As I woke up, I could feel Aqua's steady breathing beside me as she slowly stirred awake. "…Morning, Aqua," I said quietly.
She blinked her eyes open, stretching slightly as she looked at me. "Morning, Ethan…" She paused, studying my face for a long moment before speaking again. "…So last night really happened."
"It did," I admitted with a nod. "And I don't regret it. But Aqua… I should be honest with you before we go any further."
Her eyes focused on me, her expression curious. "What is it?" she asked.
I took a breath, choosing my words carefully. "I care about you. But you won't be the only woman in my life. This world… it's different, and so am I. I don't plan to be with just one woman, and I need to be upfront about that."
She fell silent, her expression unreadable as she processed what I'd said. Finally, she murmured, "…So you'll be with others, too."
"Yes," I said softly. "I don't want to lie to you or make promises I can't keep. I'd rather you know now, so you can decide if that's something you can accept."
She sat there quietly for a moment, then let out a small breath. "Oh, I thought you were going to spring something crazy on me. In the divine realm—and here—it's not all that uncommon for influential and powerful men to have more than one wife. Honestly, if poor men could afford more, it probably wouldn't be odd to see them having more wives too." Her tone was calmer than I expected when she answered.
I studied her face carefully. "…And you're alright with that? Truly?"
She smiled before placing her hand gently on my chest. "I won't pretend I don't want to be special to you," she said softly. "But if this is the path you walk, then I'll walk with you. Just… don't ever stop loving me, okay?"
I covered her hand with mine, my voice steady. "Not ever. In fact, I don't plan on ever letting you leave me. I can be very possessive. Whatever happens, Aqua, you'll always matter to me."
Her lips curved into a faint but genuine smile. "…Well, I can live with that," she giggled before snuggling close to me again.
As Aqua contentedly pressed against me, I awkwardly murmured, "Also, remember when you said you thought I might spring something crazy on you? Haha… well, there actually is something sort of crazy that I need to tell you. You see, the thing is—I'm from another world."
Aqua chuckled. "Nice try, Ethan, but I already knew you were from another world. I'm the one who sent you here, remember? But nice try, you almost got me."
"Well, the thing is, I wasn't joking. I actually came from Earth just like Kazuma—but a different version of Earth. Remember how I showed up when Kazuma was already in the room with you? Didn't you find that odd?"
"Well, I did think it was a little weird, but I didn't think too deeply about it. I thought it was just a timing issue with the angels or something. So you're telling me that there was more to it?" she asked.
"The best way for me to explain is to just show you. Let me try something I haven't tried before." Taking Aqua's hand, I mentally pulled up the option to exit the current world.
The interface popped up with a message: Physical contact maintained with other-world occupant. Would you like to bring other-world occupant with you? Yes/No. Freeze time upon exit for Konosuba save file one? Yes/No.
I internally sighed in relief—it worked. Yes and yes, I thought. The next thing I knew, I was back in my home, everything just as I had left it. Konosuba was still paused at the scene where Aqua and Kazuma were in a dark zone at the beginning of the story.
Aqua looked around in confusion. "Where are we? Huh! Is that… me on the TV!?"
What followed were several minutes of me explaining to a very confused Aqua about how, in my world, Konosuba was a work of fiction and how my powers worked.
"So you're telling me we're not real people, and everything in our world is just entertainment for the people here?!" Aqua said, looking somewhat depressed.
I pulled her closer, adopting a soft tone. "Who's to say what's real or not? We may perceive your world as fiction, but who knows—maybe there's something special about it. Maybe a select few people are granted visions of other worlds that end up becoming stories, and they simply think they made it up. Even if none of that is true, what we have is real. Our emotions are real. Who cares how it all came about?"
After a few minutes spent holding her, she muttered softly, "Yeah, you're right. The why or how doesn't matter—what matters is what we're feeling right now. Also, teehee… with this power you can get me all the free high-quality booze I want, right???"
Sweat ran down my forehead as I considered the potential monster I might have created. "Haha… Aqua, maybe you should take it slow. I can get you some booze, but you should take it slow… right?"
"Well, we'll just talk about it later, okay?" she said, smiling sweetly in a way that told me this wouldn't be the last time we discussed it.
"Well, now that we're here, why don't you show me some other shows? We can even finish watching this Konosuba that I'm from," Aqua said excitedly.
Thinking about it for a second, I said, "Well, I can't see any reason not to," as I let the show play out.
Throughout the course of watching, Aqua perched next to me, occasionally muttering things like, "Huh, I would never do that!" or, a moment later, tearfully looking at me with gratitude: "Ethan, you saved me from sleeping in the stables… thank you, thank you so much." Other times, she gave me a deadpan look and said things like, "That big-boobed blonde crusader girl… or the lich. You're planning on adding them to your harem, aren't you?"
Just then, my phone rang, lighting up with a call from Dad. I silently thanked the heavens for offering me a way out of that mess as I quickly picked up. "Hey, Dad, what's going on?"
"Hey, son. I know you just got off work for the week and wanted to let you know we're gonna be celebrating your grandfather's seventy-fifth birthday tomorrow at our house. You're gonna be there, right? You can even bring Sarah."
"Yeah, Dad, I can be there. And I have some good news to share. Also, Sarah won't be coming—I'll be bringing someone else with me," I said.
"Huh, did something happen? You okay, son?" Dad asked, concern in his voice.
"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Dad. I have too much to explain over the phone, okay? See you tomorrow."
I ended the call as a change of plans entered my mind.
"Hey, babe, I hope you're ready to meet your in-laws tomorrow." I smiled at Aqua, who went rigid with a hint of nervousness as she muttered about the worries of meeting them at such short notice.
"Haha, it'll be fine. Anyways, why don't you relax and watch some more Konosuba? In the meantime, I'll be in my room getting some things ready for tomorrow, okay?" I said.
"Yeah, I'll just do that… no sweat," Aqua muttered, turning the show back on.
Leaving Aqua to calm down and relax while watching the TV in the living room, I went to the bedroom where I booted up the TV. While I had carefully selected the missions in Konosuba and with the spear I was decently overpowered for the village of Axel, I wanted to guarantee my safety and the safety of my family. I thought of ways to keep myself and them safe. Starting up the TV, I proceeded to go to a show from when I was a kid: Jackie Chan Adventures. I waited until the scene where all 12 talismans were displayed, pausing the show. I reached into the screen, slowly taking out all the talismans and inserting them into my inventory.
I repeated this several times until I had enough copies for each member of my family as well as some extras. These talismans should do for now. I could grab them items like the Fountain of Youth, but because I didn't want to take away their choice of having eternal life or lock them into a certain age, I would give them the Dog and Horse talismans to keep them safe for now. Only when I felt ready to tell them the whole truth might I give them something like the water of the Fountain of Youth. Also, while the talismans' power might be external, I can figure out a way later to absorb their powers, as lugging 12 talismans around all the time would get annoying.
After this, I proceeded to watch Seven Deadly Sins, pausing it over the scene depicting the Fountain of Youth, pulling it out. I tipped it back, muttering, "Bottoms up, I guess," before drinking it down. The water tasted pretty good, and I could feel a well of vitality burst through my body, all aches and fatigue washing away.
"Damn, I feel pretty good… I bet I could last even longer in bed now! Hahaha!"
Now I need to find a legitimate way to launder this Breaking Bad money. Leaving it as is would just pay for a lifetime of groceries and cash payments that would be suspicious right now, and I didn't just yet want to deal with the American government or the IRS. Even Joker feared the IRS.
"Sigh the things we do for family..." I muttered.
Time to found a company. The question is, what industry do I want to dominate?