In a World of Reversed Chastity, I Strive to Become an Honorable Male Knight, but Lustful Women Keep Targeting My Body - 301

Chapter 301: The Kukkoro Male Knight and Setting Out

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The crest I proposed was received quite favorably. Well, since the elves didn’t originally have a culture of displaying crests, they might have just thought that any mark would do as long as it could identify affiliation.

…By the way, this circle with a cross mark, the Kutsuwa Cross, was the family crest of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma. I didn’t want to have the elves use my own family crest, so I ended up using another family’s crest as a substitute. I felt very sorry to the Shimazu clan, but since this world (probably) didn’t have the Satsuma domain or the Shimazu family, I wouldn’t get scolded… hopefully.

In any case, all elves, both “New” and “Legitimate” without exception, ended up wearing this Kutsuwa Cross emblem. Specifically, we decided to paint the large mark prominently on the back of their ponchos. Thanks to this, it became possible to tell at a glance which unit an elf soldier belonged to. …As a side effect, the group that already looked dangerous somehow ended up looking even more dangerous, but that was probably just my imagination.

“We can finally move forward now…”

Sonia spoke with a sigh. The time was morning. In other words, it was the day after we decided on the emblem. According to the plan, we were supposed to depart for the city of Carrera that very day, but by the time we finished various preparations, it had already become evening. Marching through a forest at night while bringing civilians along would have been far too reckless. In the end, the departure had been postponed to the next day.

The reason we were delayed this much was because the “New” group had trouble preparing for departure. After all, until yesterday, they had been living their normal lives. Suddenly being told to abandon the town they had been living in, or rather a village, and set out for a new land meant there was no way they could finish packing in a short amount of time.

“Well, it couldn’t be helped. They have their own livelihoods. Even if we’re guiding them, they wouldn’t want to wander through the forest with nothing but the clothes on their backs…”

Of course, we from Liseben planned to provide some level of support to rebuild their lives, but we couldn’t supply absolutely everything down to a single spoon or a piece of underwear. It was only natural that their luggage increased. If anything, it would have been more troublesome if they had set out empty-handed.

After smiling back at Sonia, I turned my gaze to the side. There, I saw the Michael Collins moving along sluggishly. A rope extended from the bow of the ship, and a large number of Liseben soldiers walking along the riverbank were pulling it.

After departing from the city of Runga, we were currently walking along the banks of the Elfen River. On the way here, we had enjoyed a graceful boat journey, but that wasn’t possible on the return trip. The Michael Collins was a sail-and-oar ship, and it couldn’t travel upstream on its own. It could manage for a short time, but not for sustained travel. It had to be pulled by manpower.

On top of that, the ship’s hold was packed full with the household belongings of the citizens of Runga. Because of that, everyone except the personnel necessary to operate the ship had been forced off and made to travel over land. It was truly a troublesome situation.

“That’s true… haah.”

Sonia quietly sighed so others wouldn’t notice, but ended up yawning anyway. When I saw her wide-mouthed yawn, her face turned bright red.

“…That was embarrassing to show you.”

“There was a lot of sleep disruption last night…”

I gave a small shrug. We had stayed in Runga City last night, and just as expected, the Vanka faction launched an attack. That said, it wasn’t a large-scale assault. It was more like harassment. Even so, an attack was still an attack, and we couldn’t ignore it. As a result, our sleep had been significantly reduced. …Vanka must have been aiming for exactly that. She understood guerrilla tactics well. What a troublesome opponent.

“That kind of harassment will probably continue, but it’s only for three or four days. Once we link up with the main force from Carrera, we can finally take a breather. Hang in there until then.”

“Yes, of course. I won’t show you any unsightly weakness, so rest assured.”

“Good answer! I’m counting on you, partner.”

After saying that and patting Sonia on the shoulder, I shifted my gaze to the side again. There stood the men who had lived in Runga City. They were carrying large amounts of baggage and babies on their backs, while holding the hands of children as they walked. The babies and children were of various races. There were elves, birdfolk, and even rarer ones like spiderfolk Arachne. There were also quite a lot of children. Each man was accompanied by at least three children. And of course, the kids weren’t behaving quietly. Some babies were crying loudly, while some toddlers were running around excitedly. The men looked far more exhausted than we were.

“Are you alright? If you need more hands, I can call someone.”

I called out to a nearby man. He was a young man around my age, but he had an elf baby strapped to his back and a sparrow birdfolk baby tied to his chest, while also holding the hand of a young elf girl. On top of that, he had several large baskets strapped all over his body. He looked incredibly burdened.

“I-I’m fine, Castellan. I’m used to this much.”

The way the young man spoke had a familiar Galea-style pronunciation. It wasn’t an elf accent. It seemed he was also originally from Liseben.

“Though… if there’s someone who can produce milk, I’d appreciate it if you could call them. This is something I can’t handle myself…”

In this world, childcare was generally considered a man’s responsibility, but breastfeeding was the one thing men couldn’t do.

“…Unfortunately, there’s no one in our unit who has children.”

Feeling deeply apologetic, I answered that way. After all, our unit was a mixed group of childhood friend knights who were nearing the end of their marriage prospects and a bunch of rough women who had abandoned the royal capital and moved to Liseben. There was no way we had any mothers among us.

“What about the mothers of those children? If they’re on military duty, we could release them from it.”

“Well, about that…”

The young man wore a pained expression as he gently stroked the head of the sparrow birdfolk baby in his arms.

“This child’s mother died of puerperal fever shortly after giving birth… and the elf child’s mother was taken away by Vanka-sama.”

“…I see.”

I couldn’t help but groan. Elves were a race that began aging once they bore children, so normally they would retire from active life and begin a quiet life after marriage. However, when Vanka captured the women, she had forcibly conscripted their elf wives. It seemed that mothers of other races like the birdfolk were spared, but in the first place, everyone living in Runga City was malnourished. There was no way they could produce enough breast milk. As a result, all the babies were suffering from severe hunger.

“I can’t stand seeing children cry from hunger. I’ll find a way.”

The only option was to provide extra rations to those who could produce milk and have them act as wet nurses. I called for Uru and ordered her to recall all birdfolk carrying babies.

The birdfolk had been conducting aerial reconnaissance. I would have preferred not to reduce our surveillance, but this couldn’t be helped. Even if they were demi-humans, babies still had the same level of stamina as hume children. If we neglected feeding them, they would die in no time. That was something I absolutely had to avoid.

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