Just as everyone was celebrating, Luca cleared his throat as he so things that needed to be addressed.
The sound cut through the joyful chatter like a gentle breeze through leaves, and every single elf turned to look at him.
His expression was awkward, almost confused, as though he was struggling to find the right words to say sothing he clearly didn’t want to admit.
"Even though I’ve accepted to be the father of every single one of your children..."
He began, which caused all the elves’ eyes to glow with fresh excitent.
"...there’s sothing important that I need to ntion before we proceed with anything."
The atmosphere imdiately shifted.
The celebration seed to pause as the elves sensed that sothing serious was coming.
Luca took a deep breath, and when he spoke again, there was genuine struggle in his voice.
"It’s about the fact that I probably won’t be able to have a proper family with you all. Not in the traditional sense."
The elves blinked, waiting for him to continue.
"No matter how capable I am, no matter how devoted I might be..." Luca continued, forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. "...there’s simply no way I can treat every single one of you like my wife and build a real, complete family unit with each of you."
"I’m one person. A single man. And there are...well, there are dozens of you."
He gestured vaguely at the crowd, and several elves looked down at themselves, suddenly becoming aware of their numbers.
"I just thought I should be honest with you." He looked at them with guilt in his eyes. "If you really get together with , you won’t have the beautiful family life you always dread of."
"I’m not trying to push you away...." He added quickly. "...but I don’t know if I can be the partner you deserve."
"And the children...I don’t know how they’ll feel about a father who has so many won around him, who has so many other children, and who can’t spend ti with any of them the way a real father should."
He looked at them with a hesitant, almost pleading gaze.
"I wanted to be clear about all of this before anyone moves forward."
And right now, this was the exact problem Luca was struggling with.
He wasn’t so immature boy who would instantly jumped at the opportunity simply because he had been offered what was essentially an entire harem of beautiful elves.
No, his thoughts were far more grounded than that.
He was thinking about the future. About reality. About what would happen years from now once all the excitent and emotions settled down.
Because the truth was that he was only one man.
No matter how capable or dependable everyone believed him to be, there were limits to what a single person could realistically handle emotionally.
He knew very well that if too many elves beca attached to him, there would inevitably be those who would feel neglected or estranged.
So would receive less ti than others.
So relationships would naturally end up deeper and closer, while others might slowly beco distant despite everyone’s best intentions.
And that wasn’t the kind of family Luca wanted to build.
Especially because children were involved.
He didn’t want anyone making a decision they would regret later.
He didn’t want an elf to blindly follow her emotions now, only to one day find herself essentially raising a child alone while he struggled to divide his attention among countless others
. The very idea made him uncomfortable.
So he felt that he needed to warn them properly.
He needed to make them understand the reality of the situation before anyone committed themselves emotionally.
And honestly, after saying it aloud, Luca had fully expected at least a large portion of the elves to hesitate or back away.
It was only natural. No one wanted to enter a relationship that might fail before it even properly began.
No one wanted to gamble their future and potentially spend the rest of their lives as a single mother carrying unresolved feelings and disappointnts.
But shockingly...
That was not what happened at all.
The mont the words left his mouth, the tense atmosphere that had filled the area suddenly disappeared.
Dozens of elves visibly relaxed.
And then, almost in unison, the crowd responded.
"Oh, that’s it?" One elf said, waving her hand. "I thought it was sothing serious."
Another elf clutched her chest.
"I thought he was going to reject the whole thing! My heart nearly stopped."
"He’s worried about that? That’s it?"
"We already talked about this!"
Luca blinked. "Wait...what?"
An elf stepped forward, her hands on her hips.
"Hero, we already know all of this. We’ve talked about it among ourselves. Extensively."
"Like, for hours." Another added.
"Days, even."
"We had etings. With snacks."
Luca stared at them. "You had...etings?"
"Of course we had etings! This is a big decision!"
"We made diagrams!"
"There were charts, hero. So many charts."
Luna, from sowhere in the crowd, muttered. "I made the charts."
Luca looked around at the assembled won—over fifty of them, all calm, all smiling, all completely unbothered by his concerns.
"So...you’re not worried?" He asked. "About raising children alone? About not having a husband? About—"
"Hero." An older elf stepped forward, her voice kind. "We’ve been raising children alone for decades. Our husbands were worthless. They contributed nothing but—"
She paused, glancing at the younger elves. "Well. Nothing of value, let’s say."
"We’ve already been single mothers." Another added. "This will be no different. Except this ti, the father is soone we actually respect."
"Soone we chose."
"Soone we love."
"But we also have each other." A elf said, putting her arm around her friend. "We’re a community. If one of us struggles, the rest will help. We’ll raise these children together, all of us, as one big family."
"Exactly! If my best friend needs help with her baby, I’ll be right there."
"And if I need help, she’ll be there for ."
"We’ll nurse each other’s children, watch them grow, celebrate their milestones together."
"We’re not alone, Hero. We’ve never been alone!"
Luca stared at them, his expression shifting from confusion to admiration. He hadn’t expected this. Not at all.
Leona watched too, her eyes soft, her heart full.
This was the village she had always dread of.
A community bound not by fear or tradition, but by love and mutual support.
Then one of the bolder elves raised her hand.
"Actually." She said, her voice bold. "There’s one more reason I want to do this."
Everyone turned to look at her.
"Of course I want a child." She continued. "I’m already imagining how cute and adorable my baby will be. I want to raise that child to grow up just like the Hero—charming and strong and good."
The other elves nodded, murmuring in agreent.
"But..." The young elf’s cheeks flushed. "I also want to feel the sensation of making a child."
Confusion rippled through the crowd—then, slowly, realization. Blushes spread like wildfire.
"Ever since I heard Luna screaming in the mornings." The elf said, gesturing vaguely toward a mortified Luna. "I’ve been curious. About how it feels. To do...naughty things."
"The kind that make a child."
Luna buried her face in her hands.
And hearing this, another elf stepped forward, her face red but determined.
"M- too. I’ve been having dreams about what the Hero could do to . I wonder if he could make scream the sa way Luna does."
"Actually, I’ve been sneaking out of my house at night."
A third admitted, her voice barely a whisper.
"Just to hear the noises coming from the Hero’s house. And I imagine myself in that position."
"I do that too!"
"Sa here!"
"I thought I was the only one!"
The confessions tumbled out, each one more embarrassed than the last, but also more excited.
Soon, the won were discussing Luca’s...capabilities...with the enthusiasm of scholars examining a fascinating text.
"He must be really good at what he does."
"The male elves were absolutely pathetic in that regard. My husband couldn’t make make a single sound."
"Truly disappointing."
"But The hero is completely different!"
One elf raised her hand timidly.
"He’s also really...big. Down there."
The discussion, which had been sowhat restrained, exploded into chaos.
"I saw it! A couple of days ago, when the Hero was running around completely naked, I looked down and—" She made a vague gesture. "I thought a snake had bitten him!"
"It was swinging left and right like a pendulum!"
"I almost fainted when that thing ca toward ! It looked like an absolute weapon!"
"I could hear it slapping against his legs when he ran. The sound alone was...impactful."
"And the thickness!"
"Just thinking about it makes feel faint."
"I don’t know if it’ll even fit inside ."
"My hidden garden is going to beco loose." One elf said, touching her lips with a worried expression.
"Everything is going to tear open."
Another elf sighed dramatically as she said,
"But it’s okay. If it ans carrying the Hero’s child, I don’t mind suffering a little injury."
"It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make."
"For the village."
"For the children."
"For the Hero’s massive—"
"OKAY!" Luca’s voice cut through the chatter, his face bright red.
"I think we’ve covered...that...sufficiently."
The elves looked at him, their eyes gleaming, and he suddenly felt very exposed. Which was ironic, considering he was the only one wearing clothes.
Leona, Nyx, Lulu, and Luna watched from the sidelines, trying not to laugh.
Just as it seed the won might actually pounce on him, Selma raised her hand.
"I want a tattoo!" She announced.
The crowd paused.
"The tattoo is what I really want." Selma continued. "Everyone who’s been with the Hero got one, and I want one too!"
Ivy bounced up and down. " too, too! Those tattoos are so cool!"
Alia stepped forward, touching her belly.
"It’s not fair that only so people get to have such beautiful marks. I want one too—right here."
She gestured at her lower abdon. "It would look so elegant."
A murmur of confusion rippled through the crowd.
"What tattoo?"
"What are they talking about?"
Selma’s eyes widened.
"Don’t you know?" She pointed at Luna’s lower belly. "Whenever the Hero..pletes the act...with soone, they gain a beautiful tattoo right here."
"It appears like magic, the mont his seed takes root."
Ivy nodded vigorously. "Apparently, it forms instantly. Like the universe is marking you!"
"So far, seven people in the village have gotten the tattoo." Alia continued, gesturing at a group of blushing won. "Those five over there—"
The won in question tried to hide, but their bellies were already on display, each adorned with a delicate, uterus-shaped mark in pink.
"—and Luna, of course." Alia pointed.
Luna, who had been trying to disappear behind Lulu, squeaked and hid her face.
"Es also has one." Alia finished. "But she’s resting in bed, so you can’t see it."
The crowd buzzed with excitent.
"So that’s what those marks are! I’ve been wondering!"
"I thought it was paint!"
"It looks like magic, but I don’t sense any mana..."
"I sense sothing, though. So kind of energy. Just not magic."
"I wonder what mine would look like. Would it be similar to theirs? Or different?"
"Maybe it depends on the person. Like a signature."
Soon, everyone was eagerly discussing the tattoos, speculating about their anings and how they might appear.
Luna, anwhile, was trying to disappear into her sister’s shoulder.
But then Selma’s expression shifted. Her eyes narrowed.
"Wait a minute."
Everyone turned to her.
"If the Hero is closest to the Silverleaf family—if they’re always sneaking off with him—shouldn’t every single one of them have tattoos?"
The elves looked at Leona, Lulu, Luna, and Nyx.
"But only Luna has one." Selma pointed out. "The rest of them don’t!"
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