Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~

Chapter 65.3: Sea Banquet

As one would expect, the mortality rate of the areas outside of the ramparts was really high. In the end, half of humanity’s male population had already been killed by monsters.

This was the reason why the male to female ratio of the humans in this world was 1:2. The male to female ratio further changed to 1:3 in the areas with dense monster populations.

Thus, women had to take a step forward in participating in administrative positions since they couldn’t simply rely on men whose numbers were considerably less than theirs.

Though the believers of Faeria’s faith generally kept their wives at home, the wife could come out and take action in times of emergency. But, from the fact that she’d come out aside from times of emergencies, it was an indication that Turia wasn’t Faeria’s believer.

「The one over here is Nacius. He’s the faithful follower of Oudith-sama, the God King.」

The other person introduced by General Clasus was the middle-aged man.

「… Nacius? Could it be, that Nakius Paracletus? The leading member of senate?」

The leading member of the senate literally meant that he was a big shot. Though it was nothing more than a title, the person with such a title held a heavy responsibility. In Nacius’ case, he was the President of the Republic of Ariadya. Additionally, Nacius was also the descendant of Paracleus, one of the twelve pioneers of this country.

In this world, family names weren’t a fixed thing in this world. Even when introducing their names, it’d rather similar to △△, son of ○○. And then the son of △△ would introduce themselves as □□, son of △△.

There were also numerous cases in which people would instead use nicknames, such as Black Haired ○○, or Brown haired △△.

My alias, ‘Black Haired Sage,’ was along the same lines as that.

Well, if given some time, that Black Hair might end up turning into a family name, such as ‘Black’ or ‘Brown’ in case of ‘Brown Haired.’ But, I don’t think that my nickname will persist long enough to become a family name in any case.

However, it seems that Nacius Paracletus was an exception amongst those.

Paracletus was the name of the founder of the Paracletus house, not the name of Nacius’ father.

But still, should I call him by his family name? And a prestigious family on top of that…

It seems that everyone of the Paracletus family is involved with the government of the Republic of Ariadya. Plus, the Paracletus family is a renowned family who are descendants of a priest of the God King Oudith.

Looking at the crest sewn on the left chest of his garments, it could be seen that it was Oudith’s crest there. Oudith’s holy crest was similar to the Satsuma family crest: a cross within a circle.

She would never have expected to see that crest, the sunwheel, outside of Japan. And that same sunwheel was in fact the holy crest of the God King Oudith.

「Ooh, I’m honored for someone as beautiful as Black Haired Sage-dono to know about my family. Indeed, I’m that Nacius Paracletus. I came today to express my gratitude to Black Haired Sage-dono and the others who saved the Republic of Ariadya from this crisis.」

Nacius was laughing heartily while bowing to me.

Seeing Nacius now, I realized that he was slightly different from the other Oudith’s priests.

I used to think that the believers of Oudith wouldn’t dabble in such empty flattery.

Well, it’s still better than facing a grim looking man.

With this, Callus of the military, Turia of trade and commerce, and Nacius of politics, all the big shots of the Republic of Ariadya had gathered on this ship.

「Father!!」

Someone called out from behind Calsus.

When I tried to take a look, a young man approached us along with a few women following after him from behind.

Though this was the first time that I was seeing this young man, I was already familiar with the faces of the women behind him.

「Oh my, if it isn’t Shizufae-san and co, may I ask the name of the gentleman who’s accompanying you?」

「Indeed. He’s such a nice looking man.」

The ones who’d come along with that young man were Shizufae and co.

「Ooh, so you came too, Decius. Allow me to introduce him, Hero-sama. This young man is my son, Decius.」

Nacius stepped forward and introduced his son, Decius.

The young man named Decius was a handsome blonde with brown eyes. He was quite tall too. He held this handsome and sincere look, the exact opposite of Reiji.

「I’m Decius. Thank you very much for saving the Republic of Ariadya from this crisis, Hero of Light, Reiji-sama.」

"

"

Decius gave a polite greeting.

「Yoo, Shizufae-chan. You came too, huh. That dress looks good on you. You look like a real princess.」

But, rather than responding in turn, Reiji blatantly ignored Decius and instead spoke to Shizefae.

「I-… is that so!! Thank you very much!!」

Shizufae hid herself behind Decius while responding nervously.

It seems that she’s more frightened than delighted at hearing Reiji’s praise.

When I looked to my side, all the women except for Rino, Nao, and I, were glaring daggers at Shizufae.

It makes sense, any normal girl would be frightened by such gazes.

「Heeh… Shizufae-san, is it? I wonder what kind of relationship you have with Reiji-sama?」

Euria asked Shizufar with an intimidating look on her face.

As expected of the daughter of an Evil God, her voice was really intimidating. What’s next, will she also grow a pair of horns from her head?

「Eh, no, that’s…」

Shizufae shrunk behind Decius’ body further as if trying to make her figure smaller even a little bit more.

Poor girl.

「Hahaha, you’re exactly as the rumors said. Hero-sama is really popular amongst the beautiful ladies.」

Decius, who stood in front of Shizufae, was laughing upon seeing the exchange.

It was a refreshing smile. In addition, he was cleverly pacifying Euria and co while hiding Shizufae. It worked well enough to finally settle down Euria and co at seeing his smile. The effect of his smile was truly outstanding thanks to his handsome face.

「You should follow Hero-sama’s example too, Decius, try to get along with women. You’re already at a marriageable age. How about you try to ask Hero-sama to introduce you to a good woman?」

Nacius spoke with half-criticism/half-resignation in his voice towards Decius.

The marriageable age in this world spanned from the middle teens until the later half of teens. Appearance-wise, Decius seems like someone at the end of his teens or the beginning of his twenties.

Though that age was something seen as too early for marriage in my world, it was deemed as too late for marriage in a world like this with a high mortality rate.

Finding a good wife should be a simple matter for someone of his status. Or… could it be that he prefers the same s*x?

「Father… I have yet to finish my training. Doing something like finding a wife during this period is a bit—」

Decius replied with a troubled look on his face.

「Oh my? Master Decius, have you find a woman you’ve taken fancy to?」

「WAAAH, SIS!!!」

Shizufae panicked upon hearing the words of the tall woman behind Decius.

「Is that true, Decius?」

Nacius pressed further, not willing to let go of this chance.

「Nay… well… sure enough, there’s such woman but…」

Decius seemed to be hesitating on speaking further.

「This is rare, huh. To think that there’s a girl who can make Decius-dono like this.」

「Indeed, Turia-dono. To think that there’s a girl who can make the extremely straight-laced Decius-dono who rejected all marriage proposals that came to him and fall in love with her.」

Turia and Clasus spoke to each other with an astonished look on their faces.

「My dear son. Can you tell your father about that lady, the girl who managed to steal your heart?」

But, Decius simply shook his head upon hearing his father’s question.

「That’s… I also have no idea about her identity, dear father. I only meet her last night after all…」

Decius told us of the brief meeting that occurred last night.

「He~. In short, you fell in love with that silver haired beauty who you just meet huh.」

Nao spoke with a curious tone.

「Hey, is that woman really that beautiful?」

Rino asked with a curious look on her face.

「Yes, you might say that she is the Moonlight’s Goddess.」

Decius replied while looking at the night sky.

Though the moon had yet to ride, I’m sure that he was recalling the events that transpired last night.

「Interesting. I’m absolutely sure that woman is coming to meet me, right?」

Reiji spoke with a smile on his face.

I was truly perplexed upon hearing that.

Was this jerk planning on snatching the woman that Decius loves? Even though he’s supposed to be the lover of that peerless beauty, Rena… isn’t that supposed to be enough for him?

Maybe we should go back to the Holy Republic of Lenaria right after the end of this banquet.

「KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!」

At that moment, there was a piercing scream that came from a different ship.

The ship it originated from was the one where the performers who performed for this banquet were supposed to be. Just what in the world was happening over there?

「What’s happening!!?」

Clasus shouted to ask for the situation over on that ship.

Naturally, we were also hurriedly making our way towards that ship.

I wonder what was happening over there.