Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter SS7

Daughter Deficiency Syndrome 

Hajime had gotten so into his transmutation practice that he didn’t realize how much time had passed. And he hadn’t just stayed up late, either. No, he’d worked all the way through to the next day’s noon. Since he’d been practicing evolution magic in a quiet corner near the edge of Verbergen, no one else had come by. Tired as he was, for a moment he thought he’d time warped. Realizing he was too exhausted to even think properly, Hajime packed up his ore and started trudging back to his inn. 
“Still, Yue or someone could have come to get me... Well, I guess they were trying to be considerate...” Hajime vaguely recalled his party members coming to check up on him some time ago. He’d been so focused on his work that their presence had barely registered, and they’d probably thought it best not to disturb him. It had been a bad habit of his back on earth to get so absorbed into something that he stayed up all night engrossed in it. 
And it looks like even after coming here, I haven’t been able to kick that habit. Hajime scratched his cheek and shook his head. The thought of getting to sleep on a soft bed spurred him forward, and he hastened his steps. As he passed by a side street, the sound of children playing reached his ears. 
“Sounds like they’re playing tag?” 
He took a slight detour to get a better look, and indeed, a group of beastmen children was running around playing tag. They were playing in a small park that had been made by joining the branches of a few trees of similar height. They were all of different races, but that didn’t seem to bother any of them. Hajime stood where he was and watched the children play for a while. 
“I wonder how Myu’s doing...” Hajime thought back to the young dagon girl who he’d become the temporary guardian of. The children playing the park were roughly the same age as Myu, maybe a little older. Seeing their smiling faces brought back memories of the fun times he’d had with Myu. Suddenly, he was gripped with the irrational fear that Myu might have forgotten all about him. Or that she wouldn’t want to go visit earth with him when he returned to pick her up. 
What if she hates me because I abandoned her for so long!? Hajime was suffering from the disease all fathers contracted at some point in their lives, daughter deficiency syndrome. 
Hajime was so engrossed in worrying about Myu that it took him a while to notice there was someone nearby. He turned around and saw a pair of cute rabbit ears poking out from behind a nearby tree. Their owner was hidden by the tree trunk. He stared at the tree for a few minutes, and finally, the owner of the bunny ears poked her head out from behind the tree. Her eyes met Hajime’s, and she stiffened immediately. From the looks of it, she was the same age as Myu, too; 4, maybe 5 years old at most. Her navy blue hair was woven into braids that ended a little above her shoulder. Hajime and the girl stared at each other for a few seconds. She looked nervous, as if moving or speaking would get her killed. However, they couldn’t just stand there forever, so Hajime decided to break the silence. 
“What is it?” 
“Ah!” The girl jumped and glanced to either side, looking for salvation. Finding none, she sniffled, tears welling up in her eyes. Hajime smiled wryly, leaned against a nearby tree, and sat down. He relaxed his body and went back to watching the children playing tag. Seeing him lounging around like that, the girl gradually grew less nervous. She inched a few steps closer, her eyes full of curiosity. And after that, she fidgeted, clearly wanting to ask something but still too nervous too. Hajime didn’t blame her. She was a member of the timidest race, and a girl to boot. Had it been an adult approaching him, Hajime would likely have shot them with a few rubber bullets. However, he had a soft spot for children. And so, he smiled at the girl and spoke to her. 
“Have you ever met a dagon?” 
The girl twitched and glanced around again. After making sure Hajime wasn’t talking to anyone else, she shook her head. 
“They live far out to the west. If you tried to walk there, it would take you a year just to reach the area. But you know, the city they live on is built on this island floating out in the sea.” 
“The sea?” The girl took a few steps closer and tilted her head. 
“Let’ see... I guess you could say the sea is one realllllly big puddle. It’s so big you can’t see the other side, and the water goes even deeper than these trees are tall.” 
The young girl’s ears and tails perked up. Her eyes glittered with curiosity, and her nervousness all but vanished. She sat down next to Hajime and tilted her ears toward him. 
“I have a dagon daughter who’s about the same age as you.” 
“Huh” She looked up at him in confusion. She’d never heard of a human father having a beastman daughter before. Still, it was because she’d never heard of such a thing that she was curious about it. 
“You’re a human, but you have a beastman daughter? Is it because you’re a prince?” 
“What do you mean by prince?” 
Apparently, the young girl’s parents had told her about the relationship between him and Shea. Her parents had, of course, read all about the blossoming romance between a rabbitman and a human in Mao’s Verbergen Monthly. And since the magazine had described Shea as a princess, the boy who’d rescued her and then become her must have been a prince. Or at least, that was the little girl’s reasoning. 
“Man, I get why Shea felt so embarrassed when the magazine called her a princess. This is pretty awkward...” 
“You’re not a prince?” The girl tilted her head quizzically. 
“Yeah, I’m not a prince.” 
“Does that mean you’re not Princess Shea’s boyfriend?” 

“Nah, I am.” 
Seeing her growing confusion, Hajime reached out and ruffled her bunny ears. The girl stiffened up for a second, but when she realized how gentle Hajime’s touch was she relaxed. 
“Whether she’s got bunny ears, or whether I’m human or not doesn’t matter at all.” 
“It doesn’t? But Princess Shea has bunny ears?” 
“She’s got the tail too. But I like them.” 
The young girl looked away and tried to process what Hajime had just said. After a while, she turned back to him with a smile. Then, she clambered into his lap and leaned against him. Hajime was surprised at first, but then he smiled back. 
Come to think of it, Myu really liked sitting on my lap too. He patted the girl’s head just like he used to with Myu, and the young girl’s ears flopped back and forth. 
“Tell me more about your daughter. I wanna know.” 
“Let’s see here. Well her name’s Myu—” Hajime told the curious girl all about how he’d first met Myu, and all the adventures he’d had since. As he talked, the other kids also came over, more interested in hearing his stories, and about himself, than playing tag. Before long, his lap was filled with a strong-willed tigerman girl and a young wolfboy, while a young harpy girl perched on his head. He played with them all, never once losing the gentle smile he’d first shown the girl earlier. 
“Come on, guys, don’t scramble around so much. Hey, don’t pull her ears, you brat! You gotta treat bunny ears more gently than that! If you’re naughty, I won’t give you any candy!” 
Hajime consoled the girl who was crying after having her bunny ears pulled by the wolfboy. In an attempt to attract everyone’s attention, he pulled some sweets out of his Treasure Trove. It worked like a charm, and the children all focused their attention on the candy. 
“Don’t fight, guys. You each get one.” Hajime passed out the candy, and the children quieted down instantly. 
Looks like kids everywhere calm down once you give them food, huh? As he’d expected, the bunny girl got her candy stolen and came crying back to him. Sighing, Hajime took another candy out and held it out to her. The girl grinned and bit down on it without hesitation. Hajime then poked the wolfboy who’d stolen her original candy on the forehead, grabbed him, and started tickling him as punishment. 
“Ahahahaha stoop!” he squealed. But Hajime kept going, and soon enough the girl joined in. The other kids all followed after her, and for a few minutes, the wolfboy was thrown into tickling hell. Before long, the children were clambering all over him again. 
Hajime transmuted a few old-school toys like yo-yos and tops for them, which the kids played around with while he told them more stories of his adventures. Eventually, the children tired themselves out, and they fell asleep on his lap or his shoulders or his head. The girl he’d initially talked to was nestled snugly inside his arms as she slept. 
“I really need to hurry back to Myu’s side...” The girl’s sleeping face reminded Hajime of Myu’s. He agonized for a while over whether or not Myu hated him now, and before he knew it, he too had fallen asleep with the kids. 
Around ten minutes later— 
“S-So precious...” 
“Yue-san, you’ve got a nosebleed!” 
Yue had been walking by when she’d spotted Hajime surrounded by a group of sleeping children. The sight had been so endearing that she’d gotten a nosebleed. 
“Shea, look at that little girl in Hajime’s arms. Isn’t that the future waiting for you?” 
“Wha!? You mean that one day, Hajime-san will be hugging our child like— Bwah!” 
Shea got a nosebleed to match Yue’s, and the pair continued to silently watch him nap. When Kaori and Tio found him... Well, their reactions were similar. 
“Hajime-kun surrounded by children? Priceless!” 
“So this is what utopia looks like, Master...” 
When the children’s parents finally came to pick them up, they found their kids sleeping together with Hajime, while a group of four girls was in a puddle of their own blood a short distance away.