, so we can do stuff like that. Well, let’s make full use of it as a perk from our hardships.”

“Yeah!”

They drew their faces closer without either initiating and kissed again.

“By the way, I might have asked before, but how many kids do you want in the future, Tatsuro?”

“I’m thinking two. Three would be fine too. I always wanted siblings, so I want my own kids to have them.”

“Your mom and dad are so lovey-dovey. If you ask, maybe you could get a little brother or sister?”

“......No thanks, not that. I ended up imagining my parents doing that stuff...”

“Eek— don’t say such vivid things! I imagined it too!”

“Hey, you brought it up first... Besides, I’ve got Leah and Cardina and the others now. No need for that anymore.”

“Yeah.”

Saying that, Ai clung to Tatsuro like a koala.

As he stroked her head, Tatsuro asked the same question in return.

“How many do you want, Ai?”

“About the same as you, Tatsuro. I bet our kids would be cute whether boys or girls.”

“Yeah.”

The two snuggled close, imagining the children they might have someday with smiles on their faces.

Then Tatsuro suddenly flipped Ai onto her back and positioned himself on all fours, looking down at her.

“In that case, we’d better do plenty of practice for the future.”

“Hmph, there it is! Pervert! Pervert, begone! Go away—hey, stop it!”

Ai could easily blow him away if she were serious, but she wasn’t, lightly patting his chest in playful resistance.

“Fwahaha— Such things are powerless before this pervert!”

“Don’t call yourself a pervert! We already did plenty of that practice in the bath earlier!”

“Not enough!”

“You said it outright!? ...Fine, it can’t be helped then— mm”

“—mm”

Even as she said it couldn’t be helped, Ai was far from unwilling. With a pouty face, she pulled Tatsuro’s face closer and kissed him.

Gradually, the heat of their kisses intensified, and they continued desiring each other until morning.