Chapter 349: Married Women Drive with the Pedal to the Metal

"You really have a knack for it, making philandering sound so fresh and refined," Megumin said.

Her gums were itching again, and she badly wanted to grab that creature called "Jhin"—nominally her "boyfriend," and looking especially punchable—and give him a good bite.

Jhin answered her without a trace of arrogance or servility: "Thanks for the compliment."

Megumin rolled her eyes, too lazy to keep bickering. Deciding a nap was the more worthwhile option, she lay flat on the tatami, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

Soon Komekko walked into the living room with her parents. Jhin had already corresponded with the two of them by letter during their collaboration, but this was the first time meeting face to face. Even so, that didn't stop him from greeting them: "Uncle Hyoizaburoo, Auntie Yuiyui, hello."

"Mr. Jhin, nice to meet you. My daughter hasn't caused you any trouble, has she?" Hyoizaburoo wore a black long-billed cap, and his serious expression really did make him look like a proper father.

Megumin's mother Yuiyui was the classic black-long-haired beauty, looking gentle, kind, and amiable. "That child keeps mentioning you in her letters lately."

Strange, Dad's attitude feels off...

Megumin, feigning sleep, grumbled to herself. She really had never seen her father treat anyone this gently.

What she didn't know was that the entire Crimson Demon Clan relied on their collaboration with Jhin—manufacturing and selling sanitary pads for enormous profits—and as the family that spearheaded the effort, hers naturally took a bigger cut than anyone else.

That alone was enough to make the money-burns-like-water Hyoizaburoo treat Jhin well. He wasn't stupid enough to yell at his own benefactor.

"Here is a gift I brought, just a small token of my regard. Please accept it." Jhin drew a beautifully wrapped, substantial gift box out of his storage space and set it on the wooden table in front of him.

The overburdened table legs let out a creak that sounded close to snapping, yet to Hyoizaburoo and Yuiyui that noise was music.

It was the sweet song of money!

Both of them pressed their hands onto the gift box at the same time, and the table's wail grew louder.

Hyoizaburoo narrowed his eyes and said amiably, "Yuiyui, this seems to be something Jhin gave to me, doesn't it?"

"Oh my~" Yuiyui propped her cheek in her left hand and smiled gently. "A moment ago you were still calling him Mr. Jhin, and now you're using his name directly. Better not do that—so embarrassing. This food is meant for tonight's dinner, and I won't be letting you carry it off as a drinking snack."

"Ooh~" Komekko, eyes shining, propped herself against the edge of the table. "Isn't this—not the plain watery porridge we drink every day, but food that can actually fill your stomach?"

With that push from her, the table finally gave out. Amid Yuiyui's wail the legs snapped and it was completely wrecked. "The only intact piece of furniture in our house!!!!"

Jhin caught Komekko as she nearly toppled over, then pulled a dozen-odd gift boxes of different kinds of food from his storage space and set them before the couple. "These are the meeting gifts I hadn't gotten around to taking out yet. Please accept them."

"Mm-mm-mm, this really is delicious." Hyoizaburoo munched on a cream roll while eyeing Jhin warily. "Even if you bring us this much food, there is no way Komekko will ever be handed over to you. Megumin, though—do as you please. That child's reached marrying age too."

Yet the little daughter he treasured was, at that very moment, sitting in Jhin's lap and happily devouring cake. "Ooh~ big brother, this stuff is so yummy."

"If you like it, eat more. I've got plenty here." Jhin patted her little head fondly. His words very nearly made the sleep-faking Megumin bolt upright in a rage.

You never once said things like that to me!

"I love big brother the most!"

Kyaru had no idea how to describe this family—a stifling urge to retort with no clue where to even begin. Jhin gave her shoulder a light pat and said, "At times like this, you just have to smile."

Jhin handed the adorable Komekko over to Kokkoro and the others to look after, then settled in before the wreckage of the wooden table with Megumin's parents to discuss the next round of improvements to the sanitary pads.

"Current sales really are gratifying. With your Crimson Demon Clan's technical support, we don't have to worry about knockoffs for now. I wonder what thoughts you two have on the current product?"

"Uh... I just make them according to the samples you gave me. As for improvements, if I did it my way it would only backfire." Hyoizaburoo had plenty of self-awareness on this point. Though he could invent all sorts of strange and wondrous magic tools, he was absolutely not the man to go making arbitrary changes to an everyday item like this.

Otherwise you might end up with some bizarre pad that stays blank when there's blood and shows up when there isn't—much like a certain "Da Vinci," hailed as a master inventor, who built a flashlight that needs light before it can shine.

Yuiyui, as one of the users, actually had no shortage of ideas. "I think you could make different types based on the setting and place of use."

"Auntie Yuiyui is exactly right. That's precisely the area where I want the Crimson Demon Clan to improve the pads next—classifying and selling them by different scenarios and times of day, like the most basic day-use and night-use types..."

The discussion lasted at least an hour. The sleep-faking Megumin genuinely dozed off in the middle of a conversation she had zero interest in, while the rest of her companions had taken Komekko out of the living room to play outside long before the talk even started—at her age there was no need for her to hear such things.

Seeing that the discussion was about wrapped up and her daughter was dead asleep, Yuiyui said, "Jhin, may I ask you a question?"

"Please go ahead, Auntie Yuiyui."

"What exactly is your relationship with my daughter right now?" Thud.

Hyoizaburoo inexplicably collapsed to the floor, but Jhin caught a distinct surge of magic from Yuiyui's right hand, and his eyelid twitched.

This married woman... to keep her husband from interrupting, she just went and used sleep magic on him...

Sure enough, you can never underestimate a mother.

Sighing to himself, Jhin sat up straight and told her solemnly, "We're lovers now."

"Then... have you two done it?" Yuiyui formed a circle with one hand while the finger of her other hand slid in and out of the circle over and over, the gentle smile on her face never wavering in the slightest.

The brazen gesture had Jhin wiping the sweat from his brow.

A married woman indeed—when it's time to floor the gas, she doesn't hesitate for a second.

"I've brought this up with Megumin too, but for some reason she keeps avoiding me lately."

"Oh?" A sharp glint flashed through Yuiyui's eyes. "You're telling me that foolish daughter of mine doesn't even dare to 00? As a lover, that's far too pathetic. Then what about 000? And 00OO? Don't tell me you haven't done those either?"

Sweat poured off Jhin. "Auntie Yuiyui, ease off the gas! Those words absolutely cannot be said out loud!"

"Ahem, forgive me." Realizing she'd lost her composure, Yuiyui gathered herself and turned her gaze out the window, where Kokkoro and the others were keeping Komekko company. "Are they... also in a lovers' relationship with you?"

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