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.”
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.