Volume 6 Chapter 41 Excuses
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
After the moon-viewing, I was so sleepy after getting out of the bath that I couldn’t help it. I crawled into my futon exactly as Saran told me to and passed out right away, but a little while later, a strange bad feeling woke me up.
(What time is it… wait, where’s Saran? )
Noticing the bed next to mine was empty, I’m sit up. Checking the clock, it’s almost midnight.
(Where did she go? Maybe the restroom… oh well. I need to use the restroom too. )
With that, I headed downstairs, but there was no one in the bathroom. Just as I was starting to wonder, I heard voices coming from the yard. Oh, Saran is talking to Halt….
I thought about calling out to them, but I got a little curious about what they were discussing, so I quietly pricked up my ears to listen.
(It looks like they’re continuing the moon-viewing together. Maybe I should go out and join them after all. )
Just as I thought that and prepared to step outside, the two of them started walking away from the house, which made me even more curious. I quietly slipped out and followed behind them.
They sat side-by-side on a park bench, looking up at the moon, but looking at them like this, it felt exactly like a date.
…Huh? Saran. What did you just say?
Saran likes Halt too? No way… since when exactly….
While I stood there frozen, the two of them stood up right in the middle of the park and embraced… oh my gosh, are they kissing!?
Should I step out? Or should I just pretend I didn’t see anything and leave them be… unable to make up my mind, I kept watching them, and then Saran pulled Halt into the shadow of the trees.
Ah. Could this perhaps be….
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from what they were doing.
Ah… oh… wait, what!?
I mean, I knew about it in theory, as a piece of knowledge… but adults actually do that sort of thing.
Back when Halt was with Ms. Sheena, I didn’t see exactly what they were doing… but Halt looks like he’s in pain? No, that’s wrong. He must be feeling really good.
Somehow, it feels like I’m going to start feeling strange too. A throbbing heat is pooling deep inside my belly….
Ah. Saran is guiding Halt… oh my goodness. Is that about to go inside?
So that’s what adult intimacy is, the two of them truly become one… it’s exactly what Lady/Mrs. Beyond told me.
Ahhh… but this is bad. At this rate, Halt and Saran are going to make a baby!
”Stop right thereeeeeーーーーー!!”
Unable to take it anymore, I leaped out from the bushes and yanked Halt away from Saran with all my might. In the very next instant, I saw whatever had burst out of Halt spray thickly and coat Saran’s face.
”Wha… Syu!?” Halt gasped, completely struck dumb.
”Ah… Syu-sama. Um… this is…” Saran, for her part, was visibly shaken to the point where she could barely squeeze out a voice. But I didn’t know what to say to the two of them in a situation like this either.
”…Halt, you big idiot!” Saying that was the absolute best I could do, and I turned on my heel and fled the scene at a full sprint.
”Ah, Syu, wait! Saran-san, please go back to the house first. I’m going to chase after Syu!”
”But I should come with you—”
”No. Given the state she’s in, I think it’ll be easier if it’s just me talking to her.”
”But… I understand. I leave her in your hands… ahhh…”
I quickened my pace in the direction Syu had run off. Which way did she go… ah. There she is. She’s trudging along in the exact opposite direction of the house.
”Syu, wait up. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. It’s all my fault!”
Shouting that, I caught up to Syu and grabbed hold of his Queen wrist, but she violently shook me off.
”…Halt, you idiot.”
”Ah—yeah. I know, I’m sorry… even though I should’ve known how you felt… I went and had s*x with Saran-san…” I continued talking as I fell into step beside Syu, walking slowly.
”I don’t care anymore… you preferred Saran over someone like me anyway, didn’t you? If that was the case, you should’ve just told me from the start. And here I was, completely floating on cloud nine thinking Halt loved me too… I feel like an absolute fool.”
”No. The way I feel about you is real, I swear…”
”Then have s*x with me too! Even though I begged you that much, you stubbornly refused and said no every time…”
”Like I said, you’re still only eleven years old…”
”Save it! I don’t want to look at your face anymore, Halt. I’m just going to pack up and go back to my home country right away. That way, I won’t have to look at Saran’s face either… and you can just turn down the study abroad offer. You can stay in this world and flirt with Saran all you want!”
”Syu…”
”Princess. You have it all wrong!!”
A voice suddenly rang out from behind us, and when I looked back, it was Saran-san1. So she ended up chasing after us after all.
”What do I have wrong, Saran… it’s fine, really. It’s not my place to say anything about you liking Halt. You’re an adult, so Halt accepted you. I’m a child, so Halt rejected me. That’s all there is to it.”
”That is not it, Princess. My feelings right now are… a little different from the kind of ‘love’ you feel, Princess. I mean, it is true that I like Halt-san, but if I had to put a name to it, it is more like carnal lust… yes. When one reaches my age, love and sexual desire become somewhat separate matters, so to speak… when I realized I might never see Halt-san again, it was my body rather than my heart that craved him, if you will…”
”? ? You’re being really vague… or rather, I don’t understand at all. When you come to like someone, aren’t your heart and body supposed to crave them together?”
”Well, that is usually true… but, even though I am a batsu-ichi2, I married my first husband out of mutual love. However, our sexual life did not go well at all. Because of that, we parted ways so we could each enjoy life at My own pace… ah, what I am trying to say is, even if you are connected in your hearts, if your bodies are incompatible, it will not work out, and I suppose the reverse is also true… therefore, the heart and the body are separate entities.”
”Then what are you saying? Are you telling me that what you did with Halt just now was purely physical, and your hearts weren’t actually connected?”
”Ah—yes, yes, exactly! That is exactly what it is… I am so sorry, Princess!!”
Wow. That’s actually a bit of a shock. So what happened back there was just her targeting My body? Well, I’m pretty sure she’s just framing it that way to make Syu understand… but then again, Sister Sheena was the same way, so maybe people from that world really can separate their relationships with men Queen between heart and body.
Still, it looks like the color is finally starting to return to Syu’s face.
”Fine, whatever. So Saran was just feeling frustrated and pent-up, and when she thought about parting ways with Halt, she just couldn’t hold back anymore, right? Halt already did adult things with Ms. Sheena anyway, so it’s a bit late to complain about that. But Halt… in the end, I want you to choose me.”
”Syu… it’s going to be okay. I’ll be waiting for you to grow up, always.”
”You don’t have to wait that long. By the time we return to my country, I’ll be twelve. That’s more than enough of an adult. So… once we get to Zerlant, the two of us are going to do adult things together, okay?”
”No, even at twelve… doing naughty things is prohibited by law.”
”There’s no problem at all. There’s no such law over there.”
”I can’t exactly just go along with that…”
But realistically speaking, once I cross over to that other world, what kind of relationship am I actually going to have with Syu? No matter what anyone says, Syu is an Princess. If I end up having a sexual relationship with her, legal age limits aside, wouldn’t I just be executed without question? Just imagining it makes me feel like I’m losing years off my life. How on earth did Uncle Yuuta feel when he slept with the Queen-king? And besides… I’m still a virgin, aren’t I?
—
Summary:
Syu runs into the night after discovering Halt and Saran in a very compromising position in the park. Halt chases after her to comfort the upset princess, leading to an emotional argument about her age and romantic position. Saran steps in with an unexpected defense of physical desire that changes the argument’s direction, leaving Halt privately scared of the political and physical consequences waiting for him in the fantasy world of Zerlant.
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Trivia:
Syu is only eleven years old but believes turning twelve when she returns to her home country means she has become an adult.
Saran was previously married out of love, but divorced due to sexual and intimate incompatibility with her first husband.
Halt remains a virgin despite his prior romantic or intimate encounters with Ms. Sheena and his near-encounter with Saran.
The laws around minor intimacy are very different between the modern world and the fantasy realm of Zerlant.
Halt’s Uncle Yuuta previously had an intimate relationship with a female ruler referred to as a Queen-king.
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Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Saran – Disguised as a sun-shy high schooler in a blazer and miniskirt, this cute, petite elf of mysterious age is a serious Zerlant Palace Guard Officer, martial arts master, and hunter. Serving as the Princess’s dedicated, observant guardian and diver, she fiercely weighs the diplomacy of her charge’s actions while privately struggling with intense, impulsive desires and abandonment anxiety.
• Halt – A young male student and son of Tomori who responds to an Empire invitation. Acting as a protector and guide to a young princess from another world, he wrestles with his internal moral code regarding their age gap. Amidst these complex dynamics, this young protagonist also serves as the central object of affection for both Syu-ria and Saran.
• Sheena – A grey-long-haired Lizardman, military lieutenant, and AWCC official known as No. 47. Formerly an Apocalypse Empire teleportation researcher stranded in Nevada, she analyzes interworld risk and stabilizes mana chambers. She is Yuuta’s saffle, allowed Zau to return home, and is referenced by Saran as being notoriously promiscuous among the Demon Clan.
• Beyond – A noblewoman in the exploration party who stays behind to act as a guard due to her severe mana sensitivity, all while harboring a deep curiosity about Karin’s latent abilities.
• Syu – A long-haired princess of elven and dwarven heritage, this boisterous, charismatic engineer is large, sturdy, yet softly curved. Originally an exploring student from another world blending royalty with mechanics, she shares an intense emotional attachment to her companion, Halt. She now returns to her home country to progress her engagement to him.
• Saran-san – A young woman who is a student and acts as a diplomat from Zerlant. She is deeply devoted to Syu and harbors hidden romantic feelings for Halt that she struggles to conceal.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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