Chapter 188: Opening Move (Part 2)

Chapter 188: Opening Move (Part 2)

Part 1

When I woke up, I was hugging Zanoba.

Though I obviously wasn't homo.

It was the result of having drunk too much last night.

Yesterday's alcohol was good.

I honestly thought in my previous life [What would I gain by drinking with guys?]

But I was wrong.

There was nothing more delicious and enjoyable than to drink alcohol with male friends.

Anyway, we parted ways after we cleared our headaches with detoxification magic and sluggishly ate breakfast in the inn.

The season now was summer.

There was already no more snow.

Very soon the beast-tribe's mating season will come.

Since my Beast[animal]'s oestrus was all year round, the season didn't matter much.

But as expected the surroundings were restless, I became restless as well.

Roxy's stomach has already become big, so it was about time she took a break from school.

Though deciding on the name of the child yet to be born was fun, in one month's time I would have to follow Ariel to the Asura Kingdom.

By using the teleport magic circles I could probably return immediately, but it wasn't known exactly how many months we will spend there.

I definitely didn't want to absent during the birth.

Because in order to give birth to my child, she had to put up with 10 months of discomfort.

Halfway through there was little I could do, feelings of gratitude and the like had to be expressed by actions.

A child with Roxy.

Was it a boy or a girl.

Lucy was a girl, I wonder if a boy would be better this time.

No, a boy or a girl, either was fine.

Come to think of it, Eris said that she wanted a boy.

In the previous world, how exactly was the gender determined again?

If I remember right, I heard that doing something made it easier for boys or girls to be born.

Using vinegar or something like that... Folloow current novÊls on nov3lb((in).(com)

I wonder if it was possible to control it with magic in this world.

Whatever, either was fine.

Whether it was a boy or a girl, it was fine to give it love in earnest when growing up.

In the near future surely even Eris's one will be made.

Rather the problem was whether Eris was going to behave herself during pregnancy.

But even so, Eris has after all become a little impatient.

During the middle of it, she confirmed it so many times, [This will have done it, right?] or [There was no mistake, right?].

Though Eris's own sexual desires could be said to be strong, when seeing Lucy or the pregnant Roxy, she might be thinking that she got a late start.

In the Asura Kingdom, to no small extent the perception was that to properly call yourself a wife, you had to give birth to children.

I didn't know what Eris thought of that, but if bringing forth a child will make her relieved, then I wanted to allow her to feel relieved soon.

Part 2

While I was thinking about such things, I was now near the house.

I didn't say yesterday that I was spending the night away from home, I guess they were going to be angry.

No, it wasn't that strict of a home.

But spending the night away or curfew, it was better to properly clarify such rules once again.

In this world there's a kidnapping boom going on and I didn't know what Human God may do.

Even Lucy was gradually becoming bigger recently, and also for the sake of the coming children.

Yes, rules for the sake of children.

"Hm?"

Then I noticed that someone was in front of the house.

The man was talking to someone in a somewhat loud voice.

The voice of the other person couldn't be heard.

When taking a long, hard look I understood who the man was.

Possessing silky brown hair, looking like an ikemen.

Rumored to be the most popular in the magic city Sharia.

Luke Notus Greyrat.

"..."

I remembered Orsted's words and the diary.

Orsted said that Human God could manipulate people.

The diary had something like, Luke was manipulated by Human God and implicated Sylphy, written in it.

The me in the diary possessed quite a strong persecution complex.

But to implicate Ariel and Sylphy, it would be effective to manipulate Luke.

Somehow, even Sylphy seems to trust Luke's words.

In the fight against Human God, it was without a doubt very important to discover Human God's apostles and to ascertain their objectives.

Thinking like that, I decided to wait and see for a little while.

I lowered my waist, moved from shadow to shadow and continued shifting positions until I could hear his voice clearly.

"Ah, to think such a wonderful person has come to this city! You are magnificently cute. These determined, beautiful eyes, the seemingly flowing hair. Truly an angel...no, it is as if a goddess of beauty has descended! I have fallen for thee when I first laid my eyes upon thee!

I heard a voice that seemed to hurt my head.

My head ached.

Even I did not say such shabby things.

But in this world such words were fine.

When told such things, Sylphy would blush and laugh bashfully while saying [Even without such ardent seduction, I was already Rudi's, ehehe].

"Ahem, I beg your pardon. I am very sorry for my delay. I am Luke Notus Greyrat. I am the second son of Notus Greyrat, of the Asura Kingdom's four feudal lords."

...Assuming Luke was an apostle of Human God.

The possibility was high that his enthusiasm regarding courting women was Human God's advice.

After all Luke was not someone who never got the women.

Sylphy seemed to have recognized Luke as someone who regarded women as the same as facial tissues.

Or rather, who was he wooing.

From the gate's shadow, the other person could not be seen.

Of the ones inside who fitted the adjectival equivalent of angel best was Sylphy, but Luke would not woo Sylphy.

The one who fitted the expression of goddess precisely was Roxy, but this also didn't match.

Thus it was...Aisha?

"If possible, would you not grant me your name please? Ah, of course it is not a problem if you do not wish to give your family name. But please, I wish to hear and engrave your beautiful name into my heart, at the very least as a comfort."

While I didn't know who he was trying to coax, I needed to know the name of the other person.

Exactly who was Luke trying to make his own.

If that person was known, Human God's objective may be understood.

...Well, that was only assuming that Luke was indeed Human God's apostle.

The possibility that the simple-minded Luke fell in love at first sight and was just courting was not impossible.

"Ah, thou will not tell me thy name. Then at the very least, please grant me the honor of giving a kiss to this beautiful hand. With only that, I..."

Luke then lowered his waist and extended his hand towards the other person.

In an instant Luke's head shook.

He stopped moving.

Something happened.

But I didn't know what happened.

Hitogami attack...?

Maybe, right now, in this moment, he received a revelation from Human God.

"..."

But while I was thinking that, Luke went down to his knees and suddenly fell down with a thud.

He was not even twitching.

He has lost consciousness.

What had happened.

I felt like I knew this kind of scene.

Shaking, falling down and losing consciousness...ugh, my head...

"...Hmpf."

Looking down at the fallen Luke, one woman came out of the entrance.

She glanced at the fallen Luke and kicked the head of the fainted person with her tiptoes.

It was Eris.

Eris was the one who beat down Luke.

"What's with him, suddenly appearing and talking about nonsense..."

With a displeased face, Eris kicked and rolled Luke over to a place where he didn't get in the way of accessing the house.

And then went back inside the house as if nothing has happened.

I left the shadows and drew closer to Luke.

He fell down and the white of his eyes could be seen.

To hit on the wife of another person, I wonder if this guy had no morals.

Ah no, come to think of it, I did report back to Ariel and Luke, but I didn't think I mentioned that I got married.

It was the first meeting with Eris.

But still, to think Luke would hit on Eris...

So this guy was Human God's apostle after all.

Or was this the influence of the original history.

I couldn't come to a conclusion.

"..."

Regardless, it was bad to let him keep lying here, let's leave him inside the house.

I will question him when he wakes up.

Part 3

"I'm back."

"..."

While carrying Luke, I entered the house and Eris came to welcome me.

Though she made a happy face once she saw my face, but when seeing Luke her eyebrows frowned and she crossed her arms.

"...That guy, was he an acquaintance?"

"Ah, rather than mine, he was more like Sylphy's colleague."

"I, I see...sorry, I hit him."

Oho, somehow Eris was quite meek.

"It's fine. Surely this guy must have said something strange."

"He did."

"Then this guy was the bad one."

He laid his hand on my Eris, this guy did.

You will let me cooperate?

Not the opposite?

"Your magic skill and your conversation ability, allowing you to deepen friendship with people that are hard to deal with. Surviving a fight with the Dragon God, as well as enough combat ability to be welcomed as a subordinate. They are something frightening."

I felt a little itchy from being praised that much.

"But if we involve you, Sylphy's happiness will be destroyed."

Luke hesitated, then looked up.

"That's why, it can't be said now that you haven't actively cooperated with us that much. I, and also Ariel-sama, don't wish to involve Sylphy any further in the dispute of the Asura Kingdom."

I believe that was said before.

It was during the time I dueled Luke.

"But..."

Luke looked down.

The pose of an ikemen's shadow.

It seemed that somehow women would suddenly be deceived by it.

"Ariel-sama has given up on persuading Perugius-sama."

"Well, given the situation, I suppose so."

"Over these 6 years, by promoting ourselves in the Three Great Magic Nations, we have managed to win over many nobles and technicians. Among them are nobles from the Asura Kingdom and those who possess great political power in the country, but...it's not enough for a decisive blow. After all, they are people who are outside of the Asura Kingdom."

"Hm..."

"But, Perugius-sama is a person, who could become that decisive blow. He possesses overwhelming political power, forcefulness of speech and combat ability in the Asura Kingdom. If that patch existed, Ariel's path to become queen would make a great leap forward. Of course, it could still not be said with certainty..."

Luke was serious.

At the least I could not feel that he was deceiving or telling lies.

A necessary person that was needed in order to make Ariel queen, Perugius was thought of highly.

"However, originally it was a plan that came down. Even without Perugius-sama, we believe that we can manage one way or the other. The time of preparation would take a few years more...But even so, I believe that the chance of victory was still there."

I wasn't so sure about those words.

According to Orsted's story, the news that the king fell ill should still take 20 days.

If you had heard Human God's advice beforehand, I think the words [Just a few more years] wouldn't have been said.

"And then...I want you to lend me your strength, in order to become the decisive strength to ensure our chance to win."

"...I have absolutely no understanding of politics? There's also the possibility that I won't be useful for anything."

"You are a man of a much larger caliber than we thought. I'm sure that just by being yourself, you will become an appropriate strength."

"I'm not that great of a person in particular."

"Even without being someone great, your military power is dependable and you have personal connections. Perugius-sama, Dragon God, Demon Lord, a foreign prince, the grandson of Holy Milis Pope, Dorudia tribe, Silent Seven Star. Just your personal connections as an individual is quite something. I won't ask to allow us to use those personal connections. But, a person with those personal connections possesses 'something'. I want that 'something', no matter how small, to turn towards Ariel-sama."

"..."

Thinking that there was something lying underneath all those words of praise, was probably because my association with Luke was rather shallow.

But still, which way was it.

Was Luke an apostle of Human God or not.

There were also Orsted's instructions, so even without Luke asking for a favor, I intended to support Ariel.

But was it within Human God's expectation or not...

...For now, should I see how he reacted?

"Was that...on whose instructions?"

"Instructions...? No, it is not Ariel-sama's will."

"...Were you given advice by someone else?"

"It was on my own judgement."

"Does the name Human God sound familiar?

"Human God...I heard it at Perugius-sama's place, what is that?"

Well, supposing he was Human God's apostle, he wouldn't honestly answer me.

During my time I didn't say a word to anyone...

I wrote it down in the back of my head that Luke had a mysterious face.

"Indeed, it may sound contradicting. We also want Sylphy to be happy. If we involve her in the dispute of the Asura Kingdom, that happiness will be destroyed. If treated as a insurgent by the Asura Kingdom, even the Three Great Magic Nations will probably not offer protection."

That was also scary for me.

In the diary, Zanoba was killed by the Holy Milis country.

To make an enemy out of a country means you didn't know what they might do.

I was certain that I would be able to fight all right.

If I hit them seriously with magic, I could annihilate a rather great number of enemies at once.

If the magic armor's repairs are finished, to a certain degree I would be able to overwhelm them in close combat.

Even Orsted said that he didn't intend to go all-out.

On the other hand.

It would be all right to be hostile if you can win in a head-on fight, that was the logic of children.

There were idiots, who would challenge a wrestler to a fight with empty hands.

Being stabbed in the back with a knife, being poisoned or otherwise use money to apply pressure.

If you couldn't defeat someone by using force, it was fine to win by ways other than force.

The me in the diary was strongly linked with the country and had self-protection.

Fortunately I wasn't chased by the Asura Kingdom, but when asked by Milis to hand me over, they were told [No], because to an extent I was useful to the country.

I wonder how it will turn out this time.

Because Leo was here, I wonder if they will refrain from laying their hands on us, because other countries feared their relationship with the Beast race would deteriorate.

I wonder to what extent Leo will protect my family.

Orsted said that it would be fine if I had a guardian magical beast.

He said something along the lines of letting a guardian magical beast with a strong fate try to protect them, my family would be protected.

But I still wonder if just one dog would really be all right...

"...But if it's you. I think that even if we involve you, who has the backing of the Dragon God, wouldn't you be able to keep Sylphy happy."

I wonder about that.

Orsted had weak influence in various places.

Even though all people living in this world knew of the existence of the Seven Great Major Powers, they didn't seem to completely understand exactly how strong or amazing they were.

"Even if I have the backing of the Dragon God, there still exists personal danger to my life."

"...Well, that's true."

Luke said in a single breath.

He looked straight into my eyes.

"That's why, right now, this is nothing but an appearance for appearance's sake. I want to make Ariel-sama queen, even if Sylphy's happiness will be destroyed."

Luke was staring at me with glaring eyes.

I received his gazes without averting my eyes.

Strangely enough, I didn't think of it as unpleasant that Sylphy was slighted.

Luke's eyes might have been unexpectedly strong.

From the strength of his glinting eyes, that was enough to make you think that to achieve his objective he would throw everything away, I could feel a sense of ghastliness that reminded me of Ruijerd.

"I ask of you, will you not lend Ariel-sama your strength?"

Since there wasn't a talk about what would be awarded if Ariel became the queen of the Asura Kingdom, it was probably because this talk was not through Ariel, but based on his own judgement.

That's why it was [Ask of you].

"..."

Thinking back.

For example, even when I was manipulated by Human God, I was still myself.

On top of receiving advice, I also desperately thought to go towards a better direction.

Luke might be the same.

In his own way, Luke might be frantically giving his all.

Thinking about it, I do want to lend them my strength by all means...

But what I'm fighting against is neither the Asura Kingdom nor Ariel.

It was Human God.

If I went to Ariel's side, there was the possibility that it was according to the expectations of Human God, and in that case, I must definitely consult with Orsted.

"Let me consult with my surroundings for a bit."

Having said so, Luke made an expression as if he wanted to cry and laugh for an instant.

He must have thought he would be refused.

And then he slowly stood up.

"...Understood. I'm sorry about it, saying something impossible."

"No, the official answer will be at a later date. I will definitely give a reply."

With his shoulders dropping, Luke left the room.

I followed him to send him off.

From the small room, passing through the corridor to the entrance.

On the way I looked up the stairs to see Leo, whose position hadn't really changed much since earlier.

Sitting at the stairs of the second floor and making a small growl, as if saying you wouldn't be allowed to pass here.

As expected, Luke was black.

Though I didn't know if Leo's sense of smell could discern whether or not someone was Human God's apostle.

"Ah..."

Probably because she heard the growl, Eris's face appeared from the living room.

When Luke saw her, he promptly placed his hand on his chest and made an elegant bow.

"Madam, even if I didn't know, please forgive me for earlier. May the day come when we meet again."

"..."

Eris grasped the end of her skirt and intended to lift them, but noticed she wore trousers, made an awkward face and crossed her arms.

"Next time, I will properly provide hospitality for a guest!"

"Thank you very much, now then, please excuse me."

But at that moment.

"Fuah...Eris, everyone is still sleeping, don't let out such a loud voice."

Just then Sylphy came down from the second floor.

Looking sleepy, she stopped moving when she saw the figures of Luke and me.

"Ah, welcome back Rudi...ah? Luke has come. What's wrong? Did something happen to Ariel-sama?"

"...I just dropped by, because of some small matter."

"Hm...Well, take your time. Do you want to have some tea?"

"No thanks, I was just about to return."

"I see. I will also go back in a short while, until then please take care of Ariel-sama."

"Sure."

Luke made a lonely laugh, then left my house.

Sylphy and I were seeing him off until he left the entrance.

Luke's back gave off a sorrowful feeling, like a tired salary man.

"..."

Something has started to move.

My heart felt such a premonition.

Preparation time was already over.

Speaking of what was done, the guardian magical beast Leo was summoned and I asked Cliff to solve Orsted's curse.

What was done was little, the feeling that there was a lack of preparation couldn't be denied...At the very least, let's say that I will go with fighting spirit.

While thinking like that, I decided to call forth Orsted.