Elf Ojou-sama 4: Elf Oujo-sama With Feeling (Patreon)

Elf Ojou-sama 4: Elf Oujo-sama With Feeling

…

Commissioned by Althero

Wordcount: 1000.

…

Loki looked at me.

I looked back.

Riveria sighed.

“For goodness sake, the child will be named when it is born. Not now.” Riveria provided a logical, calm voice of reason, therefore she was ignored. “The two of you have spent the last two hours coming up with names. Why don’t we do something more productive?”

Loki broke gazes with me to address Riveria.

I took the opportunity to scratch out “Fenrir” because it was too damn Chuuni.

“This is productive, Alf. I’m having the most fun in decades. Let me have this.” Loki spoke and reacted to my action at the same time. She crossed out “Hikari” with unerring precision. Bitch… that was a good name for a daughter! “No. Light is too boring. Moving on.”

“Better boring than weird.” I grumbled and stared at the list. Loki’s list was filled with legendary, cool names; thus, it made my eyes hurt, and I wanted nothing more than to burn it. I’d cut down more than half their number, but there were always more. “Riveria… agree with me.”

“No. Agree with me! I’m a god!”

“You’re both idiots.” Riveria shook her head and sighed… before suddenly freezing. She reached over to the bucket beside her, while both Loki and I leaned away. Thankfully, she managed to stop herself from committing a very ungraceful act. You get to live another day, bucket-san. “I should be meeting with a healer, conversing with my father, and—

“Sent a runner to the Elven kingdom last night.” I told Riveria without hesitation. She blinked in confusion. “You need to the best care. Your dad terrifies me, but I’m not risking a thing.”

“And, I’ve got a section of the castle being cleaned up. I know the both of you like your privacy, but neither of you are boinking now, so there’s no excuse.” Loki, despite her atrocious naming sense and the fact that she was Loki, surprisingly said something that I appreciated. “Wallenstein can stay with the two of you too. I don’t care what the new recruits think, if they’re jealous about a kid.”

Riveria was quiet for a second, but before Loki and I could return to our very serious discussion, she spoke up with a light blush on her face.

“Thank you.”

Someway and somehow, Loki and I had the same thought and reaction in that very instant.

““Cute.””

…

Ais took hold of my hand without question, apprehension, or how I felt about it without hesitation.

This girl was taking after Riveria too much, dammit.

“Why are we leaving home?” Ais asked.

For a second, I considered the little, blonde brat’s feelings, slightly-teary eyes, and apprehension at all the strangers moving our stuff out to a more secure location.

Maybe I should make something up to make her feel better?

I decided against it, because I didn’t like lying, and I wasn’t going to back down on my moral values and teach Ais the same.

“We’re moving out, because we need to live somewhere safer for a few years. It’ll be a few years before we even think about coming back here.” Maybe a few decades, until I was sure my kid was going to be okay. I didn’t want them to be sent away to the Elves to be raised, but that was looking like the only option with the Loki Familia’s expeditions. We could visit them at the end of each expedition, but until that passed, I wanted to be with my kid. “People might hurt the baby, and they’re not as strong as you.”

A part of me expected Ais to tell me that I was playing favorites, and that I didn’t care about her, and that I was the absolute worst.

Because I was.

I was really taking away the home she knew for my kid.

But instead of yelling, screaming, and resembling anything like a child, Ais nodded, sniffed, and tightened her grip on my hand.

Afraid that she’d be tossed out, if she complained.

Man, I’ve really, really been too hard on her.

“You have every right to screech, complain, and be a brat about this, y’know? I’m being a preferential asshole.” I didn’t hesitate to tell Ais the truth, while taking to one knee, and matching her stubborn, teary gaze. “Neither Riveria or I will let you go no matter what, so feel free to be a brat—

Again, I expected pent up frustration to be unleased, but instead Ais lunged forward and wrapped her arms around me and cried.

Cried with tears of joy.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She blubbered like an utter mess as she was overcome with joy for being told that she was wanted and not to be discarded. In this fucked up world, she was grateful to have parents, instead of just taking her parents for granted. “Thank you!”

I pushed aside the hate I felt in favor of comforting the little girl desperately holding onto me, because she couldn’t believe what was currently happening was real.

She cried in my arms while the rest of the world moved, but I stayed still until Riveria came by… and joined me in caring for Ais.

As we held onto her, the thought occurred to me that my kid might be orphaned like Ais… and I felt something inside me change as I saw Orario not as a place to be guarded against… but a place to take hold of and completely, utterly change.

It was unacceptable and I wasn’t going to stand by and let it continue to exist as it was any longer.

Plans and plans whirled in my head, a lot of them I never considered before, but I filed them all away while holding onto Ais as she cried her heart out with Riveria.

Loki probably saw this coming, which was why she was so happy with the news, but I didn’t care.

I’ll propel the Loki Familia to the rulers of the world, just to keep my family safe, without a shred of hesitation or regret.