Chapter 19
Zeros and the others, who subjugated the bandits, finally arrived at the riverside where they would have to spend the night at.
Celestina and Zweit went to sleep first whilst, Zeros and several knights were keeping watch. Even in a safe area monsters can appear and attack people.
Since they returned from the vast forest of Far-flung, their senses have been sharpened enough to be like those of wild beasts, and they would wake up at the slightest sign of danger.
The problem was, when the beast that appeared this time was just a wild bear, Why did they look so joyous to be able to hunt prey?
Their feral behaviour was quite problematic.
Despite being already besides a bonfire, a girl approaches Zero, who was sorting the seeds of the medicinal herbs he had picked up in the forest.
It was Iris, who had the same circumstances as him. She was reincarnated into this otherworld due to the selfishness of the Goddess.
“Mister, Do you have a minute?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not a lolicon so I won’t be able to reciprocate your feelings.”
“That’s not it! What’s with that?”
“Ah… well, you see, in the past, there was this girl the same age as you that tried to seduce me into dating with compensation* in the city I was living in. When I politely refused, she went ‘tch, so this one is no good, huh? Piece of shit old man’, and then proceeded to curse at me for a while, so it kinda became a trauma for me. I apologize.”
(*T.N: 援交. Thank you for having a specific word for ‘schoolgirl prostitution’, Japan. It took me a while to get it.)
“Don’t lump me together with those kinds of people! I wouldn’t do such a thing… That happened in our previous world, right?”
Iris was treated as a schoolgirl prostitute. As one would expect, she was, naturally, quite indignant about it.
“First of all, why did you think I was that kind of girl!? What the hell, I can’t believe it!”
“If you are dressed in such an attire I believe many would misunderstand, Don’t you reckon?”
Iris was wearing a black shirt that dangerously exposed her chest area, a long skirt of the same color, with a deep slit, and a bracelet on one of her arms, that seemed to be a support magic tool with a luxurious design.
It’s an outfit that’s perfectly fine for magicians, but it didn’t seem to match with her petite body.
It was clearly supposed to be a sexy outfit, so it was quite vexing for Zeros to see a little girl trying to look older by using such a risqué attire.
“Ugh… my avatar was supposed to be a tall beauty with a nice body. Then what about you, uncle? You look like a complete beginner so isn’t that suspicious as well?”
“That’s the importance of it, it works as camouflage to avoid being recognized, in all manner of ways.”
“That sounds so shady… What do you want me to say, Doesn’t it look like what a mob character, walking around in the city, would wear? Also, the way you’re gradually using more of that stupid overly polite tone is so suspicious… Honestly, it’s really weird!”
“That’s why it works perfectly, and well, the tone is something like an habit. I got it since the time I was working, and now I only say ‘ore’* when I get emotional.”
(*T.N: ‘ore’ as in the manly japanese pronoun.)
Zeros’ tone was corrected when he first started working for the company, and soon after, it became how it is now. However, when a scruffy-looking middle-aged man is talking with that kind of tone, it can’t look like anything but strange.
Although it sounded awkward coming from him, Zeros quite liked that manner of speaking.
“Heee… What kind of job did you have?”
“Well, it was mainly related to security systems on the internet. Like building firewalls and tracking crackers with a counter-program for example…”
“Woah… you’re really smart, uncle.”
“… I don’t do dating with compensation, though?”
“I already said that’s not it! Don’t say it with such a serious tone!”
In his previous world, he worked for a certain company for about seven years. During that time, his life… the life of Osako Satoshi was smooth sailing.
(*T.N: Osako is his family name, Satoshi, his first name.)
He spearheaded several projects, and was one of the major contributors to the company’s profits. Furthermore, in collaboration with well-known overseas companies, he was involved in several nation-wide projects…
Until a certain incident forced him to leave the company…
“…Still, isn’t that amazing? But, Why did you get fired? That sounds really odd.”
“Well, hear this. I actually have an older sister and she’s quite the troublesome person. I was living at the company’s dormitory at the time, and……. she came to live with me, saying that because we were siblings I should help her out, that sort of reasoning… but she stayed for 3 years and wouldn’t leave the place.”
“Eh? Wasn’t she your older sister? She was an adult, right? Didn’t she work?”
“She worked. And then, she quit immediately after getting married, but she divorced him after she used all of his savings…”
“Haaaa!?”
Satoshi’s sister was quite the selfish person.
She spent her half of the money from her parents’ inheritance in just two years, and she spent all of her marriage partner’s deposits without permission.
Far from just getting a divorced, it was the kind of story that would get the police involved if it would’ve gotten reported, but it didn’t become a big deal because she had previously investigated the fact that her husband was cheating on her, so she used that as leverage against him.
Rather than letting herself be unhappy, she’s a sly schemer that drives her opponents to a corner.
(*T.N: Not sure about that:むしろ、自分を不幸に見せる事で、逆に相手を追い詰めるほどの策士である。)
That elder sister barged, uninvited, into Satoshi’s company dormitory.
She lived there for three years without working, only eating rice and watching TV.
Since all of the bankbooks were managed by Satoshi, they could be used without fear of her sister using all of their money. Because he didn’t trust his sister from the beginning, his room was tightly guarded, and the bankbooks were put in a safe in the bank.
“Woah! What a sister! She’s a complete parasite.”
“She would randomly order food, and to pay the bill she would barge into my room, under the excuse of ‘cleaning it a bit’, in order to take whatever money she could find while completely messing it up.”
“Did you not try to kick her out? You could’ve called the police or consult with a lawyer…”
“I would’ve done it, but she’s good at keeping up with appearances. If anything happens, I’d look like the bad guy, so it was useless.”
A good sister on the outside, a tyrant at home.
In any case, she got along with the neighborhood wives, never giving off a bad impression of herself to them.
After 3 years living in such a hellish place, Satoshi succeeded in forcibly driving her out when he got reassigned to another district for his work. And fortunately, the new dormitory he was designated to, was a men only 2LDK apartment.
In addition, his bedroom was also quite narrow, barely enough for one to live alone.
He gazes at the distance with an annoyed expression as he remembers the moment he finally got away from his sister…
“I have no intention of working, and yet, I’m the kind of woman that needs to constantly spend money… so remember, in this world, I always win.”
(*T.N: That was a really confusing sentence to translate, specially the last part, but I think that’s the main idea behind it;この世界にいたら、真っ先に殺してますよ )
“I don’t think this will be the end of it…”
And, indeed. It was not the end of it.
When he went abroad on a business trip, and, naturally didn’t return to the dormitory for a while, she showed up there and deceived the manager into letting her inside the apartment. She hacked his computer and stole the program that he was developing.
(*T.N: I wonder how such a useless woman would be able to hack into a literal cyber security expert’s work computer…)
And then, she met and even got married to another man.
“That man… he was one of the top executives of a rival company, and soon after, they announced the stolen software as one of their new products under development!”
“Your tone is changing, uncle…”
Naturally, a patent application had already been filled, and so, both companies went to court. Although Satoshi’s company won because of that single, irrefutable, piece of evidence, he was still fired from his job. All due to his troublesome elder sister.
The rival company’s executive, who was also her sister’s husband at the time, was made to take responsibility for the incident, and was fired as well.
It was a nightmare-like event, in which, no one ended up profiting from.
Satoshi then bought some land on the countryside, and started a secluded farming lifestyle.
He had always enjoyed playing videogames, and adding that to his new slow life, made him surprisingly comfortable.
His older sister, who knew he retired to the countryside, wouldn’t even come close to him. Probably because she thought it would be impossible to adapt to a farmer’s lifestyle.
“Well, why am I even talking about this, right? By the way, are you going to change your equipment now?”
“I don’t have anything else I can wear right now, I do have some materials but…”
“Ahh, are you the kind of person that sells their old equipment first? If you leave it to me, I can strengthen it.”
“In any case, it’s supposed to be a sexy outfit so you can’t. It doesn’t suit me now.”
“So you were trying to make some money as a mercenary to buy new equipment first?”
…After mixing in some silly talk, Zeros had a rough understanding of Iris’ situation.
She was a player who enjoyed the game quite a lot, and probably had the type of personality that makes her draw into her own shell. Very curious, but lacking awareness of potentially dangerous situations.
The relationship with her family couldn’t be said to be the best, but it also wasn’t bad. It was a very ordinary family.
She had a considerably small social circle, even after reincarnating.
That was how Zeros evaluated Iris, and he seemed to be almost entirely correct.
“What do you do for a living, uncle?”
“I’m teaching magic to a nobleman’s children, but I’ll most likely be unemployed soon.”
“N-Nobles… How did you managed to get acquainted with such powerful people!? And in less than a month…!”
“I just helped them when they were attacked by bandits, though?”
“But you can’t normally talk to nobles, right? That’s how it is in light novels*, at least.”
(*T.N: thanks to Bean, in the comments for picking that up. I thought “ranobe” was the name of a town or smt.)
Even in this world, there’s a large gap between the nobility and the commoners.
Nobles are the ones with status and power, and also the ones who run the country. Normally, it would be an honor to be able to talk to one.
Iris couldn’t believe he wasn’t just arrogantly looked down upon.
“In your first time meeting with someone, half of your words have to be your true intentions, 20% lies, and the remaining 30%, to probe the other person’s intentions and feelings.
With that, you can manage to extract information from the nuances in their words, and the other party’s feelings are explored by saying the things, you believe, they’re more likely to respond, at the right times, and then, finally connecting the full story by differentiating truths from lies.
Those are the basics of the art of negotiation, right? After that, I just need to be able to get through with my skills.”
“Shady!! That’s so shady, uncle!”
“It’s hard to win the trust of the other party during your first time meeting, but you still have to do your best by talking, and if you do get their trust, the most important thing is to not betray it.”
“Isn’t that what con-artists do? Sounds pretty shady to me…”
“Conversation is important to gain other people’s trust. The key to winning it, is how much of a great first impression you can make onto the other party.
A noble is like a company executive or a politician in the first place, right? I’ve done it so many times that I’m used to it.”
When having business negotiations abroad, it was very important to make a good first impression while talking with the other party, and be able to win their trust. That would lead to new business opportunities, and if you succeed, the rewards will be great.
Zeros, who has experienced that many times, is currently working within the framework of a private tutor.
Though, he will be unemployed after a couple of weeks…
“Wouldn’t it be possible to be one of the country’s great persons if you try?”
“I have no desire to, it’s annoying. I want to take care of the fields and live leisurely.”
“What a waste of talent…”
“Everyone chooses the way they want to live their lives. I don’t want to change mine just because others say so.”
In terms of his personality, he doesn’t feel like being in an important spot in the country’s government apparatus.
He just wants enough money to live leisurely, and the power struggle of the nobles who are in charge of the country’s internal affairs is fierce.
Currently, most of this world’s war potential is due to the contributions of the combat profession of knights.
Although the social status of a magician would only be high in a magic State(*T.N: I think the narrator is talking in general about States where that political system exists, not a country in specific; 法国家), they’re currently clinging onto power, and don’t understand the nuances in tactics meant for real battles.
Up until now, the Solisthea Magic Kingdom has never been involved in any major war, and for some reason, the chain of command of the military has been divided into two; with the magicians and the knights often acting independently from each other.
However, when it comes to battles, they had to fight together, thus, having a divided chain of command proved to be quite inconvenient.
When the time to move together comes, the order is transmitted to both divisions, but they try to pull each other’s legs and compete as to which side gets the credit as soon as possible.
Of course, there were few direct clashes, but given that they did not trust each other, under the surface sparks flew between them by means of political squabbles and tactics.
The magicians also train for combat, but they’ve never experienced a real one, in the truest sense of the word. On the other hand, knights have strengthen their coordination having bandits and monsters as their opponents, and aim for the effective management of their organization. However, their joint operations with the magicians result in failures more often than not, due to the divided chain of command and the constant pulling of each other’s legs.
(*T.N: I gave up with that last sentence, at least this makes more sense to me than the raw;ここに異なる命令系統を持つ魔導士団が加わり足を引っ張られる事を由としない。 )
Even if they receive the same instructions, magicians would often interpret it differently, and move on their own accord, despising the knights, who were engaging in actual battle (mainly bandit subjugations). Of course, that could be useful in a war, but it’s mainly done as harassment towards the knights.
This could be due to the fact that magicians are divided into different factions, each one arguing about who will take the credit and gain the upper hand against the others.
There are some magicians that try to fulfill their role seriously, but if you go against your faction, you could easily lose your job, considering that they’re composed of nobles that hold most of the political power in the country.
Both the King and the Chivalric Order are overburdened with the internal discord of the Magic Division, but because the leaders of each faction have their hands in the political center, they can’t be carelessly irritated.
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The country is in turmoil, and far from stopping any time soon, some of the factions are even starting to behave recklessly.
“Would you want to serve such a country? I feel like I’d get stabbed in the back eventually.”
“Is this country okay? I feel like it’s lacking in term of national defenses…”
“Well, if you can manage to incorporate serious magicians into the knights’ ranks it’ll be a different story, but you’d have to get around all of the factions trying to pull each other’s legs. That sounds impossible, right?”
“Serious magicians look pretty adorable in their eyes, huh. Looks like the ongoing harassment it’s mutual, and would be hard for them to team with each other, specially with the power struggle going on between the magicians’ factions.”
Creston created his own faction for that purpose, but so far, the situation is not looking good. Above all, there were many magicians that wanted to dedicate themselves exclusively to research, so often, they didn’t want to be involved in military affairs.
On the other hand, there were magicians that didn’t want to join Creston’s faction because they were scared of the other factions. Due to that, it was difficult to secure personnel.
“I heard there were the Royalist faction, the Nobles, and the Knights, right?”
“Do they love creating factions that much? I don’t think they’ll be able to run the country in that way.”
“They seem to have profits in mind, so no one would want to stop each other’s despotic actions towards the people, well… there seems to be some fools that try to now and then, but for the most part, is a tacit understanding.”
Zeros calmly takes out a cigarette from the pouch at his waist, lights it up, and quietly breathes in the white smoke.
“Cigarettes… aren’t they banned?”
“They’re selling them normally, though? This is an irresistible world for smokers, you can treat anything with healing magic.”
“…And with that my image of a fantasy world crumbles down instantly… hey, Why do you look so happy about it?”
“Even if the price was high, I wouldn’t stop smoking. Have you ever felt the sensation of lighting up a cigarette in the smoking area where the north wind blows through in the cold winter? Well, there’s no roof here but you get the point….”
“You should stop it! It’s bad for your health and the ones around you.”
Zeros, cigarette enthusiast.
Couldn’t stop smoking even after getting fired.
Casually haves a smoke after working on the fields.
“It was hard not being able to smoke during the first few days after I arrived to this world.”
“I wish you could just stop smoking altogether…”
“When I found a tobacco shop in the city, I, involuntarily, made a Hanagasa Ondo-like dance.”
(*T.N: traditional song; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanagasa_Ondo)
“What even is that….show it to me, I wanna see!!”
“For some reason, those who were watching, left money so I earned a little extra income.”
“Did you get mistaken as a street performer!? And you even earned money!!”
Zeros lets out the cigarette’s smoke and looks at Iris with an expression as if saying ‘What even are you talking about?’
“W-What is it…?”
“Are you… going to continue working as a mercenary?”
“Of course! There’s nothing as fun as that in this world. Moreover, there are even dungeons, right?”
“… And miss your marriageable age period? In this world, most people get married when they’re 17, you won’t be able to find a partner after you’re over 20 years old.”
“Well, I’ll catch a good man by then!”
“I see, you’re free to dream…”
Zeros exhales the cigarette’s smoke in a casual manner.
What he really wanted to say was ‘Do you want to keep putting yourself into these dangerous situations? This is a world where the rule of kill or be killed prevales’, But he stopped himself due to the lack of persuasiveness of his argument, considering he’ll be out of work in a couple of weeks.
In the first place, he hasn’t lived a great enough life himself to be able to criticize other people’s life choices. Actually, even if he says great, he’s actually quite anxious about it, on the inside.
In particular, the two disciples have had a huge impact in him.
“Well, I’m already worried about you, so you can always come to me if you need advice, alright?”
“…You’re not thinking about anything strange, right?”
“I’m in the big breasts faction, please try seducing me when you grow a little bit bigger.”
“Uuuu… Why do people even care about that. In any case, I don’t even know your name, uncle.”
“Ah, but I know yours, so it’ll be fine. I heard it when you were talking with one of your companions.”
“But I don’t!!”
He realized that, even after talking for so long, they haven’t introduced themselves yet.
“I’m Zeros in this world. Well, the name in our previous world doesn’t matter, it’s meaningless anyways.”
“Zeros… no way,【The Black Annihilator】!?”
“First time hearing that…”
【The Black Annihilator】is a nickname that came from the fact that, when in his strongest equipment, Zeros’ body happened to be completely clad in black.
For some reason, all five of his companions had different colors, like a superhero squad. It started with the leader, dressing in an all-crimson equipment, and so, they were tagged as an【Annihilator】plus the color of their equipment.
Although, it seems like Zeros didn’t know anything about that up until this moment.
“That name is morbid and disgusting, I’m not that old…”
Well, he is now.
Zeros puffs out rings with the cigarette smoke trying to forget about such an embarrassing nickname. However, the mood didn’t brighten up.
The smoke that night was said to be incredibly bitter, as if pure emptiness had seeped through.
The next morning, the carriages left towards the city of Santhor.
In the carriage, Zeros hands a scroll to each of his students.
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“Sensei, this is…?”
“It’s one of my original magics, I’m giving it to both of you as promised. Try using it.”
“『Silver God’s Wall』? I’m not familiar with it, Is it a defensive magic?”
“Well, that’s up to you, you can use it in both ways. It can even be your trump card, so please train to your heart’s content.”
Both disciples proceed to unroll the scrolls and immediately engrave the magic formula into their brains. However, at the very moment they managed to do it, the magic formula disappeared from the scroll in an instant.
“Wh!?”
“The formula… has disappeared from the scroll?”
“To start with, these scrolls are made so once you engrave the magic into your brain, the formula vanishes from it.”
When the formula disappears, you’d have to write it again yourself to be able to teach it to others. However, the Silver Wall spell is composed of a terribly large amount of characters, being entirely written in binary.
You won’t be able to understand what kind of magic it is at first glance, and you have to write a huge number of magic characters you can’t understand on your own, to be able to give it to others. In addition, the magic formula was awfully dense due to data compression. Just by deploying it, the formula would look like a glowing sphere.
“If you want to give it to your students, write the scrolls yourselves, though, it’d be impossible to decipher the magic anyways.”
“This is… I don’t understand it at all. How did the characters disappeared, that’s impossible.”
“This magic is made only from zeroes and ones… Just how amazing are you, sensei?”
Zeros’ magic has reached the point of being undecipherable, because in this world, presently, there isn’t anyone who knows computer programming languages aside from him.
If the civilization’s technological and cultural level would advance for about a millennia, they might be able to understand it, but if there’s someone capable of deciphering it in this day and age, they would have to be an unprecedented genius.
To Celestina and Zweit, the magic of Zeros was a complete enigma, so they consider it an immense honor, being able to receive it.
It’s not well-known that the Sage profession is so high-ranked. From the point of view of this world’s inhabitants, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he’s akin to a Magic God.
“It’s a type of magic barrier, just like the ones in the holy magic system, but this barrier can be molded into whatever shape you want. It can be a shield or a sword.”
“Maybe it can be extended on the surroundings and be used like blades and twirl them around like that…?”
“It’s possible, but if you can’t control it, it’s useless even as a shield.”
“It’s an interesting magic, but it seems difficult to control. When it comes to suddenly changing its shape, the image you have in your head becomes more important.”
“Although you can make it transparent and shoot it around like an invisible blade.”
It’d be difficult to tell where the barrier is in that case.
It’s a magic that has both, attacking and defensive, capabilities. It’s also possible to indirectly attack an opponent if it’s for a short time.
The only drawback is that the strength of the barrier depends on how high is the user’s abilities. Magic control and the amount of mana someone possess are also related to it, and the stronger the barrier is, the more mana is consumed.
Of course, it’s only a matter of using the external mana in the environment, but if the level of the user is low, so is the strength of the barrier.
(*T.N: level written in katakana, most likely refers to the numerical value.)
“In the end, we still have to be strong to master it.”
“It sounds like an extremely helpful magic to have in your repertoire. But, I wonder what is it like the consumption rate of mana…
“You’ll have to figure it out on your own. It’s impossible to point out a specific number, and there are differences from person to person, after all.”
What they wanted the most was to try out their new magic immediately.
(It’s all fine and dandy, this is youth… Should I consider rejuvenating?)
To rejuvenate one’s appearance, a magic potion called【Elixir of Time】, or the 【Elixir of the Spring】, is needed.
In relation to the intracerebral data, the 【Elixir of Time】can rejuvenate it about 20 years, when used once. Moreover, it does so without any side effect.
The issue is that it’s troublesome to get the necessary ingredients, although they’re available in this world now. However, Zeros doesn’t have the right equipment to make it either way.
The 【Elixir of the Spring】, on the other hand, has some issues.
It only rejuvenates your appearance. When used, it stimulates the body’s cellular metabolism, temporarily changing it to how it used to be. But it doesn’t eliminate aging at all, in just a few years, the body will start to age twice as fast.
Originally, the number of cellular divisions in one’s lifetime, is determined by one’s genes, and if you try to forcibly stimulate the body’s tissues to rejuvenate its outwards appearance, your lifespan will be shortened because of it.
The lower the quality of that particular elixir, the more noticeable the side effects are. In all honesty, Zeros didn’t want to use it under any circumstance.
(Well, I suppose it’s alright to be a middle-aged man. I like this suspicious appearance as it is kukuku…)
Even before that, he just found it troublesome to go through all that process of making the elixirs just for the feeling of self-gratification he could get by rejuvenating his outward appearance.
It was just easier to not worry about those things too much.
That could be said to be one of the bad habits he acquired after he got fired.
Even if one’s spirit is young, the body still declines with age, and it is something to be concerned about, it’s just that, Zeros didn’t want to do anything too troublesome like that.
It seems like his secluded life on the countryside was long enough to turn him into a useless person.
Iris was sitting at the back of the carriage looking at Zeros, who was on the other carriage in front of hers.
She was curious about the strange uncle who was in the same situation as hers, but said he was going to get a plot of land and do farm work instead of going on adventures.
She understood it because she’s been a mercenary for about a month, but there was no magician more powerful than Zeros. Even she is starting to be called a high-ranked magician, so it could be said that the level of knights and magicians in this world is several times lower than in the game world.
Even though he is one of the 【Annihilators】, it’s unmeasurable, for her, the impact he would have in this world. Be that as it may, there’s no more reliable person to have in your party.
After all, every veteran player longed to be like one of them.
“Haah…”
“Why are you sighing for, Iris?”
“Sensan… well, I was wondering how could I manage to make that person one of my adventuring companions.”
“That man? Is he stronger than you, Iris?”
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“Yeah… he might be the strongest magician in the world.”
Presently, Iris had learned with her own flesh how dangerous the work of a mercenary can be. No matter how high your level is, if you hesitate to kill, the enemy will surely not miss that opportunity.
It’s a bit worrying to her than Zeros doesn’t hesitate to kill others, but it’s true that if you hesitate, you will surely not last as a mercenary for too long.
“I see… so you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
“Yeah, It’d be pretty encouraging to have someone like him on my side, right? That’s why I was thinking about how could I pull him in…”
Iris was seriously pondering the issue.
“Hey, Iris.”
“What is it?”
“No matter how strong he is, that uncles looks a bit… umm…… dull, Are you really thinking of starting a family with him?”
“Haaa!!?? I wasn’t talking about that but… What would be so wrong with that?”
“Because he’s a middle-aged man? Iris’ and his age are quite a bit far apart, I’ve heard that couples like that are not that uncommon within the aristocracy, but you might be a bad match for him, Iris.
With your flat chest, and loli body-type, that uncle would end up being arrested eventually…”
“Who you calling a loli!! I know my chest is a bit lacking but… wait, before that, it’s not like that at all!”
Even after that, Sena didn’t realize her misunderstanding.
“I know he helped you, and you owe him for that but… he’s one shabby-looking uncle.”
“That’s why I’m saying that’s not it!!”
“So…What were you talking about alone last night? You two sure talked a lot, huh. Looks like you had fun…”
“Sensan, you’re so persistent!!”
“No way, that uncle is Iris-chan’s favorite!? This oneesan is very surprised!”
“The suspension bridge effect doesn’t last that long! No, before that, Sensan, aren’t you misunderstanding the whole situation?”
However, she doesn’t seem to back down at all.
Iris was completely swept right into the whirlpool of Sena’s delusions, and she was beginning to loose her cool because of them. She’s not listening anymore.
“Ohh, be careful during your estrus period, you might attack him involuntarily, you know?”
(*T.N: https://www.britannica.com/science/estrus basically being horny on main.)
“Humans don’t have an estrus period! In a sense, they might have had them millions of years ago but…”
“They have, you know? Estrus periods.”
“……Eh?”
The humans in this world had an estrus period.
It’s not a natural phenomenon that is triggered when a season, in which they need to leave behind offspring, comes. It was caused when young people’s sexual desire would run wildly, and be uncontrollable.
Men live with a sort of perpetual estrus, so there’s not much influence in their usual behavior, but it’s a different story when it comes to women.
In their case, men are instinctively measured to leave a better offspring by the amount of mana they possess, so women tend to choose a partner that not only matched with their own personalities and preferences, but also by their abilities.
Additionally, women naturally have the tendency to resonate with the mana of men. When that happens, males would get aroused in response to that, instinctively urging them to take action.
It’s considerably difficult to suppress consciously, because the behavior becomes even more unrestrained and hard to control despite wanting to. Moreover, women who are already in love(or have never fallen in love) are more likely to fall into this state.
Pheromones are released from both men’s and women’s mana, seeking and reacting with each other.
This state is caused by the fact that women, in general, have more mana capacity than men, and also due to the nature of mana pheromones, that act on the psyche. The preferences and sexual inclinations of women interferes with men’s mana as some kind of curse, and vice versa. In that way, it’s possible to find the most suitable partner of the opposite sex for oneself.
In short, women push men down, although there are quite a few cases when it’s exactly the opposite.
In the case of men, it’s a sad thing when, even though they are in their estrus period, it all finishes too quickly with just the excuse of ‘It’s because I came involuntarily, you know?’
It may seem like it would cause big commotions, but in fact, it works surprisingly well.
Even if the woman runs away from the man they attacked, they would still be, physically and mentally, compatible with each other, and as a result, there were many polygynist and polyandrous families, and most of them were magicians.
(*T.N: a man with many wives, and a woman with many husbands.)
Furthermore, because they have built an harmonious family, they are unusually happier than the rest of marriages.
In the modern Japanese society, it might be a criminal offense, but in this world, it leads to more people becoming happy.
However, no matter how much you instinctively seek another person, if one of them blocks the mana pheromones’ interference, then it won’t happen. In fact, Zweit is frustrated because of it.
In his case, no matter how much he asked her, he was bound to be rejected by Luceris, due to not having any compatibility with each other.
Well, it would still be a crime if a man attacked a woman by force…
(*T.N: This whole exposition about the estrus period was such a pain to translate, to the point that I don’t know if any of it is correct. Well, I hope that, at least, I got the gist of it right.)
“L-Lie… it has to be a lie.”
“No, it’s for real, you know? I read it in a book… But I’m sure it’s gonna go well with the person you’re gonna attack.”
“No way, it has to be a joke, right?… I’m in trouble!!”
“It’s also called ‘Cupid’s mischief’, everyone’s sense of reason seems to be flying out of the window, it’s specially crazy for magicians.”
“No way!! S-So… I’m that dangerous…”
Magicians, due to their high affinity with mana, are more likely to be more affected by the estrus period. Naturally, the one they attack would be a partner they’re highly compatible with.
(It can’t be true, can it? Hmmm, but even if you attack someone, they’re supposed to be a good match for you, right?)
Instinct and reason had blended moderately and reasonably with each other, and so, this drunk runaway phenomenon is widespread throughout society.
Moreover, even if a man has many wives or vice versa, they won’t try to attack their spouse’s other partners in a fit of jealousy. That is, most likely, because people of similar disposition come together, and they naturally synchronize with one another, resulting in a more in-depth understanding of the other party.
Another reason might be because human beings are social animals by nature, and they tend to flock together with their kind.
For the first time since she came to this world, Iris was truly horrified. This otherworld seems to work differently from Iris’ and Zeros’, who lived in modern Japan.
She expected the humans here to have slightly different characteristics, but she definitely didn’t expect them to have an estrus period.
Now, a cold breeze, coming from this world’s common sense, has paralyzed her heart. She’s scared of going on a rampage because of that estrus period.
No one can go against the physiological phenomena of nature …