"Fufu, it seems like everyone's shocked speechless by my real look.
I indeed am quite handsome even if I do say so myself." Porco-san
smiled with a proud look on his face.
But of course, the reason why everyone got speechless was
different.
"Handsome, my foot!? You look no different from before!?"
"Eh!?"
Yes, as Elma—who'd forgotten about her act and retorted without
thinking—said, the reason why we'd got speechless was because
Porco-san looked the same as before taking off his pendant.
"W-what do you mean!? I look completely different!?"
But it looked like to Porco-san, his look had indeed changed. He
desperately explained the difference.
"Here, my ears have become a little sharp! Look!" Porco-san showed
us his ears, and as he said, they were indeed kinda sharp.
"My limbs have become a little shorter too, and most importantly, my
belly's now more perfect than ever!"
――Smack.
Porco-san hit his jiggling belly with a smug look on his face.
Well, now that I took a closer look at it, his belly was truly plumper
than before…
"That makes no difference!? You've simply got fatter!? What's with
that smug look!? You think you're so handsome, huh!?"
"A-am I not!? B-but men with bigger physiques are more popular
among us dwarves…"
"To hell with dwarves' standard of beauty!? I'll give it to you straight,
in our eyes, you're nothing but a sweaty fatty!?"
"Ehh!?"
Porco-san seemed to have received a huge shock, but perhaps he
still couldn't believe that he wasn't as handsome as he'd thought, as
he immediately ran up to Magmell and said, "M-my goddess, please
tell me that isn't true!? I-I'm handsome, right!?"
"E-err…"
Looking at Porco breathing heavily with sweat rained down his face,
as Elma'd said, I couldn't think of anything but sweaty fatty to
describe him.
"Stop it, you're bothering her!"
――Pull.
"Fugyuh!? U-umm, I have this feeling since a while ago, but you've
been acting weirdly, Saintess-sama!?"
"Shaddap! This is the real me!"
"Eek!?"
Hit by the fact that Elma wasn't as he thought her to be and that he
wasn't handsome by human standard, Porco-san, who was being
dragged by Elma, was very, very shocked.
◇ ◇
Afterwards, having entrusted Magmell and the others to look after
the depressed Porco-san, I took Arca and Shiva-san to chase after
the blackdollified Agartha.
Actually, I'd wanted to hear in detail how Porco-san had ended up
protecting Elma, but we were currently in an emergency where the
demi-humans might get exterminated.
Hence, I'd prioritized the purification of the 'Spear' Saint Agartha and
saved the rest of the story for later.
"Well, everyone has their own charm… and each race probably has
their own standard of beauty too…"
Arca nodded, "Right. Even in the nature, animals with big horns are
usually the more popular ones. That being the case, it wouldn't be
strange if there are people out there who prefer someone with big
belly."
"I-is that so…"
For some reason, that sounded weird to me. How strange.
"But since he's a dwarf, I wonder if he's acquainted with Nazariesan."
"I think it's likely. Hey, you said the 'Shield' is a little different from the
other rare skill-holders, didn't you?"
To Arca's question, Shiva-san nodded, "Yep," and said, "as I said
before, the 'Shield' has a stronger sense of duty than the other rare
skill holders, and thus given more power. Hence, their existence
cannot be openly known. So, I think that Nazarie-san person may
not know that he is the 'Shield'."
"I see."
Certainly, Nazarie-san would've told us about it had she known.
Maybe only a handful of people, such as the village chief, knew
about it.
"Still, if men with rotund bellies are popular among the dwarves,
Nazarie's probably into that type of men too. Though she still got
charmed by Hesperios, who could be said to be the exact opposite
type," said Arca.
"Well, that Charm is more of a hypnosis of sorts… the only question
is, when you look at the state of the village, you'd likely think that a
petite, slender woman like Nazarie-san would be considered
beautiful among the dwarves, and the one most similar to her is
Tirna. But why did he choose to make advances on Magmell
instead?"
When I tilted my head, Arca hummed, "Hmm…" while making
pondering gesture for a moment, before saying with a serious look,
"He may be the kind of guy who's into ugly women. You know, the so
called 'bisen'." [1]
"Ehh…"
What the heck is that…
Needless to say, I couldn't stop my face from twitching.