Chapter 27: House-sitting

I gently stroked her belly.

The way she did it was uncharacteristically tender—surprisingly graceful for someone as normally rough-edged as she was. And yet, it suited her oddly well.

Men will never win against women, I thought. That expression on her face made me believe it.

Then, she said to me:

“Hey, Papa. I want something sour.”

“…Who are you calling Papa?”

You reproduced asexually. That thing in your belly has nothing to do with me.

“So you’re not even going to acknowledge it?!”

“—Fine! I get it!”

Not that anyone else would see it that way. And the timing and setting couldn’t be worse.

Right now, I was at Doggy House in the mercenary tavern, Soldier Saloon.

It was my turn to stand guard—a duty of all Dogs.

Normally, you just pick a job from the list that Potato Man puts together and head out, but when you’re on house-sitting duty, you don’t get that luxury.

You have to be there to handle last-minute walk-ins or to meet people who want to negotiate with a Hound in person. And as a rookie Hound, that included me.

And today, on my very first house-sitting shift, Eevee was right beside me, belly visibly swollen. Instead of her usual field gear, she wore a flowing maternity dress. If she kept her mouth shut, she could pass for a picture-perfect beauty.

“Hound, I didn’t take you for that kind of guy,” Potato Man said, grinning as he offered me a lemon slice.

“That’s not what this is,” I replied, accepting it.

The night we returned from the Bazaar, Eevee had swallowed the blue Tree Crystal she’d bought, right after dinner. Her belly started swelling yesterday. Today, it looked like this.

People like Potato Man—those who knew she was a Tooth and that she showed zero signs of pregnancy two days ago—could maybe put two and two together. But strangers? First-time coworkers? Not so much.

Now people were whispering behind my back, calling me “that Hound (in heat).” Bullying me.

And the one responsible for that bullying had just taken a bite of the lemon I’d brought and declared, “Actually, never mind.”

“I’d really appreciate it if you explained what’s going on.”

“Our future together, you mean?”

“No.”

I sighed at Eevee’s smug, cat-with-a-mouse smile and bit into the lemon she didn’t want. It was sour.

“Well, if I had to put it simply: I’m making something like what Monoz are to you humans.”

“…Here?”

“Yup, right here. In my womb.”

All I could say was “Haah…” The whole thing was just baffling. What kind of evolutionary design did the Tooth species have?

“Wait. What about male Tooths? What do they do?”

“They ask a female comrade for help. Or use a human woman they abducted.”

“…”

Let’s just pretend I didn’t hear the second part.

The fact she could say something like that so casually really hammered home the reality—she was still an alien. An enemy species.

“Remember when I told you about how we travel?”

“Oh yeah, during the Colony Wipeout. You mentioned something like that.”

“This is part of that. I’m making a parasitic type.”

“I see.”

I didn’t understand a word of that last part, but whatever.

I quietly poked Rudo awake and played with him as I continued my shift as house-sitter.

***

As a freshly minted Hound, I wasn’t exactly a household name. Naturally, no one was going to walk in and request me by name.

Even the troublesome jobs—perhaps out of concern that Eevee was currently out of commission—were kindly kept off my plate by Potato Man.

So I spent the time idly, playing with Rudo, chatting with the Monoz, and getting teased by Eevee.

That was when the saloon’s western doors swung open and he walked in.

Messy hair, dirty coveralls, glasses.

“Huh? Touji? Touji, is that you? Ahaha! What’re you doing here? Wait, don’t tell me—are you on house-sitting duty? No way, that means you’re part of the Doggy House now?! Whoa! That’s amazing! You’re a real Elite Soldier now, huh? —Hold up, is Eevee pregnant? What did you do?! What did you do, Touji?! That’s awful! I thought we were gonna go soak in a bubble bath together! Just kidding! Ahahaha!”

And more than anything, he was loud.

That was Akito.

“Oh right! Since we’re both Sleepers, how about introducing me to some mercs, Touji?”

“I only just joined myself, so I’m not exactly in the know.”

I pointed him toward the reception desk and introduced him to Potato Man.

“That so? Ah, too bad!”

With that, Akito turned and headed over to Potato Man—

“Hey, Hound! Got a job for you.”

—and right then, Potato Man called out to me.

“…”

Well. I guess that’s how it goes.

“Papa, off you go now~ Come on, Rudo, wave bye-bye!”

With Eevee cheerfully seeing me off, and Rudo being forced to wave his hand by said cheerfully cruel Eevee, I stepped forward to accept my very first requested assignment.

***

My current skill set looked something like this:

【Stealth: 2】 【Sniping: 4】 【Monoz Command: 2】 【Shooting: 1】 【Piloting: 1】

The number of skills hadn’t increased, but my Stealth and Monoz Command ranks had gone up. I really wanted to push Sniping to Rank 5, but to do that, it wasn’t just about raw ability—it also required achievements. In other words, a certain level of renown.

According to both my mentor and Potato Man, my actual skill surpasses plenty of Rank 5s out there, but what I lack is track record. Still, once you hit Rank 5, you start receiving some decent perks. So right now, that’s my short-term goal. I’m aiming for that next rank pretty seriously.

Incidentally, Eevee—my partner—also had her skills evaluated. Since it involved submitting combat footage and undergoing formal testing, the process took quite a bit of time. But recently, the results came in.

Pulling just the skills at Rank 2 or higher, she had:

【Sniping: 4】 【Assault: 4】 【Shooting: 3】 【Shock Trooper: 3】 【Close Combat: 3】 【Recon: 2】 【Stealth: 2】 【Enhancement: 2】 【Quick Draw: 2】,

and around fifteen more at Rank 1.

Honestly, wouldn’t it be easier to just send her solo?

I couldn’t help thinking that to myself.

Anyway, back on topic.

Akito was looking for a mercenary with Sniping Rank 3 or above. And since he knew me personally, Potato Man decided to bring the job to me.

It wasn’t a direct combat mission, so they figured it’d be fine even without Eevee. That played a big role in the decision. So I took the job.

“If Touji’s the one helping me, that makes me happy too! Fellow Sleepers and all.”

That was what Akito said—but more than that, the reward was excellent.

A fully authorized combat-type reinforced exoskeleton for anti-hostile lifeforms, sniper model, will be provided. A Centipede. A Centipede made for snipers. Separate from the base payment, this was an extra bonus.

And so, I ended up joining the final trial of the new Centipede unit—as a test pilot.