The night before Exa and co went to hunt Adamantia.
A certain change was happening to Arcadia and the others who
remained in the Dwarven Village.
"W-what!? Why are you all shining?"
Yes, as Nazarie said, the three saintesses' lower abdomens—their
Phoenix Seals, to be exact, began to shine faintly.
"This is…"
Of course, Arcadia and the others were also stunned because they
didn't know the cause but,
"…I see. Looks like Exa and the others were able to meet Igniversama safely."
"Yes, so it seems. And he obtained more power apparently."
"Hehe, this thing's amazin'. I can't believe it's able to share us his
power even though we're separated by a great distance."
All three nodded, seemingly having come to understand the rough
gist of the situation.
"Mumu…"
But of course, that case only applied to the three saintesses.
Nazarie, who was the only one out of the loop, said with a slight
dissatisfaction, "What's getting you all so excited? Can somebody
explain to me?"
"Oh, sorry about that. It seems like Exa has received new power
from the goddess of fire, you see. Power is flowing into us through
the Phoenix Seals," said Arcadia.
"Huh!? Something like that is possible!?"
Magmell nodded to the surprised Nazarie, "Yes, it seems so," and
continued, "this is the same as when the other goddesses bestowed
their powers upon us, we get the feeling like we are acquiring new
Combat Arts and Magic Arts."
"Hohou, that's amazing. I don't know how the hell it works, but I do
get that it's thanks to the deep connection between you gals and the
youngster."
"Ha, ya get that right! I mean, we're his 'wives', after all!" Ophir bared
her teeth and laughed.
"You gals are so lucky," Nazarie said in envious manner, "I wish I
also get a husband who I can boast about like that."
"Hou? Then do you want to become Exa's concubine too? No, the
number of concubines has increased considerably. If more is added
to the count, he'll have less time to spend with me, the legal wife…"
"Certainly… as the legal wife, I have mixed feelings about him
getting more concubines…"
"Well, can't be helped. Imma make ya an exception as the legal
wife."
After a moment passed.
"""No, I'm the legal wife!?"""
"..."
Looking at the saintesses all claiming to be the legal wife, Nazarie
had a melancholic look on her face as she stood by the side, not
wanting to get caught up in their seemingly very tiresome dispute.
◇ ◇
"Thank you for having us."
As we lowered our heads, Kaya-san looked at us (or rather, me) with
a lonely expression on her face. "Um, when can we meet again…?"
"U-uhh, for now I have to deliver this Hihiirokane to the village and
go see the goddess of thunder, so it'll be after that, I think…"
"…I understand. Then please be sure to come see me again, all
right? I will wait for you as long as it takes, Exa-sama."
"O-of course! I'll definitely come see you!" I pumped up my fist.
Although Kaya-san still looked lonely, she gave me a smile, "Yes."
And so, we left Magrid but,
"—Make sure you meet that girl regularly, okay?"
"Huh?"
Zana said such a thing out of the blue, and I became befuddled for a
moment.
Tirna agreed with Zana's opinion, "I concur. Otherwise she'll
probably—kill you."
"Huh!?"
Why!? I became confused.
Zana sighed and said, "Such an obedient girl usually has a terribly
strong desire to monopolize bottled up inside her, after all."
"Even so, that's no reason to kill someone, right!?"
Well, I won't die as I'm immortal, though!?
"Mm, what I said was too much. Sorry. But I'm sure Kaya is very
lonely. So do your best not to make her sad."
"Yeah. Although she can feel your warmth through the Phoenix Seal,
it's still different from meeting face to face."
"…You're right. I'll keep that in mind. I've become able to fly faster
thanks to Igniver-sama too, I'll go see Kaya whenever I have time."
"Yes, you should do that. Well, it'll be troubling if you don't show us
as much care, though."
"Mm, don't give special treatment to Kaya alone."
"Y-yeah, okay. Then uhh, I'll do my best to care for you all altogether.
The only thing I have is my stupidly high stamina, after all."
When I nodded strongly, the two broke into a smile with very happy
looks on their faces.