Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 32: Papa, Save Them

"Well, just a little more and I’ll have everything ready," said the one-handed guard, arranging the carriage, tying the last ropes with difficulty using only his good hand while the other remained bandaged against his chest.

Kira came running and jumped straight onto the carriage, sitting on the roof with her legs dangling, excited in a way no one had ever seen before. "Yay! A trip! And this time it’s without being trafficked!"

Isabela arrived soon after carrying Yukihime in her arms, and the child looked at her with the infinite curiosity of someone who has just discovered something important and needed confirmation. "If Papa is my father, and you’re with Papa, then you and Kira are my mothers, right?"

Isabela almost tripped. "W-What!? Me and Haru!?"

Yukihime blinked confused, her head tilted to the side. "Who is Haru? I was talking about Papa..."

Isabela realized that Yukihime didn’t even know his name, she just kept calling him Papa, and she couldn’t answer properly because Kira had started shouting from upstairs, banging on the carriage roof with excessive excitement.

"TRIP! TRIP! TRIP! TRIP!"

"Kira, stop it!" Isabela climbed into the carriage with Yukihime still in her arms, sitting on the opposite side where Haru had already entered and was completely absorbed in tinkering with the system, his fingers moving in the air touching invisible things while reading notifications with absolute concentration.

Yukihime continued, while Isabela helped her sit down. "So if Papa and Haru are the same person... is my father’s name Haru or Papa?"

Isabela sighed, trying to maintain her patience. "Your father’s name is Haru."

"No, my father’s name is Papa," Yukihime corrected with total conviction.

"...Okay."

"And I have two mothers, right, Papa?" Yukihime turned to Haru, waiting for confirmation, but he didn’t answer. He was still too focused on tinkering with the system, trying to decide what to evolve first because he hadn’t properly updated his body yet, nor had he read the new skills carefully, and he had so much accumulated work that...

"Right, Papa?" Yukihime asked again, her fox ears twitching, waiting for an answer.

Haru still didn’t listen, the system screen open showing stat distribution options and a list of skills he needed to organize before anything else.

Yukihime asked for the third time, her voice getting lower, her ears starting to droop. "Papa...?"

"MASTER!!!" Kira shouted from above, banging forcefully on the ceiling.

"What is it?!" Haru replied, annoyed, looking up irritated at being interrupted in the middle of important reading.

"Answer your daughter!"

Haru blinked, looked ahead, and saw Yukihime huddled up with her ears completely lowered, her big eyes staring at him with that silent sadness of an ignored child. He felt an immediate pang of guilt.

"What’s wrong, daughter?" he asked in a softer voice, shutting down.

Yukihime perked up instantly, her ears perking back up. "If Papa is my father, then I have two beautiful mothers, right Papa?"

Haru looked at Isabela, who had turned her face away pretending to be very interested in the scenery outside, and then looked up where Kira was hanging upside down, looking out the window into the carriage, waiting for an answer.

"Yes, you have two beautiful mothers."

Isabela blushed but didn’t deny it, continuing to stare out the window with exaggerated intensity.

Kira’s eyes widened. "Huh! I thought I were the servant’s master... not mother! Not master? Not master?" she asked, confused but not seeming unhappy with the idea.

Haru, who just wanted to get back to tinkering with the system, sighed deeply, looked at the carriage ceiling, and thought aloud: "How did I end up like this..."

After defeating Vandris and escaping the devastated battlefield, they returned to the inn where they had stayed for the past few days. After a brief rest, which was actually Haru fainting for twelve hours straight while Isabela stood guard and Kira looked after Yukihime, Kira had brought up the subject of leaving for her village, taking Yukihime with her because that had been her mission from the beginning: to find the Nine-Pointed Star and protect it.

But Yukihime refused immediately, clinging tightly to Haru’s leg and saying she wanted to stay with the Pope. Kira, who had spent her entire life searching for this divine child, understood at that moment that she couldn’t force this decision. Wherever Yukihime stayed, she would stay too, and she would only talk about leaving for the village when Yukihime was old enough to decide for herself. Since Yukihime, who was supposedly a goddess to Kira’s tribe, had chosen to call Haru "Papa" and treat him as true family, Kira had no choice but to swear loyalty to Haru himself, becoming his loyal servant until her mission could be properly accomplished.

And today was the day to finally leave Ashvale, and here they were packing their last things in front of the inn.

"Well, it was an honor to have you as guests," said the innkeeper, locking the doors of the establishment behind him. "Despite everything, hehehe."

"Are you also leaving town?" Kira asked from atop the carriage, curious, because it seemed strange for the innkeeper to lock the inn in the middle of the day.

"Unfortunately, yes. It’s not just me, but the whole village..."

Haru looked around out the window and realized for the first time that the entire village seemed agitated, wanting to move. The streets were much emptier than before, many houses had locked doors and closed windows, and carts were being loaded with belongings everywhere.

The innkeeper explained while tying some things to his own cart. Something about creatures coming from the forests to the north with increasing frequency, constant attacks, insufficient guards, and the Vandris mansion, which had always protected the village (even though it was problematic), was now destroyed and no one was going to rebuild it. The village was defenseless, and the people were afraid of being next. He finished with a heavy sigh: "But if there were a savior to save our village... we’ve been through so much here, it would be sad to abandon everything like this."

Haru heard that and thought automatically. "No fucking way! I just want to go to the capital and focus more on my harem, not on saving random villages... typical NPC cue."

He turned his head to Kira’s side, completely ignoring the obvious cue the guy had given.

"Anyway, what a shame," the innkeeper said, resignedly walking away.

Haru thought quickly as he adjusted his position. "This is for the protagonists, they’re the ones who came with the complete gamer kit, I don’t want to die again, yesterday I received a message from DEATH literally... naaaa, fuck this village."

He impatiently tapped the side of the carriage. "Let’s get out of this village already!"

"Dad... dad... dad..." it was Yukihime, a small voice calling.

Haru pretended not to hear, looking away determined to ignore it.

"Save them, Dad..."

"Are you crazy, kid? Not me..." he thought.

"Dad... go..." Yukihime insisted, and that placed an absurd emotional burden on Haru that he wasn’t prepared to handle.

"Why me, universe!?"

"Dad... go!"

"Damn it! I’m not like that! Damn you, innkeeper NPC..."

He sighed deeply, turning to Yukihime.

"Okay, daughter. We’ll do it, we’ll save this village..." he paused, smiling with that gentle and honest smile he reserved only for her, "...but only after we reach the capital and finish at the academy, okay?"

Yukihime didn’t seem entirely convinced, but nodded.

Haru banged on the carriage again. "LET’S GO! Get out of here now!"

The carriage didn’t move.

"HARU!" Isabela shouted. "MASTER!" Kira shouted.

Both at the same time, identical tones of disapproval.

Haru looked ahead, then to the sides... The innkeeper was still visible, slowly walking away. "Looks like... it’ll have to be right now..." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

She sighed even deeper.

"For a healthy harem... healthy relationships. If I’m selfish now, it’ll come back to bite me later."

She stood up and got out of the carriage, shouting to the innkeeper: "HEY! WAIT A MINUTE!"

The man stopped, turning with a smile of someone who had expected it.

Haru walked towards him with heavy steps, like someone making a decision against their will but knowing it was the right one.

"About this business of saving the village..." she began, scratching the back of her neck, "...how much time do we have before everyone leaves?"