Our Daughter's All Kinds of Trouble

Well then. Although we had reconciled before, this incident made it clear—Leona was no longer a threat.

Just as Rokuko is an effective trump card against Haku-san, even if Leona were to become hostile, saying "I'll sic Soto on you" would settle things. She's like a ferocious beast with a safety lock now.

Leona beats me, I beat Soto, and Soto beats Leona.

Ah, seriously, it's a rock-paper-scissors situation.

Once upon a time, Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms devised a strategy of dividing the realm into three factions, and I now truly understand how such a three-way standoff brings about a strange kind of peace.

We may not be equals, but I think we've become neighbors who can keep each other in check.

Now, I can finally shake hands with Leona from the bottom of my heart.

If it weren't like this, I might've thought, "If she dies and the problem goes away, maybe I can just leave her be." But now I'm feeling something more like, "Soto likes her, so maybe I can lend her a hand… just a little."

… Could it be that Soto factored all this in when she locked Leona up?

No, let's stop there. That way lies endless conspiracy theories.

By the way, I made sure Soto properly apologized to Leona.

Dragging the perpetrator in front of the victim is pretty cruel, but Leona didn't seem to mind all that much, so I let it go.

… No, seriously. I really don't get the relationship between these two. Leona, despite being the one who was locked up, started by putting Soto on her lap and petting her. Soto just naturally climbed into Leona's lap and I didn't even have time to stop her.

And Soto, while getting pet, meekly apologized in a kittenish voice, saying "I'm sorry, Leona-san…" Meanwhile, Leona made this twisted smile like she had just bitten into something sickeningly sweet and said, "It's fine".

Ah—how to describe this…? If I had to say, it's like a toxic boyfriend and his overly dependent girlfriend? My daughter's definitely the toxic one, though… Ugh. Complicated feelings.

"Oh, Soto-chan. By the way, I'd like to hear more details about how I'm supposed to die… Actually, no one told me I was going to die. If I'd known, I could've—"

"Yes! Now that we have Papa's cooperation, it's finally time to explain! I didn't stay silent because I wanted to see Leona-san bawling like a baby and trembling in fear, no sir!"

… You did want to see it, though. The way you said that tells me you did.

"—The truth is, the Light God is about to go all, 'Time to kill'."

And she casually drops the name of an absurdly dangerous enemy.

"Huh, why? Did I do something to make a high-ranking god hate me…? Actually, maybe I did?"

"If I explain the details, they'll immediately move up their schedule and attack, so it's a secret! Just telling you this much is already stretching the time limit to the brink—seriously, the brink!"

"… So you couldn't tell me before Kehma agreed to help."

"Exactly! If the goal were just to keep Leona alive, I could stay by her side constantly and she'd be fine. Though the reason for that is also a secret."

Of course, when you talk about future knowledge, it affects the surroundings and changes the future itself—but with gods, it's worse. The moment they hear that you're talking about them, they could go all, "Oh? You wanna talk about that? Then let's go to war."

Each one of them is a war-grade threat all by themselves. Piss them off, and war is a real possibility.

"I mean, if the Light God's even thinking 'Time to kill'… what the hell did you do, Leona? Well, it's you, so you probably did something."

"I haven't done anything to high-ranking gods… aside from, you know, hopping back and forth between factions. But that's kind of part of my nature as 'Chaos', so it can't be helped, right?"

She glanced toward Soto, who probably knew the truth, but didn't ask.

… Actually.

"I mean, I am a hero, so going up against the Light God seems like a terrible idea."

"Even for you, Kehma-san, going up against a high-ranking god is tough… Why am I the only one being targeted, though?"

"He let you off for hundreds of years, didn't he? I could be next any time… But seriously, if our opponent's the Light God, what am I supposed to do as a hero? I'm starting to think abandoning Leona might be the smarter play."

"True… Ugh, I wonder if I can even run away properly."

Leona sighed deeply.

"No way! I only came clean because Papa's on our side! Fine then, I'll spill the Light God's secrets and force Papa to support Leona-san—"

"Wait. Wait. Chill, Soto. I never said I wouldn't support you. I did say I felt like abandoning her, though."

"… Really?"

"Yeah. Have I ever lied to you?"

"You never lie, but you do love to deceive."

Damn, she knows me too well. That's my daughter for you.

"… Anyway, how about sticking with Wataru? Maybe you'll absorb some good luck from him."

"Wataru-san is about to leave, which means Leona-san and I would be separated, so I reject that plan. Besides, even if it's Wataru, I'm not giving up my Leona-san!!"

"Right, how about we let Leona out of captivity already, okay?"

"… Soto-chan? I'd really like to go to the bathroom on my own now."

"NOOOOO!! I DOOOON'T WAAAANT TOOO!!"

"… Let her go to the bathroom."

It took a full hour to peel Soto off Leona.

I mean, come on, Soto. You could teleport to her in a second if you really wanted. Being "separated" is kind of meaningless for you… geez.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

And so.

Now that I've returned from Wakoku, the remaining three of the Four Heavenly Kings were also heading back.

Originally, the plan was for them to stay only while I was away in Wakoku, so this was just fulfilling that promise. They only stayed a bit longer because of the whole Soto incident.

"Ughhh, I thought this would be a vacation, but I ended up working non-stop… I'm scared of my own workaholism!"

"Misha, you were just being played by Soto-sama the whole time. Right, Dolce?"

"… Amelia, you're not one to talk. Honestly, I might've been the only one who actually enjoyed this vacation."

Misha and Amelia had been running all over town-building projects under Soto's influence. Dolce just shrugged at the two of them.

But I knew from Soto that Dolce had also been involved. She'd trained the monster girls Soto deployed for city administration with proper bureaucratic education. A few of her hand-raised subordinates had even been poached by Soto.

… My daughter is scarily competent.

After we—Rokuko, Soto, and I—saw those three off, Soto murmured—

"… Not as much as you, Papa. The urban planning and promotion of construction techniques were all things you were supposed to do in the future anyway. I just took the credit."

"Wow. So you were stealing my future achievements…? That actually helps a lot."

"Future-you told me to take the credit if I could, so you're welcome."

We clicked our fingers and high-fived in sync. That's my girl. Way better than Wataru, who keeps trying to shove achievements on me.

"Hey Soto. Just out of curiosity, how successful was that version of Kehma?"

"Oh, well, it's kind of a spoiler, but… Thanks to your accumulated achievements, future-me ended up being a duke's daughter."

"So… that's one rank above a viscount, right, Rokuko?"

"It's the rank right below royalty. Also, the rank above viscount is count, Kehma."

Right, right. I was just trying to deny reality.

…

"Oh, by the way, I'm leaving the new town to you, okay? The admin staff are all your monster girls anyway."

"Well, I did handle everything, so I'll take responsibility. As the mayor of the Karisoto Ward, leave it to me. But if anything comes up, you'll help me out, right, Papa?"

I'll help a little, sure. I am the village chief, after all… or is it mayor now?