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“Rir, my plan was… Once your body had become better by some method or other, and once it looked like you’d be able to work on your own, I’d release you from slavery. So, if you tell me that you’ll be my slave for your whole life…”
“Huh… ah… b-but… uhm… even if I’m no longer a slave… erm… look, I can be your partner and friend… or your follower… can’t I? Oh…! If that’s what you want, I could also… be your lover…”

Can I really refuse her offer? She seems more desperate than ever.
Stayin’ together… She wants to keep our connection, be that as friends or partners. I guess that’s what it’s about.

If I refuse… it might injure her heart again. It’s possible. And then she might relapse and even start throwin’ up her food again…
In that case, I can’t just turn her down, I gotta gently explain to her why it’s impossible. There’s just no way, I gotta return home. I need to find Kanata and Sakura and then go back to Earth.

Still, even if I properly explain that to her, the likelihood of her believin’ me is low. This world might be fantasy-like from my perspective, but it’s the other way round for natives like Rir.

Gently… right, I’ll tell her gently.

“Rir… won’t it be difficult to stay together with me for your whole life?”
“T-That’s true. I didn’t mean it like sticking to you 24 hours per day. I meant it in the way of staying loyal to you, Master, for the rest of my life…”
“Stayin’ loyal for your whole life… You shouldn’t use that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on me… Listen to me. It has only been two weeks since we met. Won’t you regret giving somethin’ that important to someone you just met?”
“I won’t regret it.”

I fell silent at Rir’s instantaneous reply. It seemed like her intentions were firm.

“Master… you say that… it has only been two weeks since I met you, but… For me, while it’s been a mere two weeks, you’ve done so much for me. That’s why… I want you to have it.”
“Won’t there be a point when you meet someone to who you’d rather give it than me?”
“…I wonder, is there someone else who’d save my live twice?”

She’s tenacious. What do I do, should I just accept it? I can’t… after all…
Right, that’s it, then. No choice but to convince her by tellin’ her the reason I can’t take it, without hidin’ anythin’. It’s gotten to this point.

“Rir, I understand well how you feel.”
“Woof! T-Then you’ll…!”
“However… There’s a reason I can’t accept it, whether I want to or not.”
“Huh…?”
“Listen well, I’m not from Anazumu.”

As seriously and in as much detail as possible, I told her how I’d gotten here, what kind of world I lived in before, and what my objectives were. And finally, also that I needed to return to Earth.

“I see… So that’s why you have these gaps in your knowledge and… it explains why you have black hair and eyes, an uncommon appearance¹.”

Rir didn’t doubt my story even a bit, she believed all of it. To begin with, it was apparently extremely rare to have the same hair and eye color in this world.

“That’s ’bout it. In short, it’s impossible for you to stay with me for the rest of your life. That’s why I can’t accept such a precious gift. Oh, just to be clear, it isn’t because I don’t like you on anythin’.”

“…Master, didn’t you misunderstand something? I’m giving you this as proof of my loyalty, you know? I’m not giving it to you with the meaning of ‘I want to be with you the rest of my life’, but as a declaration of ‘I plan to swear my loyalty to you and be my whole life with you’. It’s about the thought and has nothing to do with where you are, Master. It would mean a lot to me, if you, someone that I respect, accepted it.”

Her intention to swear loyalty for her whole life… I see. In that case, it should be fine to accept it. Looks like she won’t have any regrets givin’ it to me, none at all…

Is she really fine with me? That means I’m a special someone to her, no? She’s givin’ this to me since she thinks of me like that²?

“I’ll ask you again; Is it truly alright for me to have this?”
“Yes!” Rir nodded with a smile.
“Understood, then I’ll…”

When I was about to stretch out my hand towards the proof she was holding, she stopped me with the palm of her other hand.

“Please wait, there is a proper pose for when to give this to someone.”
“S-Sure.”

Rir prostrated herself again and held out her hand, as if she was offering tribute. On the palm of her hand rested the proof of loyalty. I carefully touched it, making sure it wouldn’t unravel, and then took it in my hand. Some of the blood got on my hand.

“Woof. With this, you have accepted my proof of loyalty! I formally swear loyalty to you, Master, for the rest of my life.”
“Right… So, prostratin’ yourself was that pose you mentioned, was it…?”
“Indeed. It is said that in ancient times you also shared a passionate kiss while giving the proof to someone. Even when giver and receiver were of the same gender…”
“R-Right. I see.”

I heeded her request.

I’m still not super sure whether I did the right thing, but I accepted it, so what’s done is done. I told her about my end-goals, too… so might as well release her from bein’ a slave.

“Rir. In that case, I have somethin’, too.”
“What is it? I have sworn my loyalty to you, so I will do anything you ask. Anything.”
“Right. About that…”

I took out the written contract, from when Rir had become my slave, of my magic bag.

“This is… the contract stating that I belong to you, Master, isn’t it?”
“Yep, if I destroy it, you’ll be freed from slavery. You get what I’m tryin’ to say, right? It’s somethin’ that needs to happen sooner or later.”

If I didn’t do this before going home, Rir would stay slave to a master who’d be no longer in the same world.

“Yeah… Master, can I ask a question?”
“Sure thing.”
“Uhm… Even if I’m no longer your slave… can I stay with you until you return to your own world?”

The way she asked me with upturned eyes reminded me more of a dog than a wolf.
Well, I guess dogs and wolves are similar in that regard.

“Yep, that was my plan.”
“Woof! Thank you!”
“Then… I’ll destroy it.”
“…Alright.”

I tore the contract apart. That moment, both it and the pattern on one of Rir’s shoulders shone.
She opened up her dress and looked at her shoulder. The slave brand had disappeared, leaving no trace.

“With this, I am no longer your slave, Master.”
“Now we’re equals, right? You no longer have to call me ‘Master’.”
“Sh-… Shu³… Can’t I keep calling you ‘Master’?”
“…You can call me whatever you want, Rir.”
“Understood, Master!”

Guess she’s more used to callin’ me that, after all. No need for her to force herself, she’ll get there, little by little.

I carefully placed Rir’s proof of loyalty and the cleanly torn contract in the very first key box we had obtained.
That’s this matter dealt with… Though to be honest, there’s still somethin’ I gotta ask.

“By the way, Rir.”
“Hm~? What is it, Master?”

She seemed to be elated. Seeing that made me think that it hadn’t been a mistake to accept her proof of loyalty.

Well, I should continue talkin’.

“During your explanation… you mentioned things like marriage proposal and bein’ lovers… What did you mean by that? Do you have a thing for me⁴?”
“Woof!?”

At my sudden question, Rir, who likely thought the serious talk had reached an end, stiffened and her eyes went wide. Her mouth froze in a smile.

“Erm… It’s not that I would mind being in such a relationship with you, Master… I mean. Among the wolfkin, there are also some who give their proof of loyalty with that meaning.”

Even with her mouth frozen in a smile, she’s able to talk well, ain’t she…?

At any rate, this feels embarrassin’. For me. I’m feelin’ ashamed of misunderstandin’ her, y’know.

“Dang. I kinda thought you meant it that way, Rir. Guess I was bein’ conceited.”
“Woof~!?”

Her eyes opened even wider than before.
The hell… I just had that feelin’, so I tried askin’ her. Why’s she that shocked?

I didn’t wanna make a repeat of havin’ someone die on me without tellin’ ’em how I feel. That’s why I asked her. Though the result is me bein’ too full of myself.

“What’s wrong, Rir? Shouldn’t I have asked that?”
“Woof… woof… Master, how do you feel about me? Do… do you like me?”

Well, from the flow of the conversation, it’s probably in the “as a friend” meaning.

“Well, yes.”

If I didn’t like her, I’d have quickly released her from slavery after saving her, handed her enough money to get by for a while, and then said goodbye to her.

“Huh!? R-Right! You’re right! Master… In that case… you know?”
“Hm?”
“I… I like you too, Master. That is… romantically⁵…”
“Wha-…?”

For an instant, my mind couldn’t keep up and I ended up blurting out a weirdly sounding response.
Hang on… Did Rir just confess to me? A sudden confession…? Nah… there was nothin’ sudden ’bout it.

Uhm… huh? That means I wasn’t simply full of myself? To think that I was right.

How do I react to that? Other than Ayumu, who’d been put in girls’ clothes by Mika⁶ and did it as a joke, I got no experience of someone confessin’ to me. What do I do?

“Master… I understand that you need to return to this ‘Erf’ place, but… uhm… just while you are here, I’d like to… go out with you…”

If I give her the OK at this point, Rir and I will start a relationship, won’t we?
…What do I do, part of me says “It’s fine if we do while I’m in this world” and another is like “We better stop at this point since it’ll make sayin’ goodbye only harder”.

I need some more information.

“Rir. What do you… like about me?”
“What I like about you…? Everything… but if I had to narrow it down, I’d say it’s that you’re gentle and that you saved me.”
“Ah… well… right. T-Thank you.”

Wah… what do I do… I don’t wanna reject her… There’s no way such a cute girl would ever confess to me on Earth… Furthermore, there’s now also a new part of me that says, “Even now, sayin’ goodbye will be hard”.

Rir peered at my hesitant expression. Then, her face immediately turned dejected and sad. Her ears also flopped down.

“Master…? Is it because I’m a former slave? I understand… I’m sorry for-”
“I’m fine with it.”
“R-Really? You want to have a relationship with someone like me?”
“Yes, I do.”

Hah~… I went and said it…
I blurted it out before she gave up. Before I’d even fully decided internally, my damn mouth ran out on me and said it.

“Awoo~!! Master! Master!!”

She flung herself at me with all her power. Her fully healed tail was wagging so wildly, it looked as if it might tear itself from its base any moment.
Well… I guess this was the right thing to do…

_____
____
__

“Master, from now on… even if it’s only a short time, please treat me well.”
“The… the same goes for me.”

A short time later, Rir had calmed down again and was bowing her head deeply. This apparently wasn’t due to her disposition but something customary of wolfkin.

“Woof… Once we’ve rested for a bit, I’d like to have a… date… in the dungeon. Master.”
“S-Sure. Let’s do that.”

That she’d call dungeon divin’ a date…

Before that, we should take care of our stats.

“Rir, let’s first go over our stat screens. We probably leveled up, so we should use our points.”
“You’re right… Then I’ll check-”

She went rigid with her eyes wide open.
She sure does that often today. From how shocked she looks, our levels must’ve gone up a ton.

Following her example, I also opened my status screen.
For sure… this is… how should I put this?

Our bodies stayed frozen in shock for several minutes.

TL notes:
So, unlike Alim and Mika, who’re still hiding it, Shuu came clean about being from another world and didn’t meet the disbelief he expected. In a world like Anazumu with a skill system that offers close to infinite possibilities, I don’t think travelers from other worlds would sound that impossible (even here, we have some scientific theories that would make travel to other universes at least theoretically possible). And he even ended up getting a girlfriend in the process. Good for him.

At any rate, with 9 chapters this was the longest uninterrupted stretch focusing on one of the Yggdrasil teams (though the longest stretch without any Mephilad chapters is still to come). It’ll be a while until we find out what shocked Shuu and Rir that much, though I’m sure it’s pretty easy to guess what happened.

1. While I absolutely loathe the “black hair + eyes are super rare in this fantasy world clearly based on medieval Europe” trope (seriously, did you even TRY to check how people in southern Europe look like?), I guess it works in Anazumu with their technicolor hair.
2. I’m not sure about this part. The original is more like “Have I become someone special to her? No, since she’s giving this to me, I’ve already been special to her.” At least if I correctly understand the differences between the two sentences.
3. She’s alternating between hiragana and katakana here. I guess she has trouble pronouncing his name.
4. A light novel protagonist who doesn’t ignore these romantic implications, causing frustrating romantic subtext for an untold number of chapters? What bizarro universe is this?
5. And Rir, too, making sure there are no ongoing misunderstandings for several volumes? Is the sky still blue?
6. The more we hear about him back on Earth, the less convincing his “I never acted like a girl” from chapter 28 becomes.