The D-Rank Guild Master of the No. 1 Guild

“Waaah-“

As we approached the next interview location, the sound of crying filled the air. It was a loud baby’s cry.

“Did we get that sound clearly?” I whispered to the cameraman, making sure it was barely audible. Manon, checking the sound, nodded.

This scene would surely make the viewers’ eyes widen in surprise. Until now, the minimum age of characters had been 15.

To reveal this interesting development, I instructed Akata.

(Shemarin had whimsically decided to back out, so I had to call Akata back.)

“Akata, go and bring the baby out.”

“Yes.”

Akata silently moved across the camera’s view and disappeared through the back door of the house where the baby was.

In the few seconds while the camera was fixed on the front door on the tripod, Akata reappeared with the now quiet baby in his arms, shielding its face from the sunlight.

‘With his natural posture and the way he looks at the baby with such tender eyes, viewers will flip out, thinking he’s the dad,’ I thought.

I intentionally wouldn’t film the baby’s face in detail to protect its identity.

This would likely lead to viewers having a heated debate about whether the baby resembles Akata or not.

I might even get embroiled in some scandalous rumors about being the baby’s mother.

But all of that would be gradually clarified.

Anyway, Akata was just a young man who loved babies, not the biological father.

‘The real parents of the baby…’

Let’s go back a bit to the time just after ‘The Last Round’ was broadcast in the real world.

To fill Aria’s place, I frequently visited reality, and the staff handed over Aria’s character initialization setting manual to me.

“If you need any information, please refer to this!”

Information? Indeed.

Upon confirming what I was looking for in the manual, I smacked my forehead, realizing that characters like Taggiros and Akata had bodies capable of childbirth.

But many characters already had partners in the game. Probably, the system had blocked it until now.

However, when I seized control of the system during the revolution, it seemed that this setting was also unlocked.

There were countless things I had to teach the characters, but the first education I conducted while holding my aching head was…

Gathering hundreds of characters by village in the central hall, I placed Ifrea as the instructor on the podium. The screen displayed the materials I had prepared.

In a neat suit, she pointed at the screen with a stick-like pointer and began an enthusiastic lecture.

“…This is how a woman’s body forms a womb.”

Originally, I had planned to ask the Saint for this education. The focus would have been unmatched if it were him.

But Aleon, after flipping through a few of the pictures in the presentation material I gave him, turned beet red up to his neck and fled. Thus, Ifrea stepped in as a substitute.

“This is not embarrassing! It’s essential knowledge. Do you all want to live like fools?”

I was slightly moved by Ifrea’s earnest enthusiasm in giving the lecture.

I made sure Akata sat in the back, watching with satisfaction as I guarded the door from behind.

“Lesia, where are you going?”

“…Bathroom.”

I should have noticed then that Lesia, who needed this lecture the most, was slipping away with a peculiar look on her face.

Fast forward to about two months ago.

Lesia, with a slightly rounded belly, Siakan, Akata, and I had a four-way meeting. I was at a loss for words.

Let’s think this through. The education was conducted right after the character liberation, and I even held a pop quiz at the end.

I had made it clear that only children born after formal couple registration and planning would be accepted.

For a child to be conceived before these rules, it would have had to happen during the last round…

That chaotic time when I was meddling with the system settings and many changes occurred.

“So you did it during wartime, when everyone else was fighting…?”

Akata covered my mouth with an embarrassed look.

But I wasn’t going to be silenced that easily. I pushed Akata aside and continued my rant.

The conversation went something like this:

“No matter how ignorant you were, Lesia, do you have any sense at all?”

“None, none.”

“Is that something to brag about? Why were you so reckless as a guild master?”

“I heard that’s part of my character setting?”

“Don’t use that as an excuse!”

Lesia pretended not to hear, cleaning her ears.

“Lesia!! As a guild master, if you’re not going to take on any administrative duties, at least don’t dump more work on me. And Siakan, I thought you were the last sensible person in the Anawing guild! I’m really disappointed.”

At this, Siakan, seeming unhappy with Lesia being scolded, stood protectively in front of her and declared seriously.

“I now understand what it means to have a child. I will take responsibility. We’ll raise it well and beautifully.”

“Of course you will! But I’m not ready to handle a second generation of characters yet! Argh! How could you two not control yourselves even during the revolution!!”

Exhausted, I turned to Akata.

“Say something!”

Akata nodded solemnly and stepped forward.

“Um… Can I listen to the baby’s sounds?”

After receiving permission, Akata knelt down with a very excited look on his face, oblivious to Siakan’s smoldering jealousy.

If our characters were considered a species branching off from humans, then their child would be the first offspring of that species.

I ultimately had to update our population count to 2001 instead of 2000.

The guild master, who was once a high-ranking human, had such a monstrous physique that her body didn’t change much even while pregnant.

“Sia!! Hang gliding is a no-go!”

Welcoming spring, she enthusiastically indulged in leisure activities, making Siakan chase after her, her pink hair flying in the wind.

Yet sometimes, she would caress her belly or marvel at the baby’s movements.

The baby was causing Lesia to mature. It was an unexpected change.

Lesia herself didn’t seem to mind this change.

“I need to give birth quickly and raise the baby fast so we can play together.”

Thanks to her robust health, Lesia gave birth without much pain and recovered quickly, not even needing postpartum care.

“Make all these baby supplies.”

“I think you’ve come to the wrong place.”

I threw all sorts of blueprints for things I gathered in the real world at Ifrea, causing a commotion among the executives for a while.

“Our characters grow up incredibly fast compared to humans outside,” I explained to Siakan while looking down worriedly at the baby.

“Quite a few have expressed a desire to have babies after seeing Lesia, but by the time they are born, this little one will already be running around.”

“Our child won’t have any peers.”

“I’m considering sending her to a daycare in the real world. Siakan, you’ll have to dress her every morning and take her to the real world, then pick her up after daycare.”

As the representative of the characters, and while Siakan, as the father, fretted over this unprecedented childcare experience, 

Lesia, with no worries in the world, lay down and watched the baby smile back at her. She already tried teasing the baby by giving and taking away a toy, finding it amusing.

Despite that, she loves her child very much as a mother. There’s nothing to worry about.

That’s why I confidently included Lesia and the baby in this interview.

Even if the baby cries for food all night and at every opportunity, Lesia just laughs heartily without a hint of irritation.

Just like right now.

“She cries so loudly! Definitely my daughter! She’s strong, so she’ll play well with me later!”

I’m already dreading the trouble this child will get into with Lesia as she grows up.

When I asked Lesia about her feelings through the interview, she said she sees taking care of the baby as another game.

Like a nurturing game, always maintaining the baby’s state at its best.

Siakan is a perfect father, so there’s nothing more to say about him.

“Sini, come here.”

Akata called out to the baby by name, extending his arms. Watching the baby crawl toward him, he looked utterly enamored.

Akata especially adored the baby, visiting her whenever he could despite his busy executive duties. I hadn’t expected Akata to like children this much.

Seeing Akata with the baby gave me mixed feelings.

Akata is the only hybrid character and, like this baby, was born from a womb.

But Akata still doesn’t fully know this. That was Taggiros’s decision.

“Sini, do you want to play peek-a-boo?”

“We don’t have time for that. Did you forget about the interview?”

I dragged Akata away.

Looking at Lesia somehow drained me. Did she sap my energy?

As I took a brief rest on a bench, thinking about the next interviewee, I remembered someone I’d forgotten.

“We still haven’t found Yudirei?”

Where on earth could she be hiding?

If I, Rudel, was a character created for Aria’s scheme, then Yudirei was definitely created to torment me.

“Turn on system mode and track her.”

“No… that’s too invasive. It infringes on her rights.”

I’ll just have to film Yudirei separately later.

The viewers will understand. Yudirei isn’t an ordinary character. They’ll probably think, “Ah, that’s so Yudirei.”

There’s no other choice. Since I’m sitting here, I might as well talk about Yudirei’s recent activities.

Just in case we can’t find her at all or can’t get an interview…

It all started during the system takeover when we were moving the characters.