The Battlefield

The tweeting birds heralded the arrival of morning.

For some reason, my body felt heavy. Opening my eyes and looking blearily at my chest, I saw a willowy little hand hanging on loosely to my shirt. Shifting my gaze to the side, I found Lulu fast asleep, latched onto my left arm.

We hadn’t been this close when I went to sleep; she must have snuggled up to me, mistaking me for Arisa.

Next, I checked my opposite side.

There I saw Mia, her frowning uncomfortably in her sleep as two large mounds pressed down on top of her head. Above, the owner of the pair in question slept peacefully, one arm around Mia and the other flung across my chest. Fast asleep, the two really did act like sisters.

I would’ve felt bad waking everyone up, so instead, I let the girls’ soft warmth and pleasant scent lull me back into a light doze.

The fact that my gaze locked onto the heaving of Nana’s chest for a moment before I did so could be attributed to my male nature.

I put a lot of effort into shutting down the physiological phenomenon that might normally have occurred in the morning—I’d appreciate a little forgiveness for enjoying my position here.

“Master, breakfast will be ready shortly, so please get up.”

Liza, who’d taken the dawn shift of the night watch, came over to wake me up. The slight chill in her voice was likely just my imagination.

I felt a bit guilty now, to the point where I almost wanted to apologize, but I bit it back and simply wished her good morning instead.

Our voices had woken up Lulu and Mia. Coldly pushing aside Nana’s embrace, the elf gave a short, simple, “Morning.”

“M-Master, I-I’m sorry! I was so tired, I just—”

Realizing that she was clutching my arm, Lulu hurriedly scuttled away from me. Her pale skin flushed red all the way to her ears.

“A-and to think you had to wake up to an ugly face like mine first thing in the morning—”

Lulu started to apologize with increasing self-loathing, but I cut her off.

“I don’t mind lending you an arm anytime you might need it. Besides, I think you have a lovely face, Lulu. I just wish I knew how to phrase it so you’d believe me.”

“L-lovely……?”

As if she couldn’t believe her ears, Lulu gaped like a fish.

I didn’t want to sound like a pickup artist, but I hoped that maybe it would at least alleviate Lulu’s complex a little bit…

It’s pretty amusing to watch her pretty face warp between expressions, but I should probably get up now.

I smiled at Lulu gently as I started sitting up.

Meeting some strange resistance, I pulled off the blanket to find Pochi and Tama fast asleep, clinging to my shirt.

So these two were the culprits of that weight and warmth I’d felt earlier.

I pinched their noses lightly to wake them up before I told them to change out of their pajamas into clothes for the day.

After Mia pushed them off, Nana’s breasts remained upright in a way that valiantly defied gravity. The sight was so bewitching that my hand threatened to move on its own, but since there were children watching, I forced myself to control those urges.

Noticing my line of sight, Mia rather irritably squeezed Nana’s chest to wake her.

“—Start-up sequence initiated. Execution completed. Mia, utilization of chest buffer unit as means of awakening resulted in excessive pain levels, I report.”

“Mm, sorry.”

Nana sat up stiffly with a robotic stream of muttering. I believe the short version was something like, “Don’t wake me up by grabbing my boob. It hurts.”

Mia apologized briefly to Nana, patting her own slim chest rather glumly.

After that, Pochi and Tama, Lulu and Nana began changing clothes, so I moved to the other side of the horse-drawn carriage and did the same.

“Satou.”

“What is it, Mia?”

Thanks to my “Quick Change” skill, I was already decked out in new clothing.

“Dry.”

Mia handed me a towel, took off her pajamas on the spot, and turned her back toward me.

“Night sweat.”

Oh, so she wants me to wipe it off for her?

Mia had been emotionally attached to me from the beginning, but after I saved her from Zen, she’d started playing the excessively vulnerable spoiled child like this.

I didn’t mind giving out hugs or whatever, but it was probably best to take care with things like this, so I gave her some advice.

“Mia, you shouldn’t randomly undress in front of a member of the opposite sex like this.”

“Mm.”

She replied with a short response and a nod, but I wasn’t sure she understood.

Guess I’d better ask Liza or Lulu to talk to her about it again later.

“Okay, all clean.”

“Thanks.”

I finished wiping down her back and held the towel out to her. Instead, Mia spun around and stood there with her arms open, waiting expectantly for me to wipe her front as well.

Obviously, she wore underwear on her lower half, but only her long hair covered her upper body.

“Here, too.”

“Mia, you can wipe the front by yourself.”

“…Satou.”

“No, you’re not changing my mind on this.”

Mia entreated me with her best pleading puppy-dog eyes, but I wasn’t falling for it. I had zero interest in her innocent little body, but something still felt increasingly immoral about the situation.