"No, Princess. Just a moment."
"You piece of trash! You'd fuck a beastfolk!"
At those words, Elsi's ears drooped, and she asked Eve.
"Is it bad to copulate with a beastfolk?"
"....Fuck, this is getting complicated, so just shut your mouth."
Eve dragged the struggling Erina into the mansion, and I prepared to give my explanation to the people gathered in front. Clearing my throat, I stepped onto the platform to draw their attention. With a few claps, the eyes of the people looking at me were filled with a desperate trust. I felt like I knew what they wanted to say even without them speaking.
- My Lord. It's not male homosexuality, is it? Right?
I needed to answer that trust. I opened my mouth. The people who had been waiting for my every word surged toward the platform. Feeling like Jesus performing the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes, I began to explain the suspicion of my male homosexuality.
"Listen, everyone. I did not rape Princess Erina's husband. It was all done with consent..... And Princess Erina's husband... well, he used to be a man, but he's not a man anymore. You understand? He's a woman now. While traveling with me, he became a woman..... No, fuck, this sounds weird. Just a moment."
The more I spoke, the more I could feel the crowd's gazes turning rotten. It was like they were watching a university classmate come out in real-time. As if my every word had turned them all into homophobes, the territory residents stared at me with gloomy faces.
As I was explaining, something felt off. Saying it like this made it sound like I'd turned the Hero into a female. I cleared my throat again and lightly tapped the platform floor with my mace, once again drawing their attention. One priest had already fainted and been carried away, and a few territory residents were crying.
"Oh my.... Oh my....."
Apparently, the suspicion that I was a homosexual was more shocking than me fucking a mermaid. Or maybe they were shocked that I was a homosexual on top of fucking a mermaid. I began to explain again, politely.
"So. In any case, Princess Erina's husband, Hero AA, is a woman now. Body and mind, she's a complete woman. We just happened to... by consent, have sexual intercourse, and our princess here has a slight misunderstanding about the matter. Do you understand?"
The territory residents were still looking at me with unimpressed expressions. Had I come too far to dismiss the suspicions with a single word? I thumped the floor with my mace and spoke cautiously.
"So, I've explained myself. Does anyone have any more complaints?"
"I, uh....."
A territory resident raised his hand. I pointed at the man with my mace and asked.
"What the fuck. Are you saying I'm a homosexual? You wanna die?"
"N-No, sir."
"Then you have no complaints, right?"
I scanned the territory residents once more. After being politely reasoned with once, there were no more complainers. I nodded to myself and decided to be satisfied with this. Judging by the atmosphere, I didn't think they'd believe me even if I explained further.
Upon re-entering the mansion, instead of a welcome party, Erina's insults flew at me.
"How could you do this to me! Lusius!"
"No, listen, Princess. I'm telling you, it's a misunderstanding!"
"I saw it all! I saw it all with that dirty, lowly video orb you sent!"
"Fuck, what are you talking about? There should be nothing there but Sir Hero and I exchanging greetings."
"See for yourself!"
Erina threw the video orb at me. I caught it like a baseball and fiddled with it. When I couldn't figure out how to operate it, Soya cautiously approached and began to work the device. As a blue light emanated from the orb, I asked in surprise.
"What, how did you do that?"
"I... I learned by watching. I saw Princess Erina doing it."
The blue light shone on the white wall. A silhouette gradually grew, and a graphic video came into view. The video orb had much better quality than I expected, so vivid that you could feel the faint sound of water and even the unique air of the cave. It was like watching sex from inside a large hole carved into the wall.
- Haht...! Deeper...! Aeuk...!
And in the video that followed, there was a graphic image of the Hero, with an expression like a bitch in heat, being pounded by my large penis in a doggy-style position. AA was taking my cock with the face of a female incarnate, clutching the sheets and letting out moans of ecstasy.
Erina, seeing the embarrassing scene of sexual intercourse again, covered her face and began to wail. The way she collapsed to the floor crying was like a ghost, and I couldn't help but flinch.
"If you've seen it all, turn it off immediately! Sob...!Sob....sob...!"
"....Listen, Princess. You've got some kind of misunderstanding.
It seemed that cowardly, petty Deorgon hadn't bothered to edit the video orb and had sent it as is. I couldn't understand why he would do such a thing. The most likely possibility was that he was just lazy, or perhaps he didn't know how to edit videos himself.
Eve was beside Erina, continuously consoling her. I thought they didn't get along, but it seemed they'd grown quite close while I was away. Elsi was still in the corner, her ears drooping. Sieri was earnestly comforting her.
"Sniffle.... Speak...."
"So listen, Princess. I didn't forcibly have sex with Sir Hero. You understand? Sir Hero and I, under agreement....."
"Don't speak such nonsense! As if AA would ever allow you his body unless he was mad! You must have used some vile, peerless trick to rape him!"
For Erina, it was a fairly logical statement. AA was originally a man. A guy who was originally a man wouldn't get it on with another man. Lusius is a sex-crazed bastard, so he must have done something cowardly to fuck AA.
It was very plausible and persuasive. I looked at Eve, and she stealthily avoided my gaze. It seemed she was reluctant to defend me in front of Erina. I looked at Sieri again, and she glanced at me before starting to comfort Elsi again.
"Elsi. It's okay. Our Lord doesn't think that way."
"That's right. Copulating with a beastfolk isn't a bad thing."
I had to exert all my effort not to focus on the comedy sketch happening on the side. Elsi, whose ears had been drooping, was perking up again after Sieri's consolation. A situation where a beastfolk and an elf meet directly and one is insulted with "You'd fuck a beastfolk" must be rare, so that insult must have come as a shock to Elsi as well. When I looked back at Erina, she shot me a sharp glare and snapped.
"So, do you have anything to say!"
"Listen. First of all, here's how I met Sir Hero."
I explained how Deorgon had appeared and dragged me into his lair. How he had forced me to have sexual intercourse with AA in that lair. How, to get out alive, I had to endure the humiliation of being filmed by Deorgon's video orb while having sex. And how I met the dragon Arti, received her goodwill, and returned safely.
I left out the parts about fucking Emilia and having sex with Arti. Erina, who had been listening intently to my story, wiped her tears with a handkerchief and asked.
"So, after you defeated the Ains, a dragon appeared?"
"Yes."
"The dragon appeared, kidnapped you and AA, and said it would let you go if you showed it you having sexual intercourse?"
"Yes."
"So you had sexual intercourse, the dragon filmed it with a video orb, and then mistakenly included it with the video orb where you two were sending your greetings?"
"Yes."
"Do you take me for a fool?"
I almost instinctively answered 'yes' but shut my mouth. It seemed my testimony, based on fact, sounded like an unreasonable move to Erina. Her face turned bright red as she once again began to denounce my wrongdoing.
"It was my mistake to trust you! I should have, I should have gone myself.....sob...sob....! Poor AA! To fall into the hands of that wicked man....sob.... You are truly the worst of men!"
"No, Princess. There's no way I'm strong enough to rape Sir Hero."
For now, that logic made it impossible for me to have unilaterally raped AA. After crying for a long time, Erina finally pulled herself together and stood up. She wiped her tears with her handkerchief and asked me again.
"So, you really didn't rape him?"
"Ask Sir Hero yourself. If Sir Hero says I raped him, I'll get on my knees and apologize."
This matter was done with consent, so even AA couldn't say I raped her. If she had any conscience, she wouldn't say 'I was raped' but would admit it was an unavoidable situation and persuade Erina. Since I denied it several times, Erina seemed to believe me a little.
In fact, it was more likely she didn't believe because she didn't want to accept the reality that AA had consensual sex with me. Just watching the video, you could see a subtle point of agreement that wouldn't be present in a rape. AA had moved her own hips, and I had naturally progressed from foreplay to sex. For Erina to talk about rape after witnessing this whole process was nothing more than lashing out to attack my image.
Thinking about it is pissing me off.
"Sniffle..... I'm going back. I've prepared all the handover documents, so go up and look at them."
Erina said, wiping her tears. I let out a sigh of relief that the situation was finally resolved. Once Erina showed no more signs of attacking me, Eve let go of her. Erina went to another room to pack her luggage, and Eve asked me.
"My husband is amazing. So, how did you seduce him?"
"I'm telling you, I really did it because a dragon told me to."
"Come on, do I look like that idiot elf to you? Just be honest with me."
Eve said, rubbing my shoulder. It seemed no one believed I was threatened into having sex by a dragon. Fuck, Deorgon definitely appears in the video, so why don't they believe it? Do they think I filmed some kind of porno?
Amidst my growing questions, another day in the territory was passing.
8
After the handover was complete, Erina wiped her tears, her nose red. She was still looking at me with a face full of sorrow. The tear tracks on her cheeks and her swollen face were quite a spectacle, but I couldn't bring myself to tease her. The original plan was to get a nut off in Erina as soon as I got back, but thanks to Deorgon, things had gotten twisted.
"Fucking dragon bastard."
I had one more reason to kill Deorgon. I vowed that I would definitely kill Deorgon, who had made Erina cry and scammed me with a sex tape. After reviewing the documents in the office, the handover was confirmed to be done properly. Even after I hit her on the back of the head like this, it seemed she had done her work properly.
Erina was stupid, dazed, and easily swayed, but she was the type to be thorough with her work. I admired her document processing skills as I looked over the contents. Recently, there had been no incidents in the neighboring territories. As a result of the Demon King being dealt with in a short time, the monsters had also quickly lost their momentum, and all the neighboring territories were too scared of my military power to mess with me.
The single phrase [Nothing to report] written in the territory activity report spoke volumes about my current status and that of the Peta Territory.
Beneath it, there was a small letter. The elegant handwriting and high-quality paper envelope, worthy of the Royal Palace, caught my attention. I opened the envelope and checked the contents.
"A royal ball?"
"Ah, I've heard about that. The mermaid and the nun were talking about it before."
Elsi, who was standing by my side as an escort guard, said. Sieri, who was concentrating on her accounting work, feigned ignorance. When I looked at Sieri, she blushed and said.
"W-Well, Ms. Eve.... told me to go."
"Really? I guess Erina just told her to go. I was going to skip it if possible."
It felt a bit wrong to go without Eve. But somehow, Eve and Sieri seemed to have come to an agreement. I asked Sieri.
"You need a dress to go to the ball. Have you had one made?"
"N-No. What would I....."
"What do you mean, what would you? Sieri, you're so pretty, any dress would look good on you. I'll call a tailor today, so have a beautiful dress made. That's an order. Understand?"
"Ah, yes."
I started reading the invitation again. For such a fancy, gold-leafed paper, the contents weren't that important. It said that the founding festival ball would be held and that Peta Lusius, the hottest topic of the year, was cordially requested to attend. Honestly, since my reputation was in the shitter, I didn't want to go, but it seemed Erina had already signed, as the signature form was missing.
When I asked Aira, she replied.
"Ah, yes. Ms. Sieri signed it herself... in the wife's name."
Sieri buried her face even deeper into the desk. I grinned and stood up. It was surprising that Eve had given up her spot at the ball, but in a way, it was a relief. I wasn't confident I could handle all the nobles' contempt if I took Eve. Subtle mockery and contempt, while not obvious, cause a lot of stress.
If I was going to draw a sword and start a duel at the royal ball, it was better not to go at all.
I looked down at the yard through the office window. In a corner, Eve and Cellu were chatting in the swimming pool. Eve was dipping her feet in the pool, splashing water at Cellu, and Cellu was giggling as the water hit her. I opened the door and went down the stairs.
As I came out into the yard, Cellu saw me and waved.
"Heh heh."
"Oh, heh heh."
I waved back, imitating Cellu's laugh. Cellu found my imitation of her laugh funny and giggled. Eve kicked her feet in the water and asked me.
"Have a good trip?"
"So-so?"
Only after trying every possible way to persuade the disbelieving Eve did she come to believe that I had a relationship with AA due to a dragon's coercion. Eve's reaction was certainly closer to 'choosing to believe' rather than actually 'believing'. They say if you love someone, you can accept anything. Eve was even understanding of me fucking a woman who used to be a man.
"You said you weren't going to the ball?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
At those words, Eve looked a bit flustered, glanced at Cellu, then looked back at me and nodded hastily. Cellu frowned at that, looking back and forth between me and Eve. She suddenly shot up out of the water from her swim and stuck right next to Eve, asking.
"A ball? What ball?"
"No, Mom, it's nothing. It's nothing, I said."
"What ball is it? Eve is your wife. Why aren't you going?"
"Well, it just happened that way. Sieri wanted to go more?"
Cellu narrowed her eyes slightly at that, then nodded. Eve said to Cellu.
"Mom. Listen. If I go, it'll be a fucking disaster, you hear me? Have you forgotten what a complete mess it was last time when I killed the Grand Duke's son? If I go and kill some noble young lady, we're both going to get harpooned."
"Heh heh. You need to learn some restraint."
"No, Mom. You do whatever you want and then always tell me to hold back?"
"I'm a mermaid."
"I'm a mermaid too!"
"You're a human."
"Fuck, since when did you start distinguishing between mermaids and humans?"
Eve grumbled. Cellu grabbed a few strands of Eve's hair and twisted them. Cellu said.
"Eve, I wish you were a little calmer and more ordinary. Getting worked up over a few words isn't very mermaid-like, nor is it the disposition of a normal person."
"You want me to just grin and bear it at the bastards who mock me? And say nice things to them? Why don't you just tell me to suck them off?"
Eve didn't seem to understand Cellu's words. I couldn't understand them either.
"Cellu. The west coast is in an uproar right now, so public opinion of mermaids is extremely bad. It'd be weird for me to take Eve in this situation. I actually didn't want to go, but Erina signed for me, saying it's mandatory if you're married."
The west coast, which had been a serious problem since the Northern Grand Duke filed his lawsuit, was now a complete mess. From what I heard, the city itself was dying out because fishing and commerce were impossible due to the mermaids. They were recruiting famous hunters and adventurers from all over, but they were all getting massacred as soon as they went out to sea.
It felt like they would soon summon AA or me and order us to hunt mermaids, but I wanted to stay out of this matter as much as possible. Facing dozens of ferocious mermaids in the sea was impossible.
This world wasn't an RPG game where the sea was just a simple tile. In the water, no matter how strong I was, I was just a human who needed to breathe. If dozens of mermaids attacked and dragged me to the bottom of the sea, I'd be dead without a doubt. If the mermaids had become so ferocious, there must be a reason, but finding that reason was also a big risk.
Finding out what dangers lay ahead was less important than me getting stronger right now. Mermaids, no matter how strong they got, were only Lu Bus in the water. The west coast wasn't being destroyed because they couldn't kill the mermaids that came ashore, but because they couldn't do commerce and fishing.
"Ah, right."
Since I was down here, I took out the portrait I had been carrying. It was a portrait of Evangeline. I showed it to Eve and Cellu and asked.
"What do you think?"
"Who is it? A portrait of the Hero?"
Eve didn't recognize the portrait. But Cellu stared at it intently, her eyes narrowed. I explained.
"It's Evangeline."
"Heuk."
Cellu looked back and forth between the portrait and me with a rather surprised face. Eve snatched the portrait and looked at it again.
"This is Evangeline? The hair color is the same, but.....huh?"
Eve covered her mouth, surprised by her own words. Cellu looked at Eve too. Eve looked at the portrait one more time and said.
"Evangeline's hair color is black."
"You can talk?"
Cellu said that, then looked back at Evangeline's portrait and took a deep breath. She opened and closed her mouth as if trying to say something, working hard, but it seemed her voice wouldn't come out. For a long time, Cellu struggled to breathe like that before finally coughing and sinking into the water.
"Mom!"
Eve grabbed Cellu's fin in a panic. Cellu's head popped out of the water. She stuck out her tongue and said this.
"The voice imitation still isn't working."
"Anyway. So, it's certain that Evangeline's hair color is black?"
"That's right?"
"Thank you."
I grabbed Cellu's cheeks and gave them a little rub-a-dub with my palms before getting up. Cellu, happy with just that, grinned, then decided to do the same to Eve and tried to grab Eve's cheeks with both hands. Eve, horrified, pushed Cellu away.
"Ah, don't, Mom! Am I a child?"
"Heh heh."
"Ugh, come on!"
I went back up to the office to double-check. Sieri was gone, along with Aira. Elsi was guarding the office alone. She seemed lost in thought. I rustled the paper and spoke to Elsi.
"Elsi. I have something to ask you."
"Cleric. I have something to ask you, too."
"Yes, go ahead."
"For elves, is copulating with a beastfolk... a a kind of insult?"
What she heard from Erina seemed to be weighing on her mind. Her tail drooped down, drawing circles on the floor. Although I wasn't an expert in the non-verbal communication of beastfolk, I could tell that expression indicated sadness.
This was undoubtedly the most thought-out question Elsi had ever asked. Of all the questions she had ever asked, this one was the most TPO-appropriate. Elsi frowned and said.
"Could it be that you, cleric, because I said I wanted to become strong... forcibly copulated with me? If, if that's the case....."
"There's no way, Elsi."
I gave Elsi a light hug. Her firm, voluminous breasts pressed against my chest, squishing softly. I enjoyed the feeling of her chest as I hugged Elsi even tighter.
"I don't care about things like that. I did it out of a sincere desire for Elsi to become strong, and also because I care for Elsi."
".....Is that so. So it's okay for a cleric to copulate with a beastfolk?"
".....Ah, that's right?"
Fuck, this conversation keeps going in a weird direction. I continued to soothe her, a lingering unease on my face. Elsi rubbed her body against me pleasantly as I stroked her back and spoke.
"I'm glad the cleric likes to copulate with beastfolk. I thought the cleric, like other elves, disliked copulating with beastfolk."
"Ah..... right. Unlike other elves. I like beastfolk too."
The more I spoke, the more I felt like I was sinking into a swamp. Elsi smiled and hugged me tightly. A soft, squishy feeling came from her furry hands. Elsi muttered to herself, sounding pleased.
"The cleric likes to copulate with beastfolk. That's a relief."
Fuck. The more I hear this, the weirder it feels.