After I saw Lupetta off, I heard a soldier calling for me right when I was about to leave.
Since I could recognize that guy's face, he is probably someone in an executive position.
「Young master. I would like to talk to you about those babies」
「What about them?」
Lupetta had picked up as many as 8 babies.
They ranged from babies who could only roll around on the floor to babies who could crawl.
It seems that the military had made full use of the soldiers' personal connections and found some women who could breastfeed. The weakened babies' conditions slightly improved after they got to drink some milk.
Then when he tried to scout the gathered women to work as wet nurses, half of them refused.
The women's reason for refusing was simple, they said they didn't want to come to the military base for work.
And it seems that the remaining half of the women who were willing to work were also asking if they could work at a place other than the military base if possible.
「Because this base is outside of the castle town and soldiers also gather here…」
Since the military base where the babies are at right now is outside of the castle town, some people have to make quite a journey to get here. Moreover, this place is packed with soldiers. It's not really a place women would want to get close to.
「I see」
It'll probably take some time until we decide on what we're going to do with the babies in the future, so we have to look after them for a while.
They already don't have a mother, so if they don't have a wet nurse either, they'll be heading straight for death from starvation. We'll need to be considerate about the wet nurses' work environment. Even though we are the ones recruiting, it doesn't necessarily mean that they'll all just hop on board.
From the army's point of view as well, if we just leave the babies here, they'll probably become a burden to the soldiers.
「Alright. If that's the case, bring the babies to the villa. It'll probably give the nannies an easier time going to work too」
Since the villa is in the castle town, the wet nurses wouldn't have to go all the way past the city gate for their part-time job, and the villa won't be packed with soldiers either. Even if the wet nurses work overnight, it would be far more comfortable for them to stay there instead of here.
The babies will also probably be happier being taken care of by the beautiful maids in the villa rather than the sweaty men of the army. I know I would be if it was me.
「That would be very helpful. Would it be alright for me to ask you to deal with that matter?」
「Yeahh, I'll explain it to my father」
I wrote everything regarding what I want to do with the babies down on paper, and then I entrusted it to a messenger.
After that, I walked to the innovation association through the city that was in a festive mood and found out that only a few corporate slaves in managerial positions had come to work.
I was thinking about making babies with Mimon in the afternoon, but sadly, it appears that she is taking today off.
While I made the arrangements to serve alcohol in the city square and double-checked on what the people of the innovation association are going to do after I leave for Nambonan, the sun had begun to set.
When I walked down the hallways in the villa, I could hear the cries of babies coming from a distance.
It looks like the babies were moved here right away.
The servants of the villa now have the additional task of taking care of the babies, but they won't need to take care of me after I leave tomorrow so I hope they can just put up with it for now.
When I hear the term "wet nurse", the first thing that comes to mind is Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu's wet nurse, Lady Kasuga.
Since Lady Kasuga has the image of a big shot grandma in my head, a wet nurse and a grandma is pretty much the same thing to me. Perhaps it's because of that, the existence of young wet nurses slipped my mind.
But if I think about it again rationally, a wet nurse is someone who is expected to act as a tank of breastmilk. In other words, a woman who had recently given birth.
So considering the age people give birth on the continent of Elluo, it's very possible that young mothers had come to the villa for the job.
「Hm」
I'll need to check those wet nurses out as they'll be responsible for the babies. If they are young beautiful mommas then I want to check out how their milk tastes as well.
As I went down the hallway following the cries of the babies, I caught a servant who was walking by and made him guide me to them.
「Welcome back, young master」
A slightly spacious room had been nicely prepared for the babies to stay in.
The servants who were on standby in the room greeted me respectfully as they saw me.
「Good work on the swift response in this matter」
I showed my appreciation for them as I looked around the room.
The maids of the villa, the women who are working as part-time wet nurses, and Eve, were all taking care of the babies.
For some reason, there weren't only 8 babies, but about double that number.
「Why are there so many babies here?」
「That is because the nannies brought their babies here too」
One of the maids who was taking care of the babies answered my question.
I see, since these are women who could breastfeed after recently giving birth, it makes sense that they would also have babies of their own…
They can't just leave their babies in their homes when they have to breastfeed them too, so they brought them along.
「I see」
The several wet nurses seemed to have noticed that I was the "young master", so they got on their knees and bowed on the floor. I waved my hand to the side to let them know that they can relax.
Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone amongst the part-time wet nurses who made me feel excited. Although they're not actually too bad if I just look at their age; the youngest one feels like a high schooler and the oldest one seems like a university student.
「Which ones are those 8 babies?」
「They're over here. They have a red string tied around one of their legs.」
I could tell which babies possess magic power right away, but the servants would only be able to tell them apart by their faces.
It seems they have put a mark on them so that they would never mix them up.
「Hmm. Speaking of which, how many of them are boys and how many of them are girls?」
「Half and half. 4 of them are boys and 4 of them are girls」
Like what the maid said, some of the babies did indeed have a red string tied around one of their legs. Their chubby legs were truly baby-like even with the strings tied around their legs like a rubber band.
I checked out the female babies' faces to see if any of them look like they would likely grow into beauties in the future, but unfortunately, I could not predict anything from looking at them.
「Daaa~!」
Then, *tap*, *tap*, *tap*, the biggest baby out of the 8 who had a red string around her leg crawled towards me steadily. I could see that this baby was much more mature compared to the others who were rolling around.
Since she crawled all the way to me, I tried poking her pudgy cheeks that were like a squirrel's after it stuffed its mouth full, and then I tried holding her in my arms. It felt like I was holding onto a hot water bottle because of her high body temperature.
Her big round eyes are adorable. This baby might grow up to be a beauty.
「Daaaau~」
I tried playing with the other 7 babies in turns as well, but I don't know if it's because they are sleepy or tired or in a bad mood, they didn't really react to me much.
The most energetic one was the baby who came up to me in the beginning. She would react to anything I did, making me want to play with her.
「This kid is the cutest one」
While I was poking at her feet silently, I felt someone looking at me all of a sudden.
Apparently, Eve was staring at me.
「What is it?」
Shocked by the fact that I noticed her gaze, Eve's shoulders trembled and she looked down.
There was a half-naked baby in front of her. She was probably in the middle of changing the baby's diaper.
「N-nothing…」
Since Eve said it was nothing, I tried to play with that baby again.
When I lifted the baby up high in the air, *kyaa*, *kyaa*, she made sounds of joy.
I didn't marry or have kids in my past life, so I have never held a baby before.
The maids next to me were watching me anxiously, but I don't have a hobby of dropping babies on the floor so I wish they would just relax.
As I thought, Eve was looking at me with a look of surprise again.
「Come on Eve, what is it?」
「Er, erm…Master, you really like babies, don't you…?」
It's strange because when she says it like that, it feels like she's calling me a weird freak.
If I were to compare my taste in women to pitches that go through the strike zone in baseball, babies and children would be a wild pitch that's so off to the level of hitting the backstop fence. I'm not a pervert who would put my hands on a baby.
「What about you, Eve? You really like them too, don't you? You seem to be quite used to taking care of them」
Eve wrapped the towel-like cloth around a baby skillfully.
Then, she put the baby in her arms as if she was trying to calm her own shaken emotions down.
「…I have been taking care of the neighbor's babies back in my village as well」
Due to the royal army's great expedition to the north, the village Eve used to live in was destroyed in the process. Eve was captured along with her mother, and then her second life as a sex slave began.
It might be natural for her to be used to taking care of babies since she's initially a village girl.
「...Ow! Hey, you can't do that~ Big sister here is not your mama. Nothing is going to come out of my breasts~」
It seems the baby in her arms grabbed Eve's breast while being oblivious to what's happening.
The baby probably wanted to suck on her nicely developed breasts after it saw them. I understand where the baby's coming from.
Seeing Eve caring for babies has an indescribable feeling of pleasantness to it.
So she can smile like that, huh…
I felt an urge of wanting to get a good taste of Eve one more time before I leave for Nambonan.
Let's make tons of love to her on the bed tonight.