After successfully suppressing the in the town of Sorenariini, we were invited to the deputy governor’s residence thanks to Naise’s thoughtfulness. After taking it easy for a full day, I was thinking of waking up in the morning and leisurely heading back to the spring’s shore...

"Yabe, what are we going to do after this?"

Irina asked me.

Ever since I talked with Naise about the slave system, she had been staying much closer to me than before. And the way she addressed me had changed from the polite "Yabe-dono" to just "Yabe."

Irina had always told me to call her by name without honorifics, but she had never done the same for me until now.

...Well, she’s probably worried that if I don’t see her actively staying by my side, I might get distracted by buying female slaves or something and forget all about her.

During Naise’s explanation, I confirmed that this country allows polygyny. Apparently polyandry is also fine. In short, as long as both parties consent and the man has enough financial means to support them, marriage is not an issue.

Even if I were to buy female slaves for some reason, she wants us all to get along... From my perspective, that kind of thinking feels pretty arrogant.

The classic light novel trope of a "harem"... but since I don’t have any cheat abilities, the so-called "Cheat → Great Success → Harem" route (a.k.a. "Cheatem") is impossible for me.

That leaves only the "Normal Harem" route where I buy slaves with my own power and gradually expand it.

...Not that I’m actively aiming for it or anything.

Setting the slave system aside for now, let’s seriously think about what a "harem" actually means. From a man’s point of view, the benefits seem endless, but of course there are downsides too. There’s the financial burden, and the more partners there are, the more mental energy you have to spend on communication. Unlike being with just one person, you’d need to distribute presents, physical affection, and nightly activities fairly evenly, or it’s easy to imagine the women becoming dissatisfied.

Now, how does it look from the women’s perspective?

The benefits... well, if they really love the man and decide they’re okay with sharing him, they get to marry him and live together.

The downside is obviously that they can’t have him all to themselves.

You often hear the phrase "Harem is every man’s dream," and many light novels depict happy harem life. But when you think about it realistically, is it really that great?

When dealing with multiple women, if you don’t treat them all equally, someone will end up sad.

And as for nightly activities... just how much stamina would you need? Two hours per person means ten hours for five women. Anyone talking about a 100-woman harem has to be an idiot.

Though I do have a certain... thing that curves all the way up to my belly button—ah, never mind.

Still, this other world seems like one where harems (or rather, polygyny) might actually be necessary.

It’s an extremely dangerous world. Adventurers, monsters—there’s danger everywhere.

And most of the people who take on that danger are men. Of course there are female adventurers and knights, but their numbers are probably not that high. Those professions also have fairly high mortality rates... In other words, it’s likely that there are more women than men living in this world. In that case, wealthy and capable men taking multiple wives might help ease the situation of women who would otherwise have to live alone.

...I ended up thinking about some pretty complicated stuff. In the end, a harem itself doesn’t seem like a bad thing, but it feels like way too heavy a burden for me.

So Irina, you can relax. The chances of me buying female slaves are probably... well... how should I put it?

Anyway, there’s no need to reach a conclusion right away.

Squeeze squeeze squeeze!

While I was lost in thought and didn’t answer her, Irina grabbed my right hand and was crushing it.

"Irina, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t squeeze so hard. My hand is going to change shape."

"...Yabe, what are we going to do from now on?"

She asked again without letting go of my hand.

"What do you mean ’from now on’?"

"Are we going to keep living in this town? Go back to the spring’s shore? Or head to the royal capital?"

She was asking about our future course of action.

"Right. As for our plans going forward, I’ve been thinking about these options:"

I explained my thoughts.

Return to the spring’s shore and build a house.

Go to Caso Village for a victory celebration.

Move to the town of Sorenariini.

Travel to the fortress city of Felbane.

Head straight to the royal capital.

"You’ve been thinking about a lot of things, Yabe..."

Irina, have you been thinking I’m the kind of reckless idiot who doesn’t think about anything? I’d like to believe I’m actually a fairly thoughtful guy.

"By the way, even though I listed it, going to Caso Village right now would be difficult timing-wise. I’m sure they’d welcome us enthusiastically, but forcing them to host us wouldn’t be right. Heading straight to the royal capital also doesn’t make sense. We don’t even have a reason to go."

I said this while looking away from Irina and letting my gaze drift into the air.

I’d really like to live a slow life without causing any trouble. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

...Of course, in light novels, protagonists who say things like that never actually get to live a slow life. Well, I’m a slime, so living peacefully in a town is still pretty difficult for me right now anyway.

"So, are we moving to this town then?"

I shook my head at Irina’s question. (Though saying "shook my head" is a bit weird when you don’t have a neck.)

"I think Naise and Zoria would give us permission, but it’s still too difficult for me to live leisurely in a town."

"I see..."

Irina looked a little disappointed and cast her eyes downward. Does she want to live peacefully in a town?

She probably enjoyed taking a proper bath at the deputy governor’s house after so long.

It was my first bath in this world too.

...It felt insanely good.

A maid even tried to come in offering to "wash your back," but I stubbornly sent her away. If she saw this body, a scream wouldn’t be the end of it.

"That’s why I’m torn between going back to the spring’s shore to build a house or heading to the fortress city of Felbane to hunt monsters and earn money along the way."

"Build a house by the spring...?"

Irina tilted her head cutely as she asked.

"Yeah. I’m getting worried about you living in a tent all the time, Irina."

"...Yabe!"

She suddenly hugged me. You don’t have to be that moved...

"The problem is I have no clear plan for how to actually build the house."

Irina’s face filled with despair at my words.

Well, it can’t be helped. I don’t know how to build a house. The only thing I can think of is asking the village chief of Caso to send some carpenters. The reward money we just received should cover the cost somehow.

Still, we haven’t finished thoroughly examining all the information about this town yet. I feel like I’m forgetting something.

"Piyo piyo—! (Boss! This is bad!)"

"What’s wrong?"

"Piyo pi pi piiiii! (I was monitoring the northern slum area because I sensed suspicious movement, and I found a group planning to carry out terrorist acts in this town!)"

"Ehh!?"

Looks like my slow life isn’t happening anytime soon!