In a World of Reversed Chastity, I Strive to Become an Honorable Male Knight, but Lustful Women Keep Targeting My Body - 341

Chapter 341: The Kukkoro Male Knight and the Rural Village

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Led by Lenael, we entered the village. To avoid terrifying the villagers any further, we moved with a minimal number of personnel. This group consisted of Gilberto, acting as my adjutant; Bishop Fiorenza; Lady Dalaiya and Uru representing the elves; and a few knights as escorts.

I left Sonia and Fezaria behind. It’d be unwise to pull officers away from a unit when discipline was starting to fray. Furthermore, both of them could be a bit dangerous, so I didn’t want them interacting much with the villagers. 

The same goes for Zera, the Ant-man Queen who recently joined my subordinates.

“……”

As I looked around the village, I let out a soft sigh. There was almost no one on the streets, and the private houses had their doors tightly shut. The sound of hammering nails echoed from everywhere, as if they were reinforcing the windows and doors. The only people outside seemed to be members of the self-defense force, all gripping farming tools like pitchforks and hoes that could serve as weapons, their faces tight with tension.

No matter how you looked at it, they were on high alert, preparing for a defensive battle. I had sent word ahead saying there was no need to worry, but…It seemed I wasn’t trusted at all.

After walking through the deserted streets for ten minutes, we arrived at the central village square. This was the heart of the farming village, where the village chief’s house, the church, a communal well, and a bakery stood. That said, this was merely a frontier farming village. Everything was small and compact. Truly, it was a tiny village. The population was probably a few hundred at most. When two thousand fully armed barbarian soldiers descend on a village like that, of course they’re going to be terrified.

“The village chief is at the church, not her home. It seems she is guiding the evacuation of the men, children, and the elderly”.

With a sigh, we followed Lenael’s lead to the village church. It was a small wooden building. However, the structure was built particularly sturdily, and currently, the self-defense force members were building a barricade at the main gate. It looked just like a military base.

“Lenael! And you are… the Lord!?”

The farmers, who were cobbling together a barricade using wagons and furniture, spotted us and ran over. Being a small village, they seemed to be acquaintances of Lenael.

“Hi, it’s been a while”.

I greeted them with a composed manner. I was careful not to let any annoyance show in my voice or attitude. It wouldn’t be good to put more pressure on farmers who were likely already in a state of high tension. Fortunately, I had visited this village several times, so the farmers recognized my face to some extent. As a rare male Lord, I probably left an impression. It was a great help as it saved me the trouble of explanations and introductions.

“Ah, thank goodness, my Lord… Are you safe? We were worried after hearing that the barbarians were attacking with an army of ten thousand”.

“……”

“……”

“……”

At the farmer’s words, we all looked at each other. 

Wow, some incredible misinformation is flying around. Where did this “army of ten thousand barbarians” come from? 

If there were that many elves and ants, I would have fled back to the Galea mainland with my people without a second thought.

“……It seems some strange rumors are circulating. Rest assured, those stories are false”.

I patted the farmwoman on the shoulder and spoke in an emphasizing tone. This kind of rumor-mongering was common in emergencies, but as a ruler, it was extremely troublesome. Anyway, I needed to calm the people down…

“But, the scouts said they found an army of elves with incredible numbers or something like that…”

“Those people are not the enemy. Er, it’s difficult to explain, but… how should I put it…”

The situation was quite complicated, and I wondered how I should explain it. For example, something like… the elven nation we went to negotiate with exploded on its own, caught another barbarian group of ants in the blast, we fought as enemies and allies for a while, and finally, everyone submitted to us… maybe?

I’m not lying, but I feel like they won’t believe me. It sounds too suspicious no matter how you look at it. 

Why would the native elves submit to me, an outsider and a man? Especially when, frankly, the elven side was overwhelmingly superior in terms of the number and quality of soldiers…

“Those people are not ‘bad elves’ who attack human settlements and kidnap men. They are ‘good elves’ who punished such outlaws”.

Seeing that I was struggling, Lady Dalaiya spoke up. Incidentally, she currently had her ears hidden by a hood and did not look like an elf. This was a measure to avoid scaring the farmers.

“G-good elves? M-miss… no, my Lady. Are not all elves scoundrels…?”

The farmer probably mistook Lady Dalaiya—who exuded a noble atmosphere despite her appearance—for a young lady of high-ranking nobility. She corrected her language to be more polite as she asked back. However, contrary to her tone, her face looked as if she were thinking, “What a naive person”.

Well, to the people of the Liseben territory, elves were no different from extremely vicious pests. Even if they were told about “good elves” out of the blue, they’d only think, “What are you talking about?” It was the same logic as “virtuous wolves” existing only in stories.

“Regardless of race, scoundrels exist. It is the same for elves. We were also troubled by those people. That is why we sought the cooperation of Lord Blondin and punished the bandits… that is how it went”.

Saying that, Lady Dalaiya lightly lifted her hood and secretly showed her pointed ears to the farmer. She looked stunned and stepped back a few paces.

“E-elf…!”

“Oh, do not be so surprised. As you can see, I am but a helpless young girl. If you think I’m lying, try swinging that heavy farming tool down on my head. I would be unable to even resist and would be exposed as a miserable corpse”.

“……”

I glared at Lady Dalaiya. 

You are among the strongest class even for an elf. Honestly, I’m amazed how she can spin such nonsense so fluently.

“U-uhmm… she is certainly a kid, but an elf is an elf…”

While clutching the pitchfork (a farming tool that looks like a giant version of a table fork), the farmer looked back and forth between Lady Dalaiya and me. She seemed to be agonizing over what to do.

“Rest assured. This person is certainly harmless. Look, see?”

I demonstrated by hitting Lady Dalaiya on the head several times with the side of my hand. Of course, I didn’t use enough force to cause pain, but it was a rather disrespectful act. However, Lady Dalaiya just made a fuss with tears in the corners of her eyes, crying, “Stop it~! Don’t bully me~” What a farce.

The farmer looked at us with an indescribable expression, but she probably understood that Lady Dalaiya was at least not a wild beast that would attack on sight. She gave a small cough and relaxed her grip on the pitchfork.

“Anyway, a lot has happened. As you can see, it was a terrible battle, but…”

I continued my words while showing that I was covered in blood spray.

“We were able to rescue quite a few of the kidnapped men. It seems there are even some men from this village among them”.

“I-is that true!?”

“Yeah, of course”.

Well, I’m not lying. We certainly managed to rescue the men. 

Ironically, Lady Vanka’s management worked in our favor. She had placed married elves on the front lines. Elves who have borne children and started to age begin to lose their physical strength. Because they were thrown into intense battlezones with such bodies, their attrition rate was incomparable to other units. As a result, more than half of the men were liberated from the curse of their barbarian wives. If they and their families wished for it, they could even return to their hometowns. 

Well, there is the issue of what to do with the elven children, so things likely won’t proceed that simply…

“Anyway, I’ll explain the details inside. Lead me to the village chief”.

When I said that while pointing to the tightly sealed main gate of the church, the farmer nodded repeatedly. The news of the successful rescue of the men was likely effective. 

The result is no lie, but the process is a total fabrication. I just went along with Lady Dalaiya’s lie, but I can’t suppress the feeling of being quite guilty…

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