Chapter 3. The difference between men and women in the reversal world that can be seen from the first quest
Hot sunshine. Choking dust.
The enthusiasm of the women with pickaxes shimmers in the sunlight.
"Why would I, a goddess, do such a thing, even though I am an apprentice!"
Lucia was digging the ground with a pickaxe and was yelling loudly.
As adventurers our first quest was to unearth a buried ruin on the outskirts of town.
In addition to Lucia, the female adventurers continue to dig the ground with pickaxes.
There was a hot sun during the day, and the women worked while sweating. They are wearing light clothes that boldly expose their bare skin like tank tops.
While I think it must be hard to dig the ground, I am fascinated by the beauty of women who sweat hard.
"Please, water."
Unlike Lucia and the women who do manual labor, I have the job as a water supply clerk. All you must do is go to the women who are digging the ruins and give them a bottle of water.
In this other world, the positions and common sense of the people are different.
In the original world, manual labor is the role of men, but in this world, women are in charge.
Instead, men are expected to play a role in helping women who sweat with water. That's the water supply staff.
"Please drink water and stay hydrated."
"Thank you, brother."
One after another, water is given to the women with pickaxes.
Frankly, it's an easy process. I even wonder if I can get paid when I'm doing almost nothing.
Eventually, it was time for a break, and Lucia, who had been swinging a pickaxe for a few hours, came back.
"It is too hard. The world is wrong, the next goddess, to be forced to swing a pickaxe."
Lucia, who was eating helplessly with a rationed rice ball in her hand, complains.
It may have been a casual complaint, but for me, it was a statement that ironically agreed.
A world where the common sense of men and women is so reversed is so strange. I still can't get used to it.
"Hey, is it normal for women to do manual labor here?"
I'll ask Lucia for the time being.
"Isn't it obvious? What do women do if they don't stretch their bodies? As an intelligent person, I don't want to do this kind of physical labor."
"But I think men are better suited for manual labor than women. It's easier for men to build muscles, right?"
"That was common sense in your world, but it's completely different here. Men are much weaker than women. Don't judge them by their appearance. The durability is about the same as brick and sand."
What's that analogy?
"But I've been looking at the adventurers for a while now, and they're all smaller than me or have no muscles at all, right?"
"Would you like to give it a try?"
After finishing her rice balls, Lucia leaned forward and placed her right elbow on the ground where the young grass grew.
In that position, she is pegged.
"Arm wrestling?"
"That's right, let's see who is stronger."
Lucia's arms are much thinner than mine. It's the delicate arms of a girl of her age.
"No, I can't lose."
Hold Lucia's hand and get into an arm-wrestling position.
"Well then... Ready, go!"
"Whoa!?"
I put a lot of pressure on my arm as I signaled the start, but in a moment, my arm was on the ground.
"That is stupid ..."
No matter how you look at it, I suppose to be stronger.
Lucia proudly shakes her slender arms.
"In this world, magic is more important than brawn. The more magical power you have in your body, the better your physical abilities will be. Women are born with a tendency to harbor magical powers, and men are less likely to harbor magical powers. It's normal the women's physical abilities are overwhelmingly higher."
"So... magic."
If you think about it, this is a fantasy alternate world. It must have been magic different to summon people. With it, a power that was familiar to me, but I was not able to handle magic.
Different worlds have different common sense. I feel that again and again. Moreover, this time it was understood by the body. Regrettable.
"By the way, the bias in the birth rate between men and women that I talked about in the Adventurer's Guild earlier is also related to this property. Because of this, it is easy to be born into a body that is naturally prone to magical powers."
"I see."
In the first place, the birth rate of men and women is skewed due to magical powers. With it, the idea of chastity has become completely different from my world.
There are a lot of things that I don't understand with the common sense I know.
Anyway, it turns out that women have better physical abilities than men.
So, it's no wonder that I'm the waterkeeper and Lucia is forced to wield a pickaxe.
"Ah, I wish I could just stay on break for a long time, it's too painful to wield a pickaxe."
"You're stronger, so don't complain and swing the pickaxe."
"That's another story because the goddess deserves to be revered!"
"You're a goddess apprentice, aren't you?"
I put down the ranting Lucia and stood up.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm supposed to wipe the sweat off the workers during breaks."
"Oh, I see... Then wipe my sweat too!"
"Then come to the place where the adventurers over there are gathering, and the guild staff will ask me to wipe your sweat there."
"I can't, I don't want to move a single step right now."
"Then wipe it yourself."
As I left Lucia and started walking, I felt a wail on my back.
"Well, wait... Terrible. I wanted a man to wipe my sweat."
Lucia shrugged her shoulders and nodded.
Do you want to be wiped with so much sweat? The job of wiping sweat is quite a mystery to me.