After All, She Was Free!

"The kind of wife who can have lots of babies! A really well-behaved wife who won't cry even if you hit or scold her! A wife you can marry after raising her for two years! Do you need one?!"

Lin En asked, stunned:

"What are you doing?!"

Hana Ye said, o(≧口≦)o:

"If you need one, then as long as you take Hana Ye home, Hana Ye will be your little wife! Do you want me?!"

Lin En: "?!!!"

"..."

After a long while, Lin En looked at her doubtfully and asked:

"Are you sure?"

Hana Ye stared wide-eyed and swallowed. "S-sure... I think..."

After all, she had no other choice. Under these circumstances, she would definitely be killed if she stayed here. With the Red Moon descending, the monsters in the Spirit Realm would become even more dangerous.

Never mind another attack like the one just now-even a random Evil Spirit would be more than she could handle!

o(╥﹏╥)o

Lin En thought it over.

Trading little girls?

Uh...

Thinking about it, this really did seem like a proposal with zero investment and limitless returns.

After all, he only had to complete an escort mission to get a free wife. No matter how he looked at it, that was pure profit.

And since he had finally become human again, surely having a wife was perfectly normal if he wanted to fit into human society in a normal, legal way.

Lin En hesitantly reached out.

And poked her.

Hmm.

She might have been a little ditzy, a little small, and a little useless, but she did seem like a suitable candidate for a wife.

After all, she was free...

But Lin En quickly paused, shook his head, and rubbed his chin in thought.

No, that wouldn't work!

No matter how he looked at it, that wouldn't work!

Sure, it sounded like a very good proposal, but if someone saw them, wouldn't he easily get mistaken for a vile lolicon and executed?!

After all, he had never had a thing for anything...

"Can you cook?"

Hana Ye replied, wide-eyed, "I can eat!"

"Can you do laundry?"

Hana Ye replied, wide-eyed, "I can buy clothes!"

Ah! (oﾟ▽ﾟ)o She really was one very useless little girl!

Wouldn't he have to spend his own money raising her if he took her back?! But making her take customers would be a bit too wasteful. No matter how he looked at it, this was a...

"Deal."

"Huh??"

Lin En solemnly held out his hand and shook hers.

After all, a deal with such enormous returns was too good to pass up.

A few minutes later.

Hana Ye sat there, o(╥﹏╥)o, holding a pen as she wrote out an Indenture Contract with extreme reluctance.

Then Lin En grabbed her little hand, dipped it in some of the monster's sticky blood, and pressed a large handprint onto it.

Smack-

[As Hana Ye is unable to pay or repay Lin En's employment and protection fees, she hereby agrees to pledge herself as Lin En's little wife in exchange for Lin En escorting her home. This agreement is executed in duplicate and may not be revoked. Anyone who goes back on it will be eaten.]

"Perfect (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧!"

With that, he now officially had a legitimate wife in this world.

She might have been a bit short.

But he had only just arrived. He couldn't afford to be picky.

As long as she worked.

Hana Ye asked, o(╥﹏╥)o, "Um, are you sure I can buy myself back later?"

With his eyes closed, Lin En put away the contract in satisfaction and said:

"Of course! I'm not that unreasonable. But I'll have to check the going rates around here first. We'll discuss it once I've settled on a price. Although..."

Lin En grinned.

"If you leave it too long, and one person accidentally turns into two, then it'll cost double. Hehehehe."

"???!"

On the street shrouded by the Red Moon, Lin En carried his bundle over his shoulder, a bedsheet tied around his waist, and strode toward Gear Street with dead-fish eyes.

Beside him, the curly-haired little girl kept one hand tucked against her chest while the other clung tightly to two of Lin En's fingers. She looked nervously around, (ó﹏ò｡), her heart in her throat.

Because there was no question about it.

Wandering these silent, deserted streets in the dead of night, during the most dangerous time of all-the descent of the Red Moon-was an extremely dangerous thing for anyone to do!

"S-so! Are we really not going to attract something's attention? This is my first time being outside this late!"

Hana Ye trembled uncontrollably and instinctively huddled closer to Lin En.

Lin En (ー`´ー)

"That's not the point. The point is, why do I have to wrap this thing around my waist? It's like wearing some damned skirt. Even I'm starting to feel like a pervert!"

Hana Ye shouted:

"Coming out wearing nothing, or just your undies, is what makes you a pervert!!"

Creeeak-

A sinister gust blew out of nowhere.

The doors and windows of the buildings on either side shifted faintly open and shut, making terrifying noises.

"Aaaaaah!"

Hana Ye jolted in fright and leaped up to cling to Lin En's neck. She frantically looked in every direction, (இ﹏இ`｡), and covered her mouth.

Grinding his teeth, Lin En held the little brat in both arms and said:

"Can you stop freaking out over every little thing? There's jack shit here! If you keep screaming, I'll leave you behind!"

"No!"

Hana Ye tightened her grip.

"You said you'd take me home!"

After all, she had no other choice. Under these circumstances, selling herself was better than staying behind to die.

She could have her dad buy her back when the opportunity arose.

Hopefully, she wouldn't get pregnant with a monster baby before then.

o(╥﹏╥)o

"So what the hell is going on around here, anyway? I heard someone mention [Spirit Realm Overlay] earlier. Did that guy who was chasing you come out of the Spirit Realm too?"

Lin En asked uncertainly.

Hana Ye gulped and, still clinging to Lin En, said:

"Um... I don't really know much either. I've only heard our teacher talk about it in class. At night, or whenever there isn't enough light, the place we're in can easily overlap with another terrifying world..."

"And that overlap is... is called..."

[Spirit Realm Overlay]

After listening to her halting, muddled explanation, Lin En broadly understood what was going on.

Lin En looked up at the enormous rift in the sky and rubbed his chin.

"So that's how it works."

The so-called Spirit Realm Overlay was the overlapping and misalignment of two worlds.

In her teacher's words, the [Spirit Realm] was, in a sense, more like the reverse side of their real world. The two were opposite sides of the same whole, and legend even claimed it was where the dead went.

But ever since that enormous rift appeared in the sky, the boundary between reality and the Spirit Realm had been broken.

And the most terrifying time of all...

Had been the period of [Eternal Night] a thousand years ago. Back then, reality and the Spirit Realm had become completely entangled. The entire world was dark, filled with monsters and demons and sinister horrors. It had been the darkest, most difficult, and most terrifying period in human history.

It had been a terrifying age without a god.

"But that period didn't last very long, because a thousand years ago, a powerful new goddess was born! She pierced the darkness, charged up into that high rift, and killed countless monsters. In the end, she became the blazing sun! That's how she helped us break the curse of Eternal Night!!"

Hana Ye stared wide-eyed as she chattered away at him.

"That's our Church's Valkyrie! Badass, right!"

With a rustle, she unfolded her portrait of the Valkyrie in front of Lin En. On it was the "Goddess in Torment" image Lin En had altered it into.

Apparently, the room had been so dark that she hadn't noticed Lin En's alterations when she put it away...

Lin En replied with dead-fish eyes:

"Badass!"

After all, she was currently locked up in his little dark room.

And if that was the case...

Lin En rubbed his chin.

That Valkyrie really hadn't lied to him. What she had said matched what was down here. Still, he certainly hadn't expected the world below to be like this.

"Huh? Wait! Isn't all of this common knowledge? You didn't know?"

Hana Ye finally caught on and asked uncertainly.

Thump-

Lin En rapped her on the head and said, (ー`´ー):

"Of course I didn't know. Would I ask if I did? Can't you see I've lost my memory? If there weren't something wrong with my brain, would I just get lost like that?"

Hana Ye clutched her head, o(╥﹏╥)o, and said:

"That still doesn't mean you can just hit people on the head! Honestly... wah..."

They continued on their way.

But almost the moment they passed the intersection and were about to head onto Gear Street...

Suddenly.

Hummm-

In the distant direction of Gear Street, a dazzling beam of light shot straight into the sky. Several enormous magic circles covered in runes unfurled across the heavens, layer upon layer.

Magnificent and brilliant, they radiated a piercing light, dazzling to behold.

Hana Ye's face instantly drained of color as she asked:

"W-what's going on... what happened?"

Lin En was taken aback too.

At the very moment that enormous magic circle unfolded, another new circle slotted into it, making it even more dazzling.

Then came red, blue, and cyan, one layer nested inside another. The entire sky flickered, becoming an extraordinarily brilliant spectacle.

That was...

The sky-spanning magic circles reflected in Lin En's pupils as he said:

"What huge fireworks!"