Even Though I'M not from this World, My Step-Daughters Are Too Cute And Working As An Househusband Isn't Too Much Of A Hassle 4 - or 'MotoBukha' (MotoMusu SI)

Kyle was quite nervous.

This was his second party now, and his first quest had pretty much been the wake-up call that made him nervous around other people to treat as allies. Sure, he wasn't jaded enough to reject help and he was quite social with them, but the mental pictures of his allies being slain by small mobs was-

Terrible.

That didn't deter him from being an adventurer however. Had that experience gone as bad as it should have in that escalation, then maybe he would have had a reason to quit- if not being killed due to how bad it had been.

But then she came to help. The Immortal Lady, Shirley. Her ability with the sword was impeccable, plus her body healed so fast she managed to restore a missing limb with ease when the big mob in charge of the goblins back then tried to kill him and she had to pull him away.

Kyle would always feel grateful for that… and quite admiring of her skills.

He thought she was the best, and that it would be absurd for a mere human to try and approach her level of skills. That thought was not shared by his party leader, the Minotaur Monk Warrior Asterious.

The bull-headed man confessed that he too was dashed away by the skills of Shirley, and the rest of the party knew of her either by accounts of people they have met and fought with her.

Leia, the half-elvish magical archer, was a big fan of the woman. And her admiration tended to get her in some unusual banter with Cudd, the human scout in the group. Yet, one thing was mentioned by the only girl in the group that had Kyle perplexed.

Shirley has… a husband?

It wasn't exactly a rumor, but not many brought him up for a reason or another. Even Leia, despite her status as a 'big fan' was unable to find much on the man beyond the fact he tended to be dealing with house chores.

A househusband? Kyle was intrigued by the concept, but he felt himself too clumsy around the kitchen to be a viable option for that. He was definitely going to stick to adventuring rather than considering that- not for pride, but rather awareness of his own bad luck around the practice of food-making.

But while part of him thought that it would be impressive enough to just catch a glimpse of the man that managed to successfully conquer Shirley as his wife, Kyle was surprised when a jovial man that didn't look much at first glance seemed to approach from a path secondary to the one they took.

Asterious quickly recognized him and ordered the party to drop out of their vigilant stances.

"If it isn't John. How are you, good sir?"

The dark-haired human smiled. "Doing well, Aster. I see your group has changed a bit since last time I saw it."

"Accidents happen," The minotaur admitted with a hint of sadness. "What about you? I didn't expect you to be around this area."

"Oh, I was instructed on a minor quest to find some herbs. While I was at it, I also thought of helping around at the pharmacy since their supplies are lacking a very needed ingredient."

The entire conversation felt quite normal. There was no sense of urgency, but their party leader didn't seem to share that sense of calm that the stranger bore to his stance and posture.

"Would it be correct to say that you are here for the Black Dragon's horn?"

Considering their current mission was to fight off the mobs and the Dragon controlling them, it was reasonable to be intrigued by this wayward adventurer just deciding to tag along for this quest was a real possibility.

"That would be the case, yes," John confirmed. "I have already killed five more, so I need just this last one to get all the medicine's ingredients ready."

"Medicine?" Cudd inquired, confused by the mention of it.

It was Asterious that answered. "There has been news of a virus spreading among children. It's the kind of severe illness that requires some unusual ingredients such as Black Dragons' horns. And, by going with what John here just told us, he had stacked enough for the medicine to be available for a few years without any resupplying."

"Yup, it's better to really come back with a lot of that in stock to avoid any issues."

"Still, six Black Dragons… what rank are you, if I may ask?" Kyle decided to question the man on this, feeling like something was off about it.

John smiled. "D-Rank."

"That's a lie!" Leia rebuked harshly, turning to the party leader. "How can a D-Rank kill so many Black Dragons on his own?"

"That's because John is someone above the rank he is listed with, but decided against going for promotions," The Minotaur answered on the wayward adventurer's stead. "Just like his wife, which we were just talking about a while ago."

Kyle was a bit silly at times, but he was not dumb. There was a single woman they discussed who had a husband they didn't know much about. His eyes widened astronomically at the realization and he was the one to connect dots first while the others were doing so in a slower manner.

"Y-You are Shirley's husband?"

"Yup! I would like to be surprised, but I have heard so many times that my wife tends to make quite the impression wherever she goes."

"That's due to her powerful aura," Asterious pointed out, almost chiding the man. "Now, I suppose you are here to help if you decide to approach us."

John nodded at the good guess.

"The mission itself is far more difficult than you four are prepared for. Strength you may have, but you lack the right amount of power to outpace a Black Dragon's healing factor. This, combined with the aggressive mob he is relying on is… not feasible."

Asterious slowly nodded. "I had suspected as such, but I thought I could have created a distraction to lure the minions away from the dragon."

"It would be a partial success, but I do praise you for the effort," John assured happily. "The real issue is the second-in-command, the 'mini-boss' so to speak. Any lure that can be used on the common mob will not attract it, so it would act as a sneaky element to drop some surprise attacks when needed. Which is why I… have a plan."

For some curious reason, Asterious smiled at the chance to have a good mind in charge of the plotting. And Kyle could instantly tell why as the party was distributed in groups.

John created a lure through one of the 'monkey mobs' he managed to kill and store away to act as a bait. By amplifying the scent it had as a carcass, it would be used as a 'beacon of distress' for the other similar monsters to follow blindly.

Leia and Kyle would take care of the large wave of mobs. John created a massive pit that was a small hole that delved quite deeply, making it easy for the bait to be laid at the bottom and thus providing a small but long space for fire magic to take care of the various mobs falling inside it.

While the two were busy 'cleansing', Asterious and Cudd would focus on the leader who should be around the Black Dragon. John would ultimately take care of the Black Dragon.

Many things could go wrong with this seemingly simple plan meant to take care of so many elements at once but… Kyle was baffled to see for himself that it was just 'that' simple. Sure, he ended up draining most of his mana reserve together with Leia to cook up the entire group of ape-like monsters that had garrisoned this forest, but the main concerns were taken out swiftly.

Cudd claimed the kill for the Mob Leader, while John took out the dragon in two hits. The first one was to remove the horn, the latter was a pillar of thunder that tore into the beast's entire form before it could even speak a word.

Sudden, brutal, and yet clean. It was… amazing. Like Shirley but less on the 'boring' side as she seemed to favor as John had a rather jovial outlook on adventuring compared to his wife.

They ended up parting ways after that. The quest was the party's success, this much John assured, but Asterious didn't look too 'happy' about something. At first, Kyle was keen to think it was because the victory felt 'unwarranted', but the truth was somewhat more surprising, worrying, and yet 'simpler'.

As he asked about what had the Monk Warrior annoyed, Asterious provided a rather peculiar huff.

"That stupid man is bringing his daughters gifts in the form of Dragon Eggs."

…

"HE IS WHAT?!"

The Minotaur sighed at the sentence of collective shock.

"Worry not, his wife will make him do a fine job to keep the eggs taken care of but…" Asterious shook his head. "I swear, he says his wife is obsessing over their twins, but it's clear he is far from better in that regard himself."

Today, Kyle accepted without a doubt, John Bukharin became something of an interestingly quirky individual to admire. He wasn't as 'breath-taking' as his wife, but John was… he looked like he could be in the future.

Hence why, he promised himself, that was going to be a good reason to drive himself into greatness for the sake to ultimately be super-strong for an adorable family with a wife and children!

AN

John got himself a fan!