"—Ha!?"
"Mm? What's wrong? Why the ugly face?"
Meanwhile.
As Nazarie was working in the minotaur village, she found Porco suddenly freezing in shock and gave him a suspicious stare.
He must have spotted another busty married woman, Nazarie sighed and began to move her hands again, but then Porco said with a pale face, "F-for some reason, the image of Saintess-sama trying to act sexy despite her chest flashed in my mind for a moment… S-something must be wrong with her…!?"
"Something must be wrong with your head! You pervert fatty!"
"Owie!?"
After slapping him in the face with a crisp pah! sound, Nazarie grabbed Porco by the collar, swung him in circles, and raised her voice, "And what do you mean by 'despite her chest', huh!? Are you trying to say that we 'have-nots' can't be sexy!? Is that what you mean!?"
"Abababababababa!?"
Having vented out all her anger, Nazarie let go of Porco's collar, causing him to fall to the ground, body twitching and eyes rolling back. She then crossed her arms, "However," and said, "While I can't say I have known Elma for long, I know her long enough that I can't put it past her to do something like that. In which case, what you saw was probably some kind of vision that came from your power as the 'Shield'."
—Swoosh!
"C-can you elaborate!?"
"This sort of topic perks you up in an instant, huh…"
Seeing Porco instantly back on his feet from a state of near death, Nazarie cringed, and then said while shrugging her shoulders, "What I mean is that Elma is probably having the Phoenix Seal engraved on her at this very moment."
"Gh, sob… So the time has finally come for Saintess-sama as well…"
"You don't need to cry over it…"
"I can't help it… sob. Ophir-sama, Magmell-sama, Terra-sama, Sinus-sama, Shiva-sama, Arcadia-sama, Igniver-sama, Turbo-sama, Phinis-sama, Fluga-sama, Zana-sama, Tirna-sama, and even Saintess-sama all have fallen to Exa-sama's poisonous fangs—I mean, have become his wives…"
"You said 'poisonous fangs' just now, didn't you? No, more importantly, is it just me, or was there a hidden meaning in the order by which you list out their names…?"
Porco continued to sob while sitting like a mermaid, whereas Nazarie continued to look at him with suspicious eyes.
◇
"A-anyway, now that all of us saintesses and the goddesses have been engraved with the Phoenix Seal, let's go and beat that sour-faced jerk!" Elma declared with a still embarrassed face after being jostled around by the other girls.
Certainly, we now had filled all the prerequisites, so we were ready to get back to the other world at any time, but…
"Well, that's fine and all, but… that position is exclusive to his wives; are you trying to declare something by taking it?"
"…Huh?"
Arca suddenly pointed her finger at Elma, causing Elma to blink her eyes in a daze.
When she lowered her eyes, she found that her arm was tightly intertwined with mine, our hands clasped like a couple, to boot.
"…"
She stared in silence for a few seconds.
"W-what's going ooooooooooooooooonnnn!?" Elma distanced herself from me with a bright red face.
I wanted to say that was my line, but oh well, she had said it in such a loud voice anyway…
"W-what do you mean by doing that!? O-oh, I know!? Since you have embraced me, you want to take responsibility, don't you!?"
"No, I have no such intention though…"
"T-there's no way!? T-then why were you and I holding hands like a c-couple!?"
That was my question.
It'd taken me by surprise when she'd intertwined her arms around mine and clasped my hand out of the blue in the middle of the discussion.
"Well, calm down now, child of man. I saw it myself when you intertwined your arm around his. In all likelihood, you've subconsciously fallen in love with Exa after being embraced by him. There is nothing strange about that. If anything, your body was simply being honest, that is all," Igniver-sama said.
"No, that's definitely not it!?" Elma shouted.
"Hahaha, you are so innocent, how cute." Igniver-sama laughed composedly.
"Don't call me innoceeeeeeeeeent!?" Elma held her head in her hands for the nth time.
Yes, as Igniver-sama said, doing itwould bring you and your partner closer, and you would find your partner even more loveable than before.
Well, with Elma's stubborn personality, I doubted she'd honestly admit it.
"Fumu, I see. If that's the case, it can't be helped, then. It may already be too many, but I'll accept you as the 14th wife—no, if we are to include Iris, then you're the 15th wife," Arca nodded wisely.
"15th!? Hang on? Exa has that many wives!?"
Elma widened her eyes, and Aetia raised a voice of protest, "Hey~, how could you forget to count me in~? I said I'm gonna be Darling's wife earlier~!"
Arca made a troubled face. "Muh, 16th, then. Congratulations, Elma. You're the sixteenth wife. I expect you to work hard."
"No, that's not something to be congratulated about!? Or rather, what's with your condescending attitude!?"
As Elma made a sharp retort, Turbo-sama interjected, "Hey, hang on a second," and said, "I never said I agree to become this guy's wife. You too, right, Terra, Sinus?"
But.
"Huh? I-I don't particularly mind…"
"…Hah?" Turbo-sama wore a dumbfounded face.
"Yes. I have been worshipped as a god for so long, yet never have I felt such a comforting warmth, so…"
"H-huh, even you, Sinus? W-what's wrong with you two…?"
Terra-sama's and Sinus-sama's cheeks reddened like they were shy, causing Turbo-sama to be stunned. Ophir patted her on the shoulder and said with a grin, "Just be honest already, Old Hag. But even so, I'm the '3rd' and you're the '14th'."
"…(Vein popping)."
Gui~, Turbo-sama pulled Ophir's cheeks without mercy.
"I-it huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrttt!? I-I'm sorry!? I-I'm sorry for teasing you!?"
"Then, hand me the position of the 3rdwife. Starting today, you're the 14th wife."
"U-um, Turbo-sama, that doesn't solve anything…"
Despite my comment, Turbo-sama declared, "Who cares! Starting today, I'm the 3rd wife! No, in fact, I'm taking the position of the 1st wife!" setting off yet another chaos.