After forming a party with my wife (temp), aka Arca, I headed to the
mountainous area north of Leolinea.
According to Arca, the fortified city north of here— Algren seemed to
be constantly exposed to attacks from monsters, and was always
welcoming adventurers who'd like to accept subjugation quests with
open arms.
However, many of the monsters that attacked Algren were powerful,
and the mortality rate of adventurers was high, which seemed to
cause there to be few who were brave enough to accept the quests,
inversely proportional to its abundance.
"If you knew that, why didn't you go there, then? You're a saintess,
aren't you?"
"Fumu, indeed, that's true. But perhaps it is because of my parents'
influence, I'm basically only interested in battles against people. I
only fought monsters when they attacked me or when it was meal
time."
I see.
This girl had been neglecting her duty as a saintess and totally
wrecking various martial arts competitions.
Unconsciously covering my face with my hand, I asked her,
"Speaking of which, earlier you said that your parents became a
couple after a life and death battle— could it be, it's a custom at the
place you were born?"
"Yes, that's right. The village I was born in is a strange village where
only females are born, for some reason. The village is hidden deep
in a thick forest, and because of that, the villagers are all kind of
mannish— or rather, warrior-ish."
"Ah…" I wondered why.
I got a strange conviction.
That her family was a wild one.
Still, a village where only females were born, huh. "But in that case,
you can't have children, right? How do you have them?"
"Umu, our tribe leaves the forest once a year and go to find a
companion. That is, to marry a man who is strong enough to beat
them."
"I see. So that's why your parents came together that way."
"Yes, that's right. But the village is forbidden to men. So the married
couples live in a village outside the forest, and when the baby turns
3, she will then return to the forest with her mother."
"Eh, what about the father?"
"Naturally, the father stays in the village outside the forest. The baby
is educated by her mother for 10 years, becoming a new warrior of
the village. Only then does the mother finish her role and they are
allowed to go back to the father outside the forest."
"I-I see…"
I never thought that there was a village with such customs.
Not being able to see their wives and daughters for 10 years, the
fathers sure were patience… wait, hold on.
I suddenly had a thought.
Arca, who wanted to be my wife, came from that village. If, for
example, we do get married, would we have to be bound by those
rules as well?
"—Fufu, no need to worry."
"Eh?"
It seemed that she saw through my worry as Arca softened her
expression and said, "I bear the duty of being a saintess. Therefore,
I'm out of the rules of the village. Even if I have a child, the chiefs
won't rob us from you."
"I-is that so." It wasn't like I had decided to marry her, but it was true
that I was relieved to hear that.
A man's heart was complicated.
"But, I mean, she will be the child of me, a saintess, and you, who
have defeated me. I'm sure she'll be an excellent warrior, and
regardless if it's good or not, there's a good chance that she'll
eagerly follow the custom."
"Ehh…"
Then, it was no good, after all…
◇ ◇
After this and that, the sun was setting, and we were trying to stay at
an inn in a nearby village, but,
"Hey, why do we need separate rooms?"
I got stopped by Saintess-sama beside me.
I explained that it would create various problems for a male and a
female of about the same age to sleep in the same room, but she
forced her illogical reason on me, "What are you saying? We are
going to marry anyway, right?" and ended up sleeping in the same
room with her.
It was very different from when I was traveling with Elma, who would
order me to camp outside when there was only one room available.
No, well, had she told me to sleep together with her, it would be a
problem, too.
Anyways, thankfully, the room had two beds, and if I put my mind
into a state of nothingness, everything would definitely be fine.
Even if, Arca was already in my bed in an extremely thin sleepwear.
Yes, I'm a child who can do it if he puts his mind into it.
Do your best, don't lose me.
"..."
Rather, why did she get into my bed~!?
This was why I said we should get separate rooms~!?
Reaching the limit in various senses, I was about to cry to myself,
but,
"—I'm grateful to you."
"...Eh?"
Arca whispered softly, instantly cooling down my thought.
Then, with her forehead stuck to my back, she continued, "I had to
be strong. That was how I had been taught a saintess supposed to
be. That's why I'd lived only thinking of becoming stronger, never
losing to anyone."
"But," Arca continued with a lower tone of voice. "At the same time, I
became afraid to lose. A weak saintess is worthless— I kept telling
myself. If I were to be defeated and lose my worth, just what would I
live for in the future— I didn't know the answer…"
"..."
"But the moment I went all out and lost to you; I wonder how to
phrase it— I felt like burdens were released from my shoulders. I
thought that if it was this person, he would definitely accept me even
if I was weak."
"…I see. That's why…"
"Un. —I figured I'd have your offspring."
"...Hm?"
No, why did you come to that conclusion!? I hurriedly raised my
upper body and shouted, "Shouldn't you usually be, like, 'I want to
walk with this person' or something!?"
It was kinda weird saying it myself, though!?
"That may be true, but I also ended up getting a desire to have a
baby, you see. Oh dear, this is embarrassing." Hahaha, Arca
laughed.
While thinking, 'what's with this disorganized conversation', I decided
to resigned myself as she seemed to have fun.