Drifted Into a Reversed World ~ The One Method for Me, a Japanese Guy, to Survive in a World Where Men and Fertility Are Scarce ~ - 4

Chapter 4: Food

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He had been pushed down with incredible ease. Pain shot through the back of his head, but as if to soften the blow, Firis’s sweet body odor pressed down on him from above, which instead brought a strange sense of tension to Sota. He had no knowledge of martial arts, but even so, he wanted to offer praise for Firis’s masterful jujutsu. At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of shame at being rolled over so easily by a woman.

“U-Um…?”

Sota asked again, somewhat hesitantly, to Firis who was straddling him. Her deep blue eyes were wide open, possessing a bewitching charm that felt as if he could be sucked into them at any moment.

In contrast, Firis felt the blood clearly draining from her head. Having lived her life solely for the sword (or rather, having ended up living that way), she had never touched a man’s skin… in fact, she had never even stood face-to-face with a man like this. And yet, here she was, using her strength to pin down a powerless man, and even going so far as to forcibly straddle him. Was this not essentially one step away from “assault”?

(This makes me no different from Ronia and those other imperial thugs.)

No sooner had Firis felt shame for her situation than she peeled herself off Sota’s body as if she had been repelled.

“M-My apologies! I… I didn’t know you were a man! Aaaah, no, I’m seriously sorry! To straddle a man, what a…! I am a failure as a Knight of the Kingdom…! I-I am truly sorry…!”

Firis’s face turned pale as she waved her hands frantically, while Sota’s attitude was surprisingly lighthearted.

“Ah, no, you don’t have to apologize that much… I was just surprised because I didn’t know you were so skilled in self-defense. More importantly, is your body alright? I know my treatment was amateur at best…”

“Eh!? Ah, oh… I-I am fine, but…”

As Firis answered, she was terrified by Sota’s sincere response. The gazes the men she saw very rarely at the royal castle directed at her were all ones of “contempt.” It was only natural. To a man, a woman—an existence possessing base and intense sexual desires—was an object of scorn. Yet, women couldn’t help but let their eyes, smeared with carnal lust, lick all over a man’s body. No matter how they tried to dress it up, they couldn’t resist the instinct that screamed they wanted to have sex.

Men hated women, and women hungered for the bodies of men. In this world where such a relationship was the norm, Sota’s refreshing and gentlemanly conduct felt like nothing but an anomaly to Firis. Furthermore, a woman classified as an “older woman” like her would usually expect to be treated with cold indifference. Despite that, the smile Sota sent Firis was carefree, and yet lacked any ulterior motive. Firis had become utterly confused by Sota’s treatment of her.

“I see, well that’s the most important thing then. Anyway, I can make some porridge at least, so shall we have a meal? I’m sorry it’s so humble…”

“Eh, no, I…”

“Please wait a moment. We can talk while we eat.”

Sota said only that and stepped out of the hollow. Firis remained motionless, her thoughts frozen. No, she couldn’t move. Her first contact with a man—an experience that could truly be called her first—had left her paralyzed.

She had very first meal shared with a man in the middle of a forest like this. 

“I-I’m sorry… To have a man cook for me, I really am a fool…”

As she received the paper plate, Firis let the words spill out like a confession. Sota couldn’t help but give a wry smile at her extreme depression. He hadn’t been particularly popular with girls back in Japan. However, it wasn’t that he was unpopular, either. With a clean-cut appearance and an impressive, friendly smile, Sota was often liked by people of all ages and genders. But because he was shy and far too kind, the typical evaluation from the opposite sex was, “He’s okay to date, but if possible, I’d rather keep him by my side as a good friend.”

That was why he felt a sense of freshness toward Firis, who was so depressed that she had let a man “take the lead” while she, a woman, should have been the one cooking. To him, the offer was a bit anachronistic, but the existence of a woman—and a beautiful one at that—who viewed him so clearly as a man made him feel a little bashful.

However, Firis’s regret was slightly different from what Sota imagined. It wasn’t so much “a woman should do the cooking,” but rather the shock that she had allowed a man to handle “fire.” As mentioned before, the Kingdom of Vedna treated men as sacred. Naturally, they were not allowed to handle fire or blades, nor were they allowed to carry luggage. The custom was to keep danger as far away from men as possible so they could spend their time in comfort. If a man were to be injured, or by some astronomical chance killed in an accident, it would be a massive loss for the nation. It was never something that could be compensated for with money alone.

Whether to impregnate a woman or give her the cold shoulder was entirely up to the man. Thus, women from the Kingdom did not let men suffer hardships. That was the common sense of this world…

(What a fool I am…! To let a man do the cooking, what a blunder…! Aaaaaah, my lack of consideration stemming from my own virgin clumsiness is so stupid…!)

Firis continued to apologize profusely to Sota. In return, because Firis bowed her head so much, Sota felt somewhat sorry for her and ended up bowing his head as well. These two, whose cultures and worlds were so vastly different, bowed to each other as if competing to see who could keep their head lower.

“N-Now, now, let’s leave it at that and eat the porridge. I went to the trouble of making it, after all. Right? You must be hungry.”

“Uugh… I’m sorry… even though I also pushed you down…”

“That’s perfectly fine! It’s only natural for you to be flustered when you wake up in a place like this, Firis-san.”

Despite her gallant appearance, Sota found it cute that Firis looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

“Still, your Japanese is very good, Firis-san. I was surprised by how fluent it is.”

“…J-Japanese? What is that…? What I am using is the common Gertia language… and your words are Gertian as well, aren’t they?”

“Eh, but, Japanese… eh?”

“…?”

Firis tilted her head slightly. Sota was confused by the unfamiliar term “Gertia language.”

“You don’t know Japan? Ah, maybe ‘Japan’ will ring a bell…”

“…My apologies. Is that a country? This is the Great Forest located to the west of the Kingdom of Vedna on the Gertia Continent… More importantly, I’ve been wondering, why are you in a place like this? And a man alone, at that…”

(…Hm? G-Gertia Continent…? Kingdom…? I-Is this person serious…? No, could it be that ‘reincarnation into another world’ thing that’s so common in web novels and anime…? No, wait, wait, calm down, Sota Akitsuki. There’s no way that could happen… right…?)

Firis, her brow furrowed, was listening to Sota’s story with total seriousness. She didn’t look like she was joking or fooling around at all.

“Actually, my boat was caught in a storm and I drifted here. So I’m feeling a bit like I don’t know what’s what…”

When Sota said that hesitantly, Firis nodded as if she understood.

“I see… Then your memories must be confused right now. Rest easy. I, Firis Aigur, shall take responsibility for bringing you to the Royal Capital. Her Majesty the Queen will surely welcome you warmly.”

(Ah, she thinks I hit my head and I’m some poor guy with scrambled memories…)

Sota felt a sense of helplessness toward Firis, who was nodding to herself.

(…But what if, just as Firis-san says, this isn’t Japan or Earth, but the Kingdom of Vedna in another world?)

Sota couldn’t yet gauge whether that was true or false. He lacked a sense of reality—or rather, a final piece of evidence to prove that the current situation was what it seemed.

(If… If I’ve been transported to another world for real then… what should I do?)

He felt a vague, formless anxiety, and the salt porridge he ate tasted like nothing at all. Just as he made up his mind to follow the words of this woman named Firis for the time being—

“…This is bad.”

Firis’s tense voice shook Sota’s eardrums. Sota wondered for a second if the porridge tasted bad, but apparently, that wasn’t it. In a low voice, Firis whispered to Sota, “Did you put out the fire?” and he shook his head.

“Tch…”

Firis’s expression twisted in agony. It was much later, long after Firis had noticed, that Sota finally heard the sound of the Imperial soldiers’ march.

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