Confrontation With Mark

Elnette smashed through the door with a body slam and rushed into the room, then rolled once across the floor to kill her momentum, broke her fall, and stood up.

“That is far enough! We are taking Marie-san back.”

“Well done making it this far. I will praise you for that. However, you are already too late. As you can see, Marie is carrying my child.”

After regaining her stance, Elnette shouted at Mark. Mark, in turn, praised Elnette for breaking in. Elnette looked toward Marie, who was sitting neatly on the bed. Then she noticed that Marie’s belly was swollen large.

“You bastard. What have you done to Marie-san!”

If she had thought calmly, there was no way someone’s belly could suddenly grow large, but Elnette, who had lost her composure, believed Mark’s words and spoke to him with anger in her voice.

“Marie-san!!”

““Marie-san!””

“Mom!!”

Following Elnette, Kent, Caro, Rachel, and Catherine also entered the room.

“Heh heh heh. You did well to come here. However, I will not hand Marie over.”

Mark declared this to Kent and the others.

“Pfft, Big Brother, what even is that? Hearing him say that while he’s naked and tied up in tortoise-shell bondage is just funny, not intimidating at all. And what is with that chest? He has something even bigger than mine attached to him.”

“Hey, you. …Ahem. Right now, Mark’s appearance does not matter. We have to rescue Marie-san quickly.”

“Pfft, I see. So that was what happened.”

“Kent-san, there’s a pervert over there.”

Rachel laughed when she saw Mark’s appearance, and Kent, while holding back his own laughter, prioritized rescuing Marie. Caro seemed to realize something and laughed as if she had understood, while Catherine was completely creeped out.

Mark was naked, and although his hands and feet were free, he was standing in a position that hid Marie while tied up in tortoise-shell bondage. For some reason, Mark had a bountiful swelling on his chest, and the tortoise-shell binding emphasized that swelling even more. As for Marie, she was on the bed farther inside, looking at Kent and the others with a wry smile. In contrast to Kent and the others, who had already lost their will to fight because of Mark’s appearance, only Elnette seriously held up her special baton and faced Mark.

“I do not wish to resort to rough methods, but we are taking Marie-san back.”

“Unfortunately, I cannot agree to that.”

Elnette gave Mark her final warning.

“Hey, Big Brother. Doesn’t Mark’s voice sound strangely high?”

“Now that you mention it… I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before.”

Rachel whispered to Kent. Kent had been too tense to notice, but once she mentioned it, he realized Rachel was right.

“Here I come!”

“Come!”

“What!”

Mark blocked Elnette’s attack with his bare hands. Elnette had never experienced someone defending against her in that way before, and she let out a cry of surprise.

“Is that all your attacks amount to? They look as if they have stopped.”

“What? Then how about this?”

Elnette followed up with a flurry of blows, but every single one was blocked.

“Then this time, I will come at you!”

Mark slowly started walking and headed toward Elnette.

“This looks like the way a zombie walks. Do we have to aim for the head?”

“If we aimed for the head, he’d die, right? That would probably be bad.”

His slow movements looked like a zombie’s, so Rachel said this to Kent. Kent also remembered a game he had played long ago that had zombies in it and ended up answering her.

“Whoa, stay away! Stop!”

Elnette desperately resisted, but every attack was blocked, and Mark came down over her. Unable to support Mark’s weight, Elnette was pushed to the floor.

“S-stop it. Whoa!”

As Elnette desperately resisted, she happened to catch on something, and there was a sound like a thread snapping. Then Mark lost his strength and collapsed as he was. In that opening, Elnette slipped out from beneath Mark, who had been covering her.

“Hah, hah. That was close.”

Elnette said this while breathing heavily with her shoulders.

“Al-chan, are you satisfied now?”

“Oh my, you noticed?”

Caro, who had already noticed before entering the room that Al was there, spoke toward Marie, and Al’s voice came back.

“I told her we should stop, though.”

Marie, who was sitting on the bed, said this with a wry smile. Then Marie’s enlarged belly wriggled, and Al came out from inside her skirt.

“It was just a little joke.”

“Al!”

“““Al-chan!”””

“Um, what is going on?”

Kent and the others called Al’s name. Only Elnette could not grasp the situation and looked blankly stunned. Al explained the circumstances that had led to this point.

“So that was what happened… Still, to drive me this far into a corner, you are quite skilled.”

“Elnette-san, you were amazing too.”

Al and Elnette praised each other. Apparently, Al had felt something ominous and had been looking around town to find the cause. Right then, she had witnessed Marie being kidnapped, hidden herself, and followed them. Then, when Marie was about to be attacked by Mark, Al had stepped in to save her. She had actually intended to take Marie back after that, but when she noticed Elnette and the others breaking in, she came up with a prank on the spot and had apparently been manipulating the unconscious Mark for fun. By chance, Elnette had cut the thread-like thing attached to control him, causing Al to lose control and making Mark collapse.

“So what is with that way of tying him up and the chest?”

“Um, when I came to rescue her, this human was already naked, so I simply tied him up as he was. Incidentally, I used a method from Master’s knowledge for the binding. As for the chest, he seemed interested in Marie-sama’s chest, so I attached something of the same size.”

When Kent asked Al, Al explained the reason.

“Big Brother, so you had a hobby of tying people up like that.”

Rachel looked at Kent with half-lidded eyes and said this.

“I do not have that kind of hobby. I just happened to know it as knowledge.”

“If Kent-san has that kind of hobby, I will cooperate, you know?”

“If Kent-san wishes it, I do not mind being tied up either.”

Kent denied it, but Caro and Marie seemed somewhat willing. The atmosphere had softened as they talked like that, but then they noticed that Catherine had not joined the conversation for a while.

“Um, Catherine?”

When Kent looked at her in concern, Catherine was standing there with large tears streaming down her face. Then she leapt into Marie’s chest.

“I’m so glad you’re safe, Mom. I-I was so worried and hurt, thinking something might have happened to you, Mom.”

“I’m sorry. I made you worry. It’s all right now.”

Catherine cried loudly in Marie’s arms. Marie gently stroked Catherine’s head. Kent and the others watched over the scene with gentle eyes.

“Mom… you say?”

Mark regained consciousness and said this.

“Oh? Human, it seems you have woken up.”

“Eek!”

Al sat down in front of the collapsed Mark and spoke while glaring at him. Mark’s fear from being hurt by Al came back to him, and he cried out. However, while suppressing his fear, Mark stood up.

“Are these two not sisters?”

“They are mother and daughter, through and through.”

When Mark said this, Kent answered.

“How can that be… I thought she was only a little older than me, yet she has a daughter this big…”

Mark lost his strength, became unable to stand, and sank to his knees.

“Marie-san is at least over thirty—ghah!”

Rachel tried to say something, but suddenly clutched her stomach and collapsed.

“Rachel-chan, you do not need to say anything unnecessary, all right?”

“Yesh…”

Marie spoke to Rachel with an expression that looked as if veins were bulging at her temple. Rachel somehow managed to answer.

“Then we will be taking Marie-san back.”

“Hmph. Do as you like.”

When Kent spoke to Mark, Mark answered as if spitting the words out. Then Kent and the others left the room, leaving Mark behind.

“What the hell is this?!”

They heard Mark’s scream from behind them, but Kent and the others continued onward without paying it any mind. On the way, when they returned to the spot where the two maids had collapsed, Catherine and Rachel spoke.

“Al-chan, could we take these maids back with us?”

“I’m asking too.”

“Hmm, a lot happened, so I used plenty of magic today… I want to keep some strength in reserve too.”

Normally, Al would probably have immediately answered that she would take them back, but this time she hesitated.

“We can’t carry them ourselves, and if we have Elnette-san carry them, we’ll be in trouble if something happens.”

“Getting out safely is more important. It cannot be helped. It is unfortunate, but it seems we have no choice but to give up.”

Elnette could probably carry two maids easily, but losing her ability to guard them while they safely left the mansion would be a serious problem. With no other choice, Rachel and Catherine gave up on taking the maids back.

Then Kent and the others proceeded down the corridor, and just as they reached the area before the stairs leading down, Al moved to the front and took a stance.

“My apologies. It seems I played around a little too much.”

“It appears so.”

A short moment later, Elnette also sensed the meaning behind Al moving forward and readied her special baton.