Side Story: Yuel GO 2.

After Ruruka ran out of the room, I’ve been thinking as I watch Yuel lovingly rub her bulging belly.

What the hell can I do to resolve this maternity situation that Yuel-san is in?

Perhaps because I told her it looks good on her, Yuel keeps picking up the hem of her baggy outfit to admire it, and she gets all bashful whenever we meet eyes. That expression looks like the words “utterly content” are written across her face. I can’t possibly tell her at this late hour to take off her maternity wear.

…But, nevertheless, I can’t afford to leave Yuel looking like this. Pretty much everyone living in this mansion knows that Yuel and I have a master and slave relationship. In light of that, now that Yuel’s belly has expanded, they’ll no doubt think that I’m the father. Which is synonymous with saying that the people within this mansion will think of me as a lolicon who’s made a move on Yuel.

「To put his hands on such a child, that Sage-sama is a deviant after all.」

「I heard that he was the only one who was tempted by the succubus’ childish body, and ever since then I’ve had my doubts…」

「Whenever we’re serving him meals or cleaning the mansion, he always looks at our skirts with lascivious eyes. I knew he would do it eventually.」

I can easily imagine the maids in the mansion coming forth one after another with testimonies like that. At this rate, the image of myself within the mansion that I’ve been carefully fostering, as at times the Great Sage of the Bible and at times the kind guest who cheerfully treats their cuts and burns, will be utterly destroyed. The respectful and familiar existence I’ve built up with the maids will take a precipitous fall into being treated as a lolicon.

…At the very least, I can’t allow Yuel to leave the room in her present maternity wear.

…If Yuel did happen to go outside the room, I won’t be able to stay in this mansion anymore. Psychologically speaking.

「…Come to think of it, Saint-sama told me that she was about to build a mansion for Master, but would it be alright to ask them to make a shed for this child as well?」

As I’m contemplating, Yuel speaks up to me while lovingly rubbing her belly.

「A shed, huh.

…That’s right, I’m going to be living there, and so will Ruruka, so we need to build a dwelling for the dragon too, huh…」

Just as Yuel says, under the saint’s leadership, plans to build a mansion for me in this labyrinth city are currently underway. It seems that funds are being provided by the country and the Church of Medine; I’ve heard that construction has already started. It’s most likely something like a portion of my reward for defeating the evil god. And some high-priced decorations and valuable magic tools have been arriving addressed to me. There were even some convenient-sounding magic tools such as one for recognition inhibition, which allows even a Sage whose face is well-known to naturally melt into the crowd.

…Although it’s a pain that I’ll probably be asked to have an audience with the king sooner or later.

Well, enough about that.

My new home will be built soon. It’s a given that we’ll need to build living quarters for the dragon there. Given how sensible the saint is, she likely included a living space for that dragon in her calculations, but she shouldn’t be aware that this dragon egg exists yet.

「That’s right, I guess we’ll just tell the saint that there might be two pet dragons instead?」

「Yes! Well then, I will go tell her right away!」

Then spontaneously, as if it were a matter of course, Yuel starts to leave the room. So naturally that it doesn’t even occur to me to try and stop her until she opens the door.

「Wait, Yuel!」

I very nearly watch her leave since it was too natural, but I get her to stop at the last second. And yet if I stop her for no reason, Yuel will have her doubts.

「Oh yeah, Yuel, I have something to tell you! Right, the two of us, in private… c’mere, next to me… come sit over here on this bed and let’s talk!」

I come up with a fitting excuse, and call Yuel back.

「…!? Yes, Master!」

When she hears my words, Yuel happily returns to the center of the room. Holding her heavy-looking belly, she maneuvers right up next to me, and plops down onto the bed.

…I somehow managed to stop Yuel. Now all I have to do is come up with a suitable justification for why she can’t leave the room in her maternity getup. Well, that part may be difficult, though. From now on I have to work out a good idea that will conveniently keep Yuel from going outside in her maternity outfit without hurting her feelings.

Then, the instant I begin to think about a pretext that Yuel would be likely to accept.

「…?」

I notice that Yuel’s attention isn’t directed towards me, but somewhere else. Her gaze is on the half-open door that she left ajar a moment ago. And then I realize.

-That half-open door. Through the gap in it… I can see maid clothes.

「May I help you?」

Yuel calls out towards the half-open door. I sense a nuance of “you’ve been standing in front of the room for a while now but why haven’t you come in?” in her words.

「Umm, esteemed attendant, as we were asked to provide garments for you, we thought it only proper to confirm that the size and fit are to your liking… um…」

In response to Yuel’s voice, the door slowly opens to reveal three maids holding cloth and sewing tools.

And in the eyes of those maids is a look of shock at Yuel and I sitting next to each other on the bed. What has them shocked, you ask? That would no doubt be Yuel’s bulging belly.

…Those maids have most likely come to visit this room for the express purpose of making adjustments to Yuel’s clothes. And those maids had just arrived in front of the room at the same time that Yuel tried to leave. Does that mean the reason they didn’t enter the room was because they were stunned from seeing this maternal Yuel? By some chance, my “I want to talk to you alone” which was meant to hold Yuel back might have ended up conveying a suggestive meaning to them. I was really only planning to invent some nonsense to confine Yuel to the room, though.

「Um, if no adjustments are necessary, we will be on our way…」

Then, perhaps out of consideration for Yuel and I having a private talk on the bed together, one of the maids brings that up.

「Yeah, the size of the outfit was just right. Sorry for the sudden request. You were a big help.」

「Master told me it looks great on me. Thank you very much for the clothes. I will treasure them!」

I reply to the maid, but she hasn’t been looking at me since the beginning. She’s not looking Yuel in the eyes either.

She’re merely staring at Yuel’s belly.

After staring at Yuel’s stomach for a while, she timidly looks in my direction too.

…The look in her eyes is not one brimming with respect for the Sage-sama of the Bible. That look is shock and confusion. And then I notice a hint of disgust creep in.

No doubt about it, she’s misunderstanding.

「Hey, about Sage-sama and that servant girl…」

「She is rubbing her belly quite lovingly…」

The other two maids keep sneakily whispering to each other. They’re clearly curious about Yuel’s stomach. Moreover, perhaps due to their excessive surprise, they aren’t keeping the volume of their voices in check. I end up catching snippets of their conversation.

「No, she was normal when we saw her yesterday… and no matter how you look at it, that stomach… in just a single day…」

「Ah, really? That’s true. That would be strange under any circumstances…」

But from listening to the two maids chatter, I realize.

-No matter how you look at it, it would be weird for Yuel’s stomach to suddenly expand in a day or two. Rather than her being pregnant, ordinarily you’d just interpret it as her having something in her stomach.

…Maybe I’ve been overthinking things. If I just act confidently as usual, no matter how much of a maternal atmosphere Yuel is giving off, there’s no way those around us will think that she’s pregnant. Because from the perspective of the inhabitants of this mansion who see me and Yuel regularly, having Yuel’s belly expand that rapidly wouldn’t make any sense, rationally speaking.

「I-Is that so? How fortunate. Well then, please excuse us.」

The maid I was speaking to seems to come to her senses as well and says that. After that, she bows her head low and departs from the room.

…But I wonder why, unlike the other maids, the maid who was talking to me was giving me a look of disgust? Even though she should’ve figured it out right away with a little common sense. As I’m pondering, just across the wall, I hear the maids’ voices.

「But, but y’know, it’s Sage-sama we’re talking about!? I didn’t read anything about it in the Bible, but it did say he can use extraordinary magic that defies common sense… so maybe he can make a girl eight months pregnant in an instant too!?」

Like hell I can.

◆

A few days later.

Sage-sama, whose existence defies common sense, can knock up a girl and make her 8 months pregnant in a single day.

Touching Sage-sama will make you pregnant.

He can put a baby in you just by looking into your eyes.

He’s an outrageous lolicon.

Such rumors have begun to spread among a portion of the maids.

Using the recognition inhibition magic tool I received from the government, I make my escape from the lord’s mansion with Yuel in tow.

Author’s Note: I wanted to show Eight and Geyser.

As I reader I knew I wanted to become a novelist, and before I knew it I started submitting a novel myself, it was made into a book, and it ended. It was a short time that felt longer than it really was, but I think it has been an incredibly important experience for me.

I am deeply grateful to everyone who took part in the making of I Became a Healer in Another World’s Labyrinth City, and the readers.

It feels like the story came to a close rather suddenly, but looking back, the hints about the final showdown are there. More payoff at the end would have been nice, but at least it stayed fast-paced rather than getting bogged down in stale repetition like so many other stories. It’s been fun reading all your comments, especially the ones with detailed analysis.

By the way, whatever happened to the succubus? The last mention of her was that she was knocked unconscious but not dead. Maybe she got killed off-screen, but knowing Shiki, what would he do with the enslaved succubus? Feel free to draw your own conclusions~