Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 312: The Estate’s Hidden Residents

...Wait, what was he thinking so seriously about this for?

"Okay, then, you’ll be Delyric."

Since it was a little version of Elyric, Delyric seemed perfect.

That was decided.

He didn’t want to overthink it, so he kept it simple.

"Understood. From now on, I will be named ’Delyric’."

Damien watched as Delyric smiled widely, looking very happy.

It was incredibly cute, but he suspected that this was part of the way Delyric was programmed to behave.

Still, knowing that, Damien decided to cherish the artificial spirit because it was cute.

"Alright, Delyric. Now, I’d like to specify the person to be the full authority delegate. What does it mean that there are four candidates?"

If there were five people, Damien could understand: excluding himself, there were Theo, Sebas, Leonide, Elyon, and Ithnan in the room, so there would be five.

But four candidates? Who was excluded?

"Yes, for the full authority delegation, the first step requires a marking with the master’s magic. There are four people in the room who have already been marked, so they are recognized as the first candidates."

Hmm?

Damien understood part of it but still didn’t quite get the whole picture.

He understood why four people were chosen, but he didn’t remember marking anyone, so he didn’t know who they were referring to.

"Uh, specifically, who are the candidates?"

"Yes, the four candidates are: the white-haired centaur, the blonde centaur, the blonde elf, and the black-haired dragonnewt."

So it was his lovers, except for Sebas.

After hearing this, the other three—Theo, Elyon, and Leonide—looked a little awkward, and Ithnan seemed confused by Delyric’s words.

They looked... embarrassed?

"Leonide, do you have any idea who it could be?"

"What!? M-me!? Uh... well... I still don’t know," Leonide stammered, his face turning bright red as he looked down.

He clearly seemed to know, but it was something difficult for him to admit.

Damien glanced at Theo and Elyon, but both of them were blushing and deliberately avoiding eye contact.

Damien thought about trying to explain it to Ithnan, but as soon as Ithnan heard it, he turned bright red and started fidgeting.

Damien could feel where this was going, but he couldn’t leave it unclear.

"Uh, Delyric, how exactly do you do the marking?"

Without any hesitation, Delyric calmly answered, as though it was a normal question.

"Normally, the marking is done by engraving magic onto a part of the person’s body. However, it can also be done by having the person ingest Master’s body fluids, such as semen, which contain a high concentration of magic."

Ah, okay, now Damien understood.

He knew that both he and his lovers were doing things like that, but hearing it so directly in front of others was a little embarrassing.

"...Anyway, Delyric... Please register the blonde centaur as the full authority delegate."

Damien decided to stop dwelling on this topic.

"Understood... Settings complete. Leonide has been registered as the full authority delegate."

...

Now, it was time to deal with the security system.

"Delyric, next, I want to set up the people who are not caught by the security system... that is, the ones who can freely enter and exit the private areas."

"Understood. You wish to set the exclusion criteria for the defense mechanisms in the left area of the second floor, correct?"

Wow, even with such a vague instruction, Delyric understood it perfectly.

Damien thought, Delyric is more capable than those bot chats on Earth.

He felt a sense of pride.

...But then he realized that because of Delyric’s appearance, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being like a parent.

"Oh, and also, could you set up access to the office as well?"

"Certainly."

Since no one in Damien’s current household should be restricted from entering the office, anyone who can enter the private areas should also be able to enter the office.

"Alright, then. Please go ahead. Uh, how do we do this?"

"Master, are the new exclusion targets within the estate?"

"Yes, they are."

Not just the exclusion targets, but all of Damien’s household... Wait, Lupusregina isn’t here.

And then there’s Caius and Svetozar... What should he do about them?

Well, he could decide when they actually come over next time.

"Searching for those not excluded from the estate... Searching... Searching..."

Hmm?

It’s taking a while.

Well, the estate is pretty large, after all.

As Damien waited, he noticed that it was taking longer than expected.

Everyone around him, including Elyon, looked confused, which meant that something unusual was probably happening.

"Elyon, do you think Delyric broke down?"

Like, it might have frozen, like a computer glitch.

"I don’t think so... But this is taking longer than it should. Searching for people in a house this size should only take a few seconds..."

Elyon said this, but it had already been several minutes.

Delyric kept saying "Searching..." without any progress, and at this point, Damien wondered if he should ask how to restart the system.

Just then, Delyric started moving again.

"...Search complete. Currently, there are 7,824 people within the estate who are not excluded."

...Huh?

Wait, what?

Is it saying that there are nearly 8,000 people in this estate right now?

"...Elyon, do you think Delyric really broke down?"

Could it be that something went wrong when my magic mixed with Delyric’s?

Is there any way to fix Delyric?

Damien was flustered, but Elyon was standing there with his arms crossed, deep in thought.

"Hmm... Damien, tell the spirit to exclude themselves."

Huh? Is he talking about the Gnomes?

"Uh... Delyric, how many people would there be if we excluded the spirits?"

"...After excluding the spirits, the number will be 4."

...Does that mean there are nearly 8,000 Gnomes in this estate?

Wait, even if they’re small, wouldn’t there be no space to walk if there were 8,000 of them?

And, haven’t we already stepped on a few? Are the Gnomes okay?

After hearing Delyric’s words, everyone else, except for Damien, started glancing around—especially looking at their feet.