Drifted Into a Reversed World ~ The One Method for Me, a Japanese Guy, to Survive in a World Where Men and Fertility Are Scarce ~ - 5

Chapter 5: Clash

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

“……Is something wrong?”

Sota’s reaction to Firis, who had suddenly furrowed her brow and begun to hold her breath, was one of simple curiosity. As if rebuking him, Firis made a silent gesture by placing her index finger over her lips and whispering, “Shh!” before signaling for Sota to move toward the back of the hollow.

“Imperial soldiers. It seems they’ve come looking for me.”

“The Empire? But Firis-san, you said earlier that you were from the Kingdom…”

“Currently, the Kingdom and the Empire are in the middle of a full-scale war. If they find us now, it will be bad news……”

“Wait, what!? War……!? A-Are we going to be killed……?”

War. That word weighed heavily on the mind of Sota, a Japanese youth accustomed to a life of peace.

“I would certainly be killed. ……But if they find you, things will be much worse……”

Stopping there, Firis couldn’t help but look at Sota’s body. From bottom to top. Her eyes licked over him from his toes to his head…… Firis couldn’t even begin to imagine what would happen if Sota were discovered by the Imperial soldiers.

(They would likely violate him and then forcibly wring his seed from him…… If he’s taken to the Imperial Capital, he’ll surely be confined and subjected to daily ravishment……)

Just glancing at Sota’s body and imagining such depraved violation caused Firis’s crotch to grow damp with moisture. No matter how much she considered herself a guardian of men, or how much she intended to protect him as a Knight of the Kingdom, her inner “woman” couldn’t help but salivate like a beast at the mere thought of the opposite sex. That was the instinct of women in this world.

“Um…… is something the matter?”

Sota didn’t suspect for a fraction of a second that her gaze was filled with lust. Thus, he tilted his head innocently. He likely had no idea that his innocence was instead fueling both Firis’s protective instinct and her carnal desire.

Firis cleared her throat as if to dispel her wicked thoughts. Unable to withstand Sota’s pure gaze, she looked off into space.

“I-It would be extremely bad if a man of your fine features were found by the Empire.”

“Eh, what do you mean by ‘bad’……?”

“Just listen to me. Stay here no matter what. Also, I’m borrowing this knife for a moment.”

Before he knew it, the knife Sota had been carrying at his waist was snatched away. Her movements were so brilliantly swift that Sota wouldn’t have even noticed the knife was gone if Firis hadn’t mentioned it.

“Wait, hold on, Firis-sa—”

“Wait here!” 

Leaving him with that, Firis leaped out of the hollow without waiting for Sota’s response.

◇◇◇◇◇

(Enemy soldiers…… five of them, huh……)

Holding her breath, she hid among the foliage and waited for the right moment. Thinly and sharply honing her killing intent as she aimed for their throats, Firis was like a hawk. A single small knife. Even with just that, she had more than enough confidence to suppress about five people. In contrast, the enemy soldiers were lazily poking at a campfire by the river. That campfire must have been the one Sota prepared.

“Is this a trace of Firis?”

“……Would that Demon General really be so careless as to light a fire at a time like this?”

“No, that’s unlikely, but it’s certain that someone was here.”

“I wonder if it was a man…… I haven’t held a man for two months now. If it’s a man, I’m going to ravage him like crazy.”

“Idiot. There’s no way a man would be in a place like this.”

“But if we capture Firis alive, I’m sure we’ll be rewarded with a man. Anyway, find the owner of this campfire. Even if you have to be rough, make them spit out any sightings of Firis.”

Their conversation was incredibly relaxed for enemy territory. Their sluggish search showed a level of carelessness that didn’t seem appropriate for hostile ground. Most likely, the Kingdom’s army had temporarily retreated from this Great Forest. In other words, this place had now become the Empire’s backyard.

(Returning to the Royal Capital with Sota…… huh. That has become a rather difficult problem.)

Firis bit her lip. The retreat from the Great Forest was likely ordered by her right hand, Elraine. Considering the situation, it was a wise decision, but for the left-behind Firis, it was a choice devoid of dream or hope. But who could blame Elraine under those circumstances? Within the military, Firis must have been processed as killed in action.

(……But I will survive, no matter what. I will live, and I will surely bring my savior, Sota, back to the Royal Capital.)

The reality was desperate. However, courage welled up from deep within Firis’s chest. She hadn’t known that fighting—being able to fight—for a man could satisfy a woman’s pride to this extent. However……

“Firis-san.”

……The one who suddenly appeared right beside her was Sota. Gripping a thick branch he must have picked up nearby, he looked at her with a serious gaze. Firis let out a voiceless scream at the sight of him.

“Wh-What are you doing……!? I told you to wait in the hollow!”

“B-But…… I can’t just hide while a woman is putting herself in danger……”

Firis was thrown into confusion by those words. In this world, there were no men who followed women into battle out of concern. A powerless man entering a battlefield was nothing but a hindrance. But Sota’s eyes were entirely serious. It wasn’t that he lacked fear. It wasn’t that he wasn’t blustering. The hand gripping the branch was, in fact, trembling uncontrollably. However, to leave a woman to face danger alone while he shivered in safety was something his virtuous soul could not endure.

“I-If there’s anything I can do to help, I want to help.”

“You fool! A man with no warrior’s training entering a battlefield would just—”

But the one who lost her composure wasn’t Sota, it was Firis. She inadvertently misjudged her volume and raised her voice—

“Who’s there!”

—and was noticed by the enemy soldiers.

Firis’s heart constricted all at once…… at the same time, she lunged out from the shadows of the foliage recklessly. Since they had been noticed, a split-second delay in judgment would be fatal.

“Whoa!?”

Sota was knocked over by the blast of Firis’s storm-like leap. Firis’s superhuman leg strength alone was enough to blow away a soft man with its aftereffect. The next thing Sota saw was fresh blood blowing sharply through the green of the forest. He didn’t immediately understand the vivid crimson he wasn’t used to seeing. The knife Firis wielded easily tore through the flesh of a female soldier’s throat, killing her before she could even let out a death rattle. The killed soldier likely wasn’t even aware of her own death.

“It’s Firis!”

“Whoa!” 

The remaining soldiers surged with excitement, but Firis had already taken action.

She stepped in, letting the knife glide through the air, and brought another to her end in the blink of an eye. Firis the Demon. Within her eyes, a dark, faint killing intent flickered.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー