Chapter 81 - Family Matters – I

"...Hello?" I cautiously waved back at the mini Eve as I walked over.

She giggled and then nuzzled against Eve's side, a brilliant smile on her face.

Roland glanced over at me and sighed. "You're finally here, huh?"

Marisa nodded. "The father returns with milk..."

I slid into the seat next to Eve and said, "I had a conversation with an old friend to clear up."

If you could call 'Rob' an old friend...

"But..." I looked at the mini Eve, confusion on my face. "...Papa, huh?"

The mini Eve nodded and pointed at me. "Papa!" Then she pointed at Eve. "Mommy!" After that, she pointed at herself and said, "Emma!"

Marisa gave me a fierce side-eye, clearly disapproving of the fact that I VERY MUCH did not know who this mini Eve was.

Eve looked over at me. And seeing my confusion as well, she gave me a wry smile. "Ah... So. You also don't know about our daughter?"

Our daughter.

The way Eve said that showed that she was sure the girl was ours.

Which, I mean, she definitely LOOKED like ours.

And I definitely felt weird towards her. Like, if anyone hurt her I would definitely kill everyone in the room who even looked at her funny.

But...

"I am... missing a great deal of context here." I blinked, still looking at the mini Eve- No, at Emma.

Emma giggled and then crawled over Eve's legs to plop herself in my lap. "Papa~! Papa, Papa, Papa~"

"Y-Yeah. I... guess that's me...?"

Was this a result of time travel shenanigans? Did I pluck a future child from somewhere? Was this a Fire Emblem situation?

No, no. Occam's Razor DEFINITELY applied...

Okay, me.

Think.

Eve was convinced this girl was our child.

This girl, Emma, LOOKED like our child.

Roland and Marisa CLEARLY believed she was our child. And if MARISA believed it, she clearly had proof.

Now what was the proof that she's our child?

'Definitely mana.'

Marisa was sensitive to that, so she would know for sure.

Now, I definitely couldn't ask for that. Not only would I seem insensitive, but Emma would definitely feel terrible about it.

So let's logic this out.

A child, with both our mana...

'Wait.'

Considering the special Talent Eve had, ...

Something that could receive any energy as her own.

The fact that I made a and stuck it on her for a while.

A that was made from my mana.

Left on Eve. Whose would have assimilated it.

Which was the whole plan.

And then that last flurry of messages before time turned back...

---

> The Mana Amalgamate you left in Eve has matured!

> The Mana Amalgamate has inherited [Mana Body] from Eve as well as the Traits [Demonic Being] and [Devoted Heart].

> The Mana Amalgamate has been soulbound to Eve!

---

'That exact wording...'

I THOUGHT it was an accessory. Something you equipped.

But the words...

'Left in.'

'Matured.'

'Inherited.'

'Soulbound.'

"Oh. My god."

Considering the stare Marisa was giving me, it seemed she figured it out first.

Eve looked at me, concerned. "Alex? Love? What's wrong?"

Emma hummed, happily munching on bacon bits from Eve's plate while she sat on my lap.

"Ahaha... W-Well. Eve. Um. Hm. I, uh. Don't know how to say this without it sounding insensitive. And, uh. Well. It's just plain... bad?"

An unfortunate consequence of my interpretation and the reality of the words being at odds. Specifically, that my interpretation was overly idealistic.

Eve tilted her head, confused. Still, she gave me a reassuring smile and said, "It's fine, my love. You can tell me anything."

Roland stared at me. Then he noticed Marisa's quiet but VERY heavy disapproval. And then he slowly shifted his gaze on me. Then to Emma. And then a thought came to his mind. "...Alex. You didn't."

The Mana Amalgamate was SUPPOSED to be a familiar. Something that was infantile and sentient, but ALSO *just* a familiar.

But I didn't realize the implication of how that would interact with .

You see, what was genetic material but an amalgamate of a person's essence, right? And what was a child except that amalgamate melded with another person's essence?

S-S-So...

"Uh. Eve... I. May have... magically impregnated you by accident?"

Eve froze.

Roland facepalmed.

Marisa let out a long suffering sigh.

Eve rapidly blinked and then said, "I-I-I beg your pardon?"

"A-Ah. You see... receives energy indiscriminately, right? And uh, I had an amalgamate of my mana lying around. I left it in you as a failsafe in case things happened, but..."

Eve turned a bright red, her silver eyes flitting from me, to Emma, to her VERY flat belly, back to Emma, then she placed her hand over her heart. Then she glanced back at Emma, her silver eyes VERY much spinning with shock, disbelief, joy, and also complete bewilderment. "You mean... Emma truly is...? But... How? When?"

Marisa sighed and poured herself a tall cup of coffee from the nearby thermos. "...I take it back, Alex. You aren't a genius. You're a menace. A man who knows just enough to be dangerous."

I felt my face heat up and said, "Th-That's..."

I wanted to complain that I couldn't have known that it would have ended up like this.

Except, I definitely COULD have known.

Because if there was one thing about 3D-ED AND the system that Rob gave me, it was that words were VERY particular.

And when a received a ...

Well. The only reasonable result from that WAS a child.

And the toddler sitting on my lap who looked mostly like Eve because my beloved carried her these past few months, and who looked a little like me because she had my mana... which ended up turning into flesh and blood of us both when she was properly born...

"I'm a father." I quietly murmured. "Me. A father. A real father. With a child. This child. My daughter."

This... was not in the plans.

Eve stared at me. Then at Emma, who was still happily enjoying her food- No, now she was just playing with her food, ripping pieces of pancakes smaller and smaller like a toddler would. After that, Eve quietly said, "Oh. This... is real. A child. OUR child. Not a magical experiment. Not an illusion. Not a summoned familiar. But... a child. A real child. Born through magical consummation."

Marisa gave a firm nod. "Yes. Congratulations." She clapped her hands, a dry smile on her face. "You managed to skip past pregnancy into parenthood without even getting married. Not only that, but every inheritance ceremony and even royal test will show Emma as a true heir to the Eternal Empire."

Roland groaned. "Alex. Friend..."

"H-H-Hey! I just wanted to keep Eve safe! I didn't... um. Well... Okay, this one's on me."

Emma looked up at me, holding up a chunk of pancake. "Papa? Hungry? Pamcake!"

"...Yes, princess. Pancake. Here." I numbly nibbled on the offered piece of pancake.

Eve placed her hand over her forehead and said, "I... do believe I may faint..."

Emma gasped and crawled back over to Eve's lap. Then she placed her sticky hands on Eve's cheeks and said, "Mommy! No napping!"

"D-Dear..." Eve blinked and then frowned. "Your hands are sticky. Here." She held up her hand and conjured a bit of water, gently cleaning up Emma's hands like a mother would.

It was a natural and beautiful scene.

And seeing that made it really sink home.

I was definitely a father now. A young father. A young and unprepared father.

Eve must have noticed my expression since she tensed just a bit. After cleaning Emma's hands, she looked at me and said, "My love. Do you... not want-"

"That's not it." I didn't let her finish. "I'm just still processing. This is amazing. Wonderful. But..." I frowned. "Now I have about 9000 more reasons to completely flip the table over at the Winter Solstice Ball."