The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Noble in a World with a Skewed Gender Ratio - 20-21

Chapter 20: The King and the Prime Minister’s Side

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“Wait! Time out!”

“….Again, Your Majesty?”

“If you place it there, I will lose.”

“Isn’t that the point of a game… There’s a winner and a loser….”

“…. You do know I’m the king of this country, right?”

“And I’m the prime minister of this country. So what?”

“No, I mean, isn’t this where you’re supposed to say ‘As the king wishes,’ or ‘As you command,’ or ‘By your will’?”

“…I won’t say something like that, you know?”

“Grrrrr!!!”

“Isn’t it fine either way? It’s just a game. We should enjoy the game without worrying about winning or losing.”

“…Then, it’s okay if you let me win, right?”

“Now, now, it seems I’ve won again! Ah, winning feels great, doesn’t it? Right! Let’s move on to the next round!”

“Oi?! Aren’t you contradicting yourself?!”

Lately, everyone had been obsessed with this game called ‘reversi’. This foolish king, I mean, His Majesty was not an exception either. Moreover, he was fortunate enough to receive a special edition of the game…. How enviable… What a waste! Like casting pearls before swine! ….Ah, my apologies. It seemed I spoke too harshly. Well, I didn’t say it out loud though. I only spoke in my mind. It should be fine.

Nonetheless, this reversi game was truly amazing. Not only this, but there were also new things like spinning tops and those adorable things… What was it again? Stuffed toys or something. Anyway, all of these new inventions were absolutely wonderful! And to think that he came up with all these wonderful ideas when he was three years old.. Not only entertainment products, but he also ventured into the food industry. Everything that he touched had been a great success. That miso paste was an amazing breakthrough. The combination of freshly cooked rice and miso soup in the morning was simply delightful. Of course, not only miso soup. The miso paste could also be used to cook other stuff. It paired well with so many different ingredients. Truly impressive…

I heard he collaborated with a slave trader from Kanrinsen to create all these wonderful new things… I couldn’t wait to see what he would come up with next. Hence why, we couldn’t let him go. We mustn’t let him go. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this boy must be the chosen one, destined to change the world. 

I believed we had to quickly get him engaged to Princess Tia before another country snatched him away…

“But this stupid overprotective parent!! Ah, pardon me, Your Majesty.”

“….You really do speak your mind without any hesitation, huh? So? What is it?”

“Regarding Princess Tia’s engagement-“

“It’s still too early! She’s only five years old!”

“It’s not too early. Have you forgotten? You were engaged at the age of three, Your Majesty.”

“That’s different. You know the saying,’what works for others doesn’t necessarily work for us’.”

“If you’re not going to change your mind, I will need to ask you to step down from the throne, you know?”

“Wha-What?! Prime Minister, you better stay sile-“

“I WILL START A REBELLION!”

“Seriously…?”

“You leave me with no other choice!!”

Why the heck did I say that while doing the mochi-pounding pose? Ah, what a mystery… 

“…..Fine. It’s scary when you get mad for real, so let’s talk about the engagement. Seriously for now.”

“Really?”

“Of course… While I know I’m still lacking in many things, but I’m still the king of this country…”

“…Ah! Your Majesty! Turns out you’re not a lost case yet!”

“… In any case, I’ve been thinking… Tia is my only child. There’s no way I could have another child, let alone a son…”

“…Your Majesty…”

“Not to mention, our kingdom’s Special Fertility Unit doesn’t have any young members left and our population just keeps declining with each passing year… Well, I mean, the other countries have the same population problem too, but anyway! I know given my age, there’s nothing I can do to help this issue.”

“Indeed! Chi-Children are a gift from heaven… No matter how hard Your Majesty tried, there are things that simply cannot be done.”

“…Anyway, I’m waiting for the divine prophecy to come true.”

“The divine prophecy…?”

“Yes… A new era will come. The world will change and along with the change, the divine prophecy will descend down to the world. I believe we’re in the prologue of that change…”

“Prologue…?”

“For the first time in 50 years, Astrologer Miles has received a prophecy from the stars.”

Astrologer Miles… A prophet that could read the stars. It was said Miles’ prophecy was never wrong. Moreover, the prophecy only came when the stars spoke to Miles. 

“The prophecy has been communicated to the other kings as well…”

“Your Majesty, is it alright for me to know about this?”

“Yeah. I think it’s best if you know…”

“Then, all the more reason to start preparing the engagement between that boy and Princess Tia-“

“There’s more. Another prophecy about the one who will change the world and their destined person.”

“The one who will change the world and their destined person?!”

“That’s right… If El is the one who will change the world and if Tia is his destined person… They will naturally be bound together anyway, right? But, we still have Lance. Lance was born in the same year as El and not to mention, maybe the child spoken in prophecy might not come from this kingdom at all. Maybe the child was in another kingdom… Anyway, we still don’t know for sure about this destined person and the one who will change the world. After all, we’re still in the prologue of the divine prophecy.”

“So… It’s better to keep the status quo? Since if that boy and Princess Tia are the ones mentioned in the prophecy, they will be bound together anyway?”

“That’s right. Well, I can see that Tia seems to be quite interested in El anyway. Right?”

“….Rather than ‘interested’, it’s safe to say that she’s infatuated with him. However, it seems Princess Tia hasn’t realized that the feeling she bears is love.”

“Haa… As a father, I feel a bit lonely…”

“I understand your feelings, Your Majesty…”

“I only hope no matter what the outcome, Tia can be happy… That’s all I ask.”

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Chapter 21: Strawberry Panties Falling From the Sky?

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“Aaaaaaaah!”

Thud!

“….Hm?”

I was walking along the only road leading to the village from my family’s mansion with Leila. I was planning to check how the factory was doing and then… You know, those small warehouse-thingy with roofs about two meters high in the middle of rice fields or farms? Those kinds of warehouses? Anyway, there was a small warehouse by the road we passed. The farmers usually placed their farming tools in here. We were passing that said warehouse when suddenly…

I heard a voice coming from the sky.

Looking up, I saw a girl with her skirt flipped up, leaving her panties exposed to us, who was standing underneath her. 

Why was she falling from the sky?! Not to mention, those strawberry designs on her panties? How-How came this world had the technology to make strawberry panties…?! At moments like this, it felt like everything was going in slow motion. At least, that was how it felt for me. 

Anyway, since a girl was literally falling down in front of me, I quickly rushed to her in hope to catch her. Of course, I was hoping to look gallant and cool while doing so. I left Leila, who was still frozen on the spot from shock and…

“-Huh? Whoa! Whoa! Get-Get out of the way!!”

Huh?! You can change your trajectory mid-air?! How?!

Bam! Thud!!

“Ma-Master?!”

“…Ouch, ouch, ouch…. Huh? I think I just fell on someone…”

“Mmphh!! Mmpphhh!! Mmnghh!!”

Wriggle!! Wriggle!!

“Hmm… I can feel something important twitching beneath me…”

“E-Excuse me, young lady…?”

“Kyaaa! Hu-Huh? Wha-What?!”

“Fuah!! Haaah… Haaah… Thank you, Leila. You saved my life.. Haaah… I thought I was going to die from suffocation… Haaah…”

I was saved from death by suffocation thanks to Leila. Leila swiftly picked the little girl up. I almost lost my life to strawberry panties. After giving the second chance in life, of course I didn’t want to die from suffocation by strawberry panties!! The scent..? There was a sweet and sour scent… STOP!! What was I thinking?! I’m not a lolicon!!!

“So-Sorry! Are you okay?”

Leila gently placed the blonde girl onto the ground and the blonde girl immediately ran to me. 

“Yeah… I’m fine.. What about you?”

“Well, I’m fine because you cushioned my fall..”

“But why? Why did you fall from there?”

“Well…. I was a little lost so I was thinking of climbing to a high place so I could see my surroundings better and… I climbed up there!”

“Wait, wait… Lost? There’s only one road in here though?”

“Ugh… I-I don’t know! I just got lost, okay?!”

I see… It seemed this girl was severely directionally challenged…

“Then… Would you like to go to the village together?”

“Umm~ May I?”

“Sure thing! My name is El. You-“

“Huh…?!”

“What’s wrong?”

“E-E-E-El…. Umm… I-Isn’t that a boy’s name…? Does that mean you’re…”

It seemed she knew about me? Well, I was the creator of popular entertainment goods and other stuff, it wouldn’t be strange if she had heard about me before. 

“Yeah… That’s right. I’m a boy.”

“…Huh?! Fueh?!?! Eh?! Fueh?!?!”

She suddenly became very flustered. Her face turned bright red. I wondered why? Why?!

“So-So-So-So-So yo-yo-yo-you’re a boy… Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa…”

Pa-Pa… Panties….?

“A-A-A-A boy saw my pa-pa-pa-panties!! And you even sni-sni-sniffed it!!”

“Wait-?! What are you talking about?! You’re going to make people misunderstand! You make me look like a pervert!”

“Master… She’s technically not wrong though.”

“Leila, please don’t say anything more. At this rate, people will think I’m a pervert and get me arrested…”

“I doubt you will get arrested for that, but…”

“But…? What is it? I have a bad feeling about this…”

“I-I-I-I-I-I can’t get married anymore!! El! You have to take responsibility and marry me!!”

“I knew it. I figured you’d say that….”

“Leila?! This isn’t the time to be saying ‘I knew it’! Why are you analyzing this situation so calmly?!”

“Would ‘I thought so’ have been better?”

“No, no, no!!! No one is asking you to rephrase it!!”

What am I supposed to do?! I’m in serious trouble!! Not to mention… That blonde girl… She keeps glancing at me, her face all red and the way she’s squirming… Is that a warning?? A sign that she won’t forgive me?? In fact, I’ve never seen her before. Just who the heck is she? She looks like a young lady from a noble family, but where are her guards then?! Someone likes her bounds to have guards, right? Ahh~ Geez~ Why does things always end up like this?!~

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T/N: Getting lost when there’s only one road… Next level of directionally challenged (,,>﹏<,,)