ISEKAI SMARTPHONE DAYS: The Wives' Meeting Is Peaceful (?) Again Today
One bored sovereign lord. One mischievous goddess. One runaway puppy that shatters windows with a single bark.
It's an ordinary weekday afternoon in the Duchy of Brunhild, and Mochizuki Touya—its sovereign lord, wielder of the smartphone, fiancé to nine women who run the country better than he does—has nothing to do but stare at the ceiling and complain about being bored. The Wives' Council is handling governance. The Selene River is babbling peacefully. All is well.
Then his older sister text
ISEKAI SMARTPHONE DAYS: The Wives' Meeting Is Peaceful (?) Again Today - My fiancée is here! Puppies beat dates!
The shattered windows let the afternoon light pour into the castle corridor, making it strangely bright.
Mochizuki Touya was taking the stairs to the Olive Room two steps at a time. The collar of his white shirt was damp with sweat. The silver brooch at his chest clinked with every stride.
"Damn it—where'd that little mutt go!"
Breathless, he burst out onto the third-floor corridor.
And there she was.
Long golden hair swayed gently in the wind blowing through the broken window. One eye green as emerald, the other blue as sapphire—a striking mismatch. Her back was straight, her bearing elegant.
Yumina Ernea Belfast. First princess of the Kingdom of Belfast, chairwoman of the Wives' Meeting—and one of Touya's fiancées.
"Touya-sama. Thank goodness you're safe."
Yumina smiled in relief.
"Yeah, I'm fine. More importantly—the puppy?"
"About that... the moment I leaned out the window, it came scrambling up the wall. It ran circles around the room, then vanished down that corridor over there."
She pointed toward the corridor leading to the castle's east wing.
"Got it. Thanks. I'll go after it."
As Touya started to run, Yumina smoothly stepped into his path.
"Please wait a moment."
"Huh?"
She fixed her mismatched eyes directly on him.
"Catching the runaway subordinate god comes first. But if we chase it blindly, it will only escape again. Let us sort out the situation first."
Her voice carried the crisp authority of a chairwoman.
Touya found himself stopping in his tracks.
(She really is reliable at times like this.)
He thought it honestly, from the heart.
"...All right. So where do I start?"
"First, the puppy's current location and the damage done so far. Touya-sama, please tell me what happened, step by step."
Touya steadied his ragged breathing and thought back over the morning.
"Uh, so this morning Karen came down from the sky. She brought that puppy with her. And the second it barked, every window in the castle shattered."
"Every single one?"
Yumina's brow lifted slightly.
"Yeah. Every last window in the castle, smashed to bits. Then Karen said 'I'll leave the rest to you' and took off somewhere."
"...That does sound like Karen-sama."
Yumina smiled wryly.
"After that, the puppy's been running all over the castle. I tried to catch it once, but it slipped right past me. And here we are."
"I see. I understand the situation now."
She gave a small nod.
"Then let us begin a strategy meeting at once. The Olive Room should do nicely—it's warded with soundproofing magic, so the puppy's barking won't disturb us."
"R-right."
Touya could only nod along to her brisk instructions.
—The Olive Room.
Eight chairs around an oval table. On the wall hung a "landscape painting" that Touya claimed to have done long ago. He insisted it was art, but every time the fiancées looked at it, they whispered, "Is this some kind of code?"
Yumina settled into the chairwoman's seat.
Touya took the chair across from her.
"Then let us begin the strategy meeting."
"Yeah, yeah."
"First, allow me to share my view on what that puppy actually is. As Karen-sama said, it is a subordinate god—a lesser being that serves the gods. It looks like a puppy, but it wields a special energy called divine power."
"Divine power—that stuff drains when it bites you, right?"
"Yes. Karen-sama said the same. A bite drains a little of your divine power."
"But what does that actually do? I haven't been bitten yet, so I've got no idea."
Touya tilted his head, and Yumina raised a finger.
"Divine power is close to a portion of one's life force. When it is drained, it causes temporary fatigue and a drop in vitality. Recovery requires rest, or purification by a priest."
"Huh. So basically, one bite and you're wiped out."
"Precisely."
Touya crossed his arms and stared up at the ceiling.
"Sounds like a pain."
"Fufu. Isn't it precisely because it's a pain that it's worth catching?"
"Is that how that works?"
As Touya stared at her in disbelief, Yumina rose smoothly to her feet.
"Now then, I shall analyze the puppy's traits in detail with my Eye of Appraisal."
"That magic eye of yours can see stuff like that too?"
"Yes. It's a power to see through a person's true nature, but I can also observe the flow of divine power. I can even tell where the puppy is by tracing the residue of its divine power."
Yumina folded her hands before her chest and quietly closed her eyes.
Then she opened them.
The green eye on the left and the blue eye on the right both took on a faint glow.
Touya caught his breath without thinking.
No matter how many times he saw it, this moment always felt strange. Yumina's eyes grew deep and clear, as if gazing into another world.
"...I can see it."
She murmured softly.
"The puppy is on the west side of the castle, near the kitchens. It's still moving. And also..."
"And also?"
"I saw the divine-power absorption trait clearly. That puppy absorbs divine power from anything it touches. But only on contact. As long as you keep your distance, there's no effect at all."
"Only on contact... so we just don't touch it directly?"
"Exactly. Then a net will solve everything. We can capture it without ever touching it directly."
Yumina wore a smile full of confidence.
"...You're amazing, you know that?"
Touya was honestly impressed.
"I couldn't read that puppy's movements at all—all I could do was chase it. And you figure out its traits in an instant and even come up with a way to catch it."
"Fufu. Hearing you praise me makes me happy."
Yumina smiled, looking a little bashful.
Seeing that smile, something deep in Touya's chest warmed, just a little.
(She really is reliable in moments like this.)
As his fiancée, as chairwoman of the Wives' Meeting, and as one girl. Every time he saw this side of Yumina, Touya thought, "I'm glad I get to be with her."
"All right, I'll go get a net. There should be a sturdy one in the storehouse."
As Touya moved to stand, Yumina called out again, "Please wait a moment."
"We're not finished talking yet."
"Huh? There's more?"
Touya tilted his head, and Yumina gave him a beaming smile.
That smile was, for some reason, just a little bit terrifying.
"So—what shall we do about the dates?"
"...Huh?"
"The dates. The date plan for you and the rest of us, decided at the Wives' Meeting. Once the puppy business is settled, we were to go on dates in turn, weren't we?"
Touya's voice came out as a near-shout.
"Whoa whoa whoa! You're bringing that up now?! The puppy's running all over the castle!"
"That's precisely why. Catching the puppy and planning the dates should proceed in parallel."
"In parallel—come on, you..."
Touya clutched his head.
"Besides, why dates? We're already engaged, aren't we? What's there to learn from dating at this point?"
"Oh my. Touya-sama, do you think dates are only for couples before engagement?"
"They're not?"
"They are not. A date is for spending time with someone precious and making memories together. Precisely because we are engaged, I want to treasure time that belongs only to the two of us. Isn't that the natural way to feel?"
Her words were direct and utterly serious.
"...But we're always together. We live in the same castle, eat the same meals."
"Fufu, that's true. But that's separate from a date. Dates have a special magic to them. Different time, different place, different air. The hours two people spend there become an irreplaceable treasure."
Yumina gently placed a hand over her heart.
"I want to spend that kind of time with you, Touya-sama."
Her eyes were utterly earnest.
Touya faltered under that gaze.
"...Fine. Fine, I get it. We'll talk about the dates properly after we catch the puppy. That good enough?"
"Fufu. You ran away just now, didn't you?"
"I did not! It's a question of order!"
"Then once we catch the puppy, we go straight to our date. Promise me."
Yumina held out her pinky.
"...You actually remembered that custom?"
"Of course. Pinky swear—if you lie, you swallow a thousand needles."
"There's no thousand-needle-swallowing custom in this world..."
Touya sighed, but hooked his pinky around hers anyway.
Her finger was slender and warm.
"It's a promise."
Yumina smiled mischievously.
(...Well. It'll work out somehow.)
Touya muttered to himself.
—The castle storehouse.
Touya had come down to the underground storehouse with Yumina.
In the dim stone room, wooden crates and barrels were stacked high, and the air smelled of dust.
"Pretty sure there was a sturdy net around here somewhere..."
Touya made his way through the storehouse, opening crates and searching shelves.
"This it?"
What he found was a large net woven from thick hemp cord—big enough to wrap two grown adults completely.
"This will do nicely. We'll need rope for the capture as well."
Yumina took down a sturdy-looking rope hanging on the wall.
"But can we really catch it with this? That puppy's seriously fast."
As Touya spread the net, Yumina gave a little laugh.
"With your magic, my magic eye, and this net, it's more than enough. You drive the puppy toward me, I predict its movements—and then we catch it all in one sweep."
"You're really full of confidence, huh."
"Yes. I may not look it, but I hate to lose."
Yumina winked playfully.
Touya couldn't help laughing at her expression.
"All right. I'm in. So where's the puppy now?"
Yumina activated her Eye of Appraisal once more.
"...The garden. That rose garden on the east side of the castle. It seems to be digging up the flower beds."
"The flower beds?! Those roses are the old gardener's pride and joy!"
"Let's hurry. We can't let the damage spread any further."
"Right!"
The two of them burst out of the storehouse and ran for the garden.
—The rose garden on the castle's east side.
A beautiful garden where roses of every color bloomed in profusion.
In the middle of it, a small puppy was busily digging up the soil of a flower bed.
"Found you!"
The puppy looked up at Touya's shout.
Fluffy fur, round eyes, perked-up ears.
By any measure, it was just an adorable puppy.
But soil was spilling from the corners of its mouth. At its feet lay a flower bed, mercilessly torn up.
"Hey! Look what you've done!"
Touya approached with the net raised.
The puppy tilted its head.
"Touya-sama, to the right! It's going to jump right!"
Yumina shouted, predicting its movement with her magic eye.
"Right, got it!"
Touya swung the net to the right.
—But.
The puppy leaped left, faster than Yumina had predicted.
"What?!"
"Whoa!"
Slipping past Touya's feet, the puppy lightly brushed against his leg.
It was only a touch.
And yet.
"—Ah."
Strength drained from Touya's left leg.
He couldn't feel it. Couldn't move it. As if just that leg had fallen asleep.
"Touya-sama?!"
"Damn... divine power absorption!"
Touya dropped to one knee.
In that opening, the puppy darted over the rose bushes and ran off toward the castle's outer wall.
"Damn it, we were so close!"
Touya struck the ground with his fist.
"...Fufu. It's rather good at this, isn't it?"
Watching the puppy's fleeing back, Yumina wore an expression that was, if anything, delighted.
"You're laughing at a time like this?!"
"But isn't it fascinating? That puppy outran my magic eye's prediction. It's no ordinary creature."
"This isn't the time to be impressed! My leg still won't move!"
At Touya's shout, Yumina giggled and came closer.
"It's all right. Divine power absorption is temporary. Rest a little and it'll move again soon. I'll support you."
Yumina took Touya's arm and draped it over her shoulder.
"...Sorry about this."
"Not at all. I'm your fiancée. This much is only natural."
Her body was delicate, yet somehow reassuring.
(Getting propped up by a girl at a time like this—kind of pathetic, honestly.)
Touya smiled bitterly to himself.
But at the same time, he thought:
(Still... it's
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