Chapter 25: Gathering at the Borderline

The Twilight Frontier, having repelled the Kingdom’s army of fifty thousand.

On the battlefield, the afterglow of Allen’s 【Platinum Embrace】 rained down as particles, completely covering the wounded earth with golden flora.

Tens of thousands of disarmed soldiers, struck by Allen’s affection, fell to their knees in a daze and completely devoid of their will to fight. To them, the small golden furball before their eyes had transformed from a “subjugation target” into an “object of worship.”

(…Phew. …Everyone, thank you all for your hard work. …Is anyone hurt?)

Allen let out a feeble telepathic voice in his mascot form.

As the price for exhausting the Platinum Chain, his fur was slightly dulled — but his companions’ devoted “love (mana)” immediately began to warm him to his core.

“Allen-sama! I’m so glad you’re safe… I really am…!”

Kuu picked Allen up while crying and buried her face into his fluffy body.

“Master! You were amazing! The moment you smashed through that Queen’s shitty barrier, I got so thoroughly electrified I thought my tail was gonna snap off!”

Ferris scattered golden lightning as she sloppily licked Allen’s back.

“…Hold on, stray dog. …Don’t lick Allen. …First, do something about this ‘post-war processing.'”

Luna fluttered her mud-covered robe and stepped in front of Allen.

At the end of her gaze was Elizabeth — elegantly, yet making no effort to hide her obsession, staring in their direction while still in her tattered dress — and Sylphi, sitting on the ground using her massive scythe as a makeshift cane.

“…Oh my. …Luna, I have no reason to be ordered around by you. …Allen, come here. …The victory is yours. …As promised, I shall surrender to your forces.”

Elizabeth stood up with a fearless smile.

At her words, a shiver ran down the spines of Luna and the monster girls.

“…’Surrender to our forces,’ you say!? Don’t tell me you intend to stay here!”

“Naturally. As the general of the defeated army, it is my duty to be ‘monitored’ by the victor’s side. …Besides, I can’t just abandon my role as Allen’s educator halfway through. …I must thoroughly ‘retrain’ him from scratch.”

Elizabeth’s fingertips traced the “Platinum Chain” around Allen’s neck.

The chain no longer rejected her mana. That was the result of Allen’s choice to overwrite “domination” into a “bond” — but at the same time, it meant Elizabeth had gained the “right to touch” Allen.

“Onii-sama~!! Sylphi is going to live with you too~!!”

Sylphi pounced on Allen with ferocious momentum.

She snatched Allen from Kuu’s arms and rubbed his small body aggressively against her cheek.

“Sylphi is so, so happy she lost to Onii-sama! Onii-sama’s light was so hot, it completely melted Sylphi’s heart into mush! …So I’m never, ever letting go for the rest of my life. …I’m going to put Sylphi’s bed right next to Onii-sama’s!”

(E-Eh, wait, Sylphi…! I can’t breathe, my fluff is going to be crushed…!)

“…I won’t forgive you. …I absolutely won’t forgive you!!”

Luna’s mana ran wild, and the surrounding pebbles floated up in indigo light.

“Allen is my childhood friend, and the lord of this territory! You women are invaders! Go back to the royal capital right now and spend the rest of your lives writing letters of apology!”

“…Hmph. …What a petty woman. …Allen, it seems appointing this Thieving Human as your educator in my stead was a mistake. …Now, Allen. …Order an expansion of the log house. …I require a top-tier ‘Queen’s Chamber’ just for me.”

“Sylphi wants a ‘room together with Onii-sama’!!”

“…Allen-sama. …May I dissolve these women with my poison right this instant?”

Misha glared at the two royals with eyes that had reached the absolute zenith of murderous intent.

In an instant, the battlefield transitioned from a blood-soaked war into a hellish civil war over “Allen’s ownership.”

In the end, through Allen’s proposal — which was basically him pleading in tears — Elizabeth and Sylphi were permitted to reside in the log house under the conditions of “disarmament” and “being under Luna’s surveillance.”

A few hours later.

In front of the log house, the combat engineers of the surrendered Kingdom’s army had already begun “royal palace-grade” expansion work at breakneck speed, using lumber reinforced by Allen’s mana.

“…What is this? …My house is steadily being dyed in those women’s toxic purple and red…”

Luna teared up as she watched the log house completely changing its appearance.

In the living room, Elizabeth had placed a high-class sofa she’d brought right in the center, and was elegantly sipping tea with Allen resting on her lap.

“…Little Allen. …This coat is a bit rough, isn’t it? …Rather than some cheap frontier product, let me groom you down to the roots with the ‘Magic Brush Exclusively for Holy Beasts’ that I ordered from the royal capital.”

“Onii-sama, Sylphi will massage your legs! —【Blood Thread Healing】!”

Sylphi wrapped the threads — originally meant to slice enemies to pieces — around Allen’s tiny limbs, beginning a relentlessly thorough massage.

(…A-Agh. …It feels good, but the way you two are looking at me is way too scary…)

Caught between Elizabeth’s “refined dominating love” and Sylphi’s “cruelly monopolizing love,” Allen was on the verge of being crushed both physically and mentally.

Just then, Ferris, Misha, and the others barged into the living room one after another, letting out threatening growls.

“Let go of Master, you royal capital females! Master’s lap is my reserved seat!!”

“…Oh my. …Why doesn’t the stray dog go act as a watchdog outside? …Can’t you tell that my crest, carved into Allen-sama’s soul, is rejecting you all?”

The sparks flying between the women scorched the air in the living room.

Allen realized too late that, although he had supposedly brought them to their knees as a “King,” he had made the irreversible mistake of gathering them all in one place.

(…Even though I saved them. …Even though I forgave them. …Why do I have even less freedom than before?)

The Platinum Chain around his neck resonated with their “love,” shining more dazzlingly — and more heavily — than ever before.

A hero who repelled the Kingdom’s army of fifty thousand. The Golden Spirit King who founded a nation on the frontier.

And yet, the reality was an inescapable mascot prince being “fluffed” around the clock by the most terrifying yandere heroines and monster girls, all bearing an overwhelmingly heavy love.

The golden territory — Allen’s Territory.

The curtain on an endless “prison of love” disguised as peace had now quietly risen.

(…Luna. …Help me…)

“…Impossible, Allen. …Because I have no intention of letting you go either.”

Luna hugged Allen from behind and playfully nibbled on his ear.

Allen gazed at the distant sky, feeling a comfortable despair amidst the many layers of warmth enveloping him.