Meanwhile, at this time, Gadillas glanced at the office door with a pen in his hand.
“Your Majesty, I know you’re worried, but for now, please focus on the paperwork.”
“…I know.”
Gadillas became a bit abnormal after seeing Kuuga disappear the moment he tried to see him off. It was Uros who calmed him down by saying, “It’s possible that he went to God.” He also heard from Restalion that he suddenly appeared in the courtyard when he came back.
For the time being, he was convinced and came to the office as usual then started working, but Gadillas kept fidgeting in discomfort.
“As was the case in the wedding ceremony, God seems to be careful in strange places. Last time, Kuuga-sama took too much time and came back the next day, so this time, God might have taken care of it.”
Uros was right on point, but for Gadillas, he felt that God should have announced it in advance.
For Gadillas, Kuuga was now an indispensable existence. Gadillas, who thought he could lose Kuuga, was stuck by a strong fear.
That fear stuck until this moment and wouldn’t leave him.
――please come back soon.
Gadillas sighed a little and focused his mind to the documents――or he tried to do so.
At that time, a knight entered the office. Uros responded and returned with a subtle expression on his face… it seemed like something he didn’t want to hear.
“Your Majesty, a messenger from Jihak wants an audience.”
“…an audience… that’s…”
Ragra’s hikikomori king had shivers down his spine. The pen loudly fell on the desk.
Even though Gadillas, who didn’t even show up to his own people and had become a figurehead, wanted to say “no”, as expected, he couldn’t say that to the messengers from other countries.
Gadillas put a hand on his forehead and heaved a very deep sigh. He wanted to decline.
“Your Majesty, please think about it.”
“I know… really, at such a time.”
Uros forced Gadillas to leave the office and change clothes.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Merdechalan, who was told that he wanted to hear about the witch, narrowed her eyes at Kuuga.
“…I thought I told you that it’s something that shouldn’t come out of my mouth, right?”
“That’s about Gadi’s problem. What I want to hear is about witches.”
“Stop quibbling. You should have noticed that both are the same.”
“But isn’t the reason for Gadillas’ despair the thing that you don’t want to say? I’m just guessing here but I don’t think Gadi would despair so much because he’s the witch’s child. Perhaps it was triggered from some sort of accident.”
“…in other words, you want to know the general theory of witches regardless of that king?”
“That’s it.”
Merdechalan sighed deeply and took a sip of tea. When even the eyes of the wolf stared at her, Merdechalan muttered, “it can’t be helped.”
“I’ll only talk about the perception of this world without my opinions.”
“Ahh.”
“…300 years ago, a witch burned down a small village. That was the catalyst for the discovery of witches.”
“Is that the witch of disaster?”
Just recently, he heard that from Zau’s mouth, and when he remembered it and asked, an affirmation came back.
“Someone with magical power appeared, and instead of a man, it was a woman. Coupled with the incident she caused, the recognition that witches are heretics spread.”
“Eh, wait a minute, in the first place…”
“Each country that saw the witch’s incident seriously began to search for witches, suspecting that there were others… it wasn’t in every country, but it was done in quite a number of countries because of their relationships with each other.”
He tried to ask a question, but it was ignored.
“The witches found were taken to the castle. It’s the same with Ragra… and they’d be imprisoned in the “witch tower”.”
It seemed like she’s aware that what she’s talking about was strange as Merdechalan looked like she chewed on something bitter.
“…I don’t feel very good about witches either, so I don’t want to explain anymore.”
“…isn’t this the world you manage?”
“Although I can use oracles to give instructions, they confuse them by twisting the interpretations inconvenient to them. It’s annoying.”
“Are they still searching for witches?”
“No. However, the public is obliged to report as soon as they’re discovered. Of course, there are parents who keep their daughters hidden.”
“Are there any witches other than the disaster witch who might have caused the incident?”
“There are. About 3 of them.”
“…then, what about the men who caused a similar incident?”
“There’d be a trial.”
“…are the people of this world fools?”
“I can’t say anything to that.”
He now understood a lot. Kuuga, who slumped after understanding the circumstances, hit his forehead on the table.
He also understood Merdechalan’s earlier statement of “it’s the common sense of this world”. The premise that “only men can have magical power” was wrong in the first place. In fact, there were a few women who had magical powers. Originally, the correct answer should be “mostly men have magical power, but in rare cases, women also have it.”
It wouldn’t be strange to come to that conclusion but that kind of thought was considered abnormal. Perhaps the men in this world looked down on women.
“In other words, a witch is a person who suffers from gender discrimination and rumors.”
When he muttered while hitting his head on the table, he heard Merdechalan laugh a little. His ears moved, but Kuuga did not.
“As expected, you, who lived in that world, will react like that.”
“From my point of view, witches are a very rare and precious existence… especially for Japanese people who have unique sensibilities, so I can easily accept even more amazing things.”
“I-is that so…”
Kuuga was mentally damaged when he learned that they were treated like that for a much more silly reason than he had expected. He couldn’t recover.
Of course, not everyone felt the same, and many people around Gadillas didn’t seem to care. Excluding Lewis.
“…muu, if this world didn’t need them, I’ll have them…”
“Eh, what do you mean?”
“Making something like a witch order that reports directly to me…”
“…you’ll be hit, you know?”
That’s about right, he muttered in his heart. He didn’t think the public sentiment for Gadillas would improve unless the impression on witches was improved.
It wouldn’t be possible right away, but Kuuga vowed to make it happen someday.
“So, what’s the other question?”
As soon as the topic of the witch was over, Merdechalan rushed to the next topic, and Kuuga choked then raised his head. Kuuga’s expression was quite pathetic that Merdechalan blinked owlishly.
“Ah-… about that. U-uhm…”
Kuuga let his eyes wander around while playing with the wolf on his lap.
“…i-in this world, that, men being together… is that normal?”
“Bufu!“
Even though he asked with great courage, Merdechalan was blown. He glared at her, who put a hand on her mouth while her shoulders trembled.
“…fufu, fufufufufu.”
“…you’re laughing too much. I’m serious here…”
“I-I know… you mean, to your king…fufu, I never thought you’d be troubled about something like that.”
Kuuga’s mouth twitched at Merdechalan, who seemed like she would never stop trembling and tearing up. Don’t say that about someone else’s affairs…!
“The love between men in this world is… right, maybe a little more than the world you were in?”
“…I see.”
“However, sexual activity without romantic feelings is not uncommon.”
“Haa?”
“Even though they have a wife, there are many people who have an affair with a man. This is also related to the “only men have magical power” theory, but… it often happens in schools that teach magic, I think?”
“I got it. You don’t have to say anymore.”
In other words, those with magical power must enter the school, and since only men have magical power, it’d inevitably become an all boy’s school. And the tragedy of a boy’s school happened.
“Oh my, so you understand?”
“…it’s a story that when men are packed in a place, sex would happen.”
“That’s right. Because of that experience, their feeling of dislike is lessened… and when it comes to the king chosen by the Divine Beast… there’s a good chance that he’d have that kind of relationship with the Divine Beast.”
“W-what the hell…!?”
He was so surprised at the added content that his body shook, so much so that the chair he’s sitting on made a rattling noise. The wolf in his hand was no longer in Kuuga’s mind and was pitifully messed up.
“Think about it. The king can’t have sexual intercourse with normal humans. Only the Divine Beast, which is also God’s messenger, can endure. By the way, the King of Jihak was getting it from day one.”
“What are you making a newborn baby do…!!”
Kuuga, who had previously heard from Merdechalan, that the Divine Beast of Jihak was just born and hadn’t even developed a personality yet, was angry at the Jihak King.
“It looked like an adult, and I don’t make them in a sloppy way. It didn’t know about those acts, but it basically didn’t reject the king. It’s certain that the one chosen by the Divine Beast had a good compatibility with it.”
“…nuu.”
“By the way, aren’t you the same?”
“Eh?”
Merdechalan smiled beautifully as if it was fun to make trouble for Kuuga as revenge for Kuuga’s previous questions.
“The Divine Beast will never go against what their king really wanted. They’re that kind of creature.”
“…”
That might be true as Kuuga unintentionally closed his mouth.
Of course, not everything was fine. However, he instinctively understood that it’s a creature that would move as a result of what the king really wanted, and he had become such a creature.
“Well, I don’t think that king will forcibly make you do it, you know? He usually had people around him and he slept with you in the same bed, so he might be taking care of it in the bathroom.”
“I don’t want to know that…!”
Kuuga, who was given too much information, held his head and hit the table once again. It made a pretty loud sound.
“Why do you hate it so much? You love that king, right?”
“That’s a different issue…”
“Do you care so much about gender? Even though you’re not the same creature in the first place…”
“…it’s strange. I feel weird when I’m told that it’s a matter of course…”
He felt the atmosphere become annoying. Since it became like that, he felt like he should end the topic.
It’s not like he hated Gadillas. Rather, he loved him as Merdechalan said. However, he felt a lot of resistance to having a romantic relationship.
In the first place, Kuuga wasn’t experienced. Even still, his partner would be the same sex. He had a strong fear of the unknown.
Moreover, when Kuuga looked at the other person’s face, he could understand what he’s thinking. It’s painful to be together since the more Gadillas doted on Kuuga, the more embarrassing it was.
“Uuuuuuu…”
“Don’t groan here, just go home.”
“…uuuu…”
“Didn’t you say that you’d be his butter dog before?”
“…uh, I could help with the process but it’s a little hard to actively participate in it…”
Merdechalan deeply sighed while looking down on Kuuga’s head which was still attached to the table and wasn’t moving.
If he was willing to help with the act, his favorability would increase significantly. Rather than being reluctant to be with the same sex, Merdechalan thought that more than half of it was because of shyness.
This person’s awareness was about half and it’s very annoying because he’s thinking too much.
It would be better to stop being involved and just observe until Kuuga gave up, so Merdechalan replaced the tea and left Kuuga.
How heartless… Poor Kuuga.
I hope he takes the discrimination of witches down, what’s with the bullshit…
Thank you for the chapter!