The New Gate

?

Volume 17 Chapter 2 Part 1

The next day…

Shin had managed to push the overly excited Milt into Tiera’s room and avoid spending the night in the same room with her. Nothing would have happened even if they slept in the same room, but there was no need to act in a way that could create misunderstandings.

“So, somehow Tiera slept while hugging me like a pillow and…”

“Nope, not listening.”

When Shin entrusted Milt to Tiera the night before, she had almost fallen asleep on her feet, so they probably slept in the same bed. Tiera’s expression seemed positively glowing, but Shin thought it might be just his imagination.

“Ahaha, she’s so small and cute, so I couldn’t resist…”

“Go easy on her, please. But doesn’t Sety fit those criteria too, though?”

The two were very similar in appearance, barring one major exception.

“Looks-wise, that’s true, but Sety is so much older than me…”

No matter how young Sety looked, Tiera couldn’t treat someone older than her like that. The age difference between Tiera and Milt was nothing compared to Tiera and Sety, after all. Because of that, Tiera felt the urge to cuddle with her.

“I didn’t have older siblings, so this feels pretty new to me.”

“Really? I was sure you were the type to get angry if they treated you like a little kid.”

“Hehehe…thanks to my motherly assets, no one ever treats me like that, actually.”

Milt puffed up her chest proudly and her symbols of maternity, as most men regarded them, swayed visibly. That was the one part of her body which could rival or even exceed other adult women.

“Well, a lot of men just give me lewd looks, while women look at me with envy, though. Sometimes I would get the mascot treatment, but as soon as they knew how strong I was they’d get scared and stay away.”

On one hand, she had an adorable appearance, on the other, she fought by swinging 『Breogand』, a giant halberd that not even adult men could carry, to slice enemies in two or using all sorts of poisons.

Her fighting style leaned on the physical side, despite her appearance.

One time, a High Wyvern flew at low altitude over a small town: Milt jumped up and cleaved it in half with 『Breogand』, causing all the other adventurers present to look at her with a mixture of terror and admiration.

Even the adventurers closer to Milt ended up putting more distance between themselves and her. The male ones continued to give her lewd looks, however, which Milt said was just unacceptable.

“I get where you’re coming from…maybe?”

Shin never experienced such radical changes in how people approached him, so he could only understand superficially what Milt said.

“I know well what you mean by lewd looks.”

Tiera nodded vigorously to Milt’s confession.

Shin also knew that Tiera attracted attention wherever they went. While she wasn’t on Milt’s level, Tiera was also very well endowed.

She was beautiful to boot, so it was only natural for her to attract the gazes of men.

“Shin, you can stare as much as you want, you know? Here, here.”

Milt raised her chest seductively, pushing it closer to Shin.

Her usual equipment, the 『Oriental Battle Garb』, did not show much skin on the upper body, so even a pose like this wouldn’t show the classic cleavage.

While it didn’t show any, the pose made Milt’s clothes take the shape of her breasts: there was no skin exposure, but it was very sensual nonetheless.

“You’re getting aggressive again, Milt. Easy, easy, don’t get so close.”

Tiera and Yuzuha were present too, so Shin stepped away from Milt, to prevent any misunderstandings. Thanks to his relationship with Schnee, he had become more resistant to such temptations.

“There are very few people I can play with like this, you know. With the people here, I can’t help but wonder if what they really want is my power or my equipment. It’s really hard to find people you can trust completely…”

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t play with me either…does the church feel cramped?”

Milt’s tone became serious, so Shin asked seriously too.

“There are good people too, like Hermie and Rashia, but when I think about someone to marry…sometimes they introduce people to me, but most of them are like ‘I’m strong, right?’, ‘I’m a badass, right?’ or ‘I bet you’re head over heels already!’ or stuff like that.”

In this world, physical strength played a very large part in how attractive a person was.

A strong adventurer could earn more, while a high-class individual could gain better treatment or a better position. People like that would naturally flaunt their strength before anything else.

However, it did not always create a good impression.

“You always loved fighting strong opponents, so don’t you like strong people in general?”

“In the game, I simply enjoyed fighting, and, during the death game, I was looking for someone that could kill me. But now, I don’t think like that anymore.”

“Eh!? Just now…did you say…you wanted someone to kill you…?”

Among the things Milt talked about with complete nonchalance, Tiera heard something shocking and couldn’t help but react.

“Shin, did you tell Tiera about what happened in the past?”

“Yeah, from when Marino was around till after she was gone.”

“If she already knows that much, then I guess it’s okay.”

It wasn’t something suitable to talk about in public, so they had their meals brought to their rooms. Milt spoke briefly about what happened while they ate.

“That’s…”

“It’s all in the past, so don’t think about it too much. I’m alive and well, plus Shin and I are good friends now, see?”

“I don’t know if I’d call us that…”

“Come on, you could at least agree to that!”

Milt huffed and pouted. From how they acted, no one would have guessed that in the past she had died at his hands.

“So anyway, what I said before was half a joke, half the truth.”

“Which half was the truth then…?”

“That I wouldn’t mind giving my hand in marriage to Shin, I guess?”

“Stop that already, Schnee is…oh, right.”

Shin recalled that he hadn’t told Milt yet, so he explained that he and Schnee were now married.

“I see, so you chose to stay here.”

Milt probably realized that only Shin might have had a chance to go back.

She spoke with a calm tone, without a trace of the joking mood from before. But that sincerity only lasted an instant.

“There are plenty of things I’d like to say about that, but first of all, it’s perfect for me if you stay here. If Schnee is the first lady, then it means the seat of the second one is still free, right?”

Milt smirked, but Shin put a stop to her enthusiasm immediately.

“There’s no seat in the first place! We practice monogamy where I come from!”

“But all men dream to have their own harem, right? Filma, Sety, etc, etc…I thought you planned to make them all yours, one by one.”

“You’ve read too many manga and novels. I don’t look at them that way.”

Shin flicked the puzzled Milt’s forehead and wolfed down the rest of his meal. He could treat what Milt said as a joke, but he was concerned about how Tiera would take it.

“Hmm, a harem, huh…”

“Hey, didn’t you hear what I said? I’m not interested at all in that stuff.”

Tiera had a rather cold look in her eyes, so Shin made sure she didn’t get the wrong idea.

He definitely didn’t want her to think that she might have been one of his targets. Elves were also monogamous, so Shin spoke clearly to avoid any unwanted misunderstandings.

“Kuu, strong males have many females!”

“Not you too, Yuzuha…”

Yuzuha had been quietly munching on meat until now, but for some reason spoke such words with a very serious look on her face. In small fox mode her train of thought leaned on the animal side, so what she said was a bit different from a harem.

“Well, you better make sure the master doesn’t hear anything about this. She’s terrifying when she’s angry.”

“Yeah, I know that…no, I mean, I’m sure Schnee would understand anyway.”

Shin thought he never showed any signs of being interested in other women.

“Tch, how disappointing.”

“Give it a rest. Why did you even start talking about marriage?”

“You don’t treat me weird because of my strength and you would treasure me, right? Even in your reaper phase you took care of me, one way or another, you didn’t ditch me or anything. That’s when I thought that deep down you hadn’t changed. Besides, it’s nice to know that we’d be okay even if a whole country turned against us.”

“I want to deny that so bad, but I can’t…”

Milt was very good friends with Marino, Shin’s former lover, to the point that they also talked about their real lives. She was also involved with Shin in the game era, in both his “normal” and “abnormal” phases.

Milt knew what kind of existence Shin was in this world. It could be said that she understood him well, in a different way from Schnee.

“That’s never going to happen, though, so go look elsewhere.”

“Hehehe…don’t forget about how long a High Pixie lifespan can be. I’ll take my time and work on you bit by bit. I have the hunch that it might work out if Schnee gives the OK.”

“Don’t even try, seriously.”

Milt was definitely joking again…right?

So thought Shin as he brought the conversation to an end.

They still had plenty of time, but there was no harm in going early.

There was also the chance of leaving earlier due to unforeseen trouble, so Shin decided to head for the meeting point after the meal.