The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Noble in a World with a Skewed Gender Ratio - 7

Chapter 7: About Men in This World

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We then talked in detail about the men in this world after returning to the mansion. My mother said she had been wanting to tell me, but she thought I might not understand it yet since I was still 3 years old. However, today she reconsidered and believed I would be able to understand it. I felt a bit guilty hearing this though. After all, my mental age was anything but 3 years old. 

We sat on the sofa in the mansion’s living room. With a cup of tea that Miinya-san had brewed, my mother then began to speak. 

“…As I’ve told you on our way back to the mansion, men are extremely rare in this world because of a pandemic that occurred hundreds of years ago…”

“Pandemic?”

“Yes… It affected the men’s..”

Hm? What was wrong with my mother? Her face turned bright red. She looked a bit flustered…

“This pandemic affected the men’s genitalia, destroying them from within.”

“Wai-?! Miinyaaaa?!”

“My apologies, it’s just I see Madam is embarrassed to say it and you seem to be struggling to find the right words…”

“Tha-That’s true, but… Don’t you think this topic is still too early for El?”

“Given El-sama’s comprehensive ability, I don’t think it’s too early for him.”

“Bu-Bu-Bu-But… If we’re going to talk about this… We’ll need to tell him about… You know… How male and female…. Right?!”

Now I could see why my mother looked so embarrassed to tell me. This was certainly not a topic for 3 years old. 

“Then, allow me to explain…”

“Miinya?!”

“Please leave it to me, Madam. Now then, El-sama, you see, flowers have male and female genitalia.”

So Miinya-san was going to use stamens and pistils as an analogy. Amazing, as expected from Miinya-san.

“Flowers can produce seeds. These seeds are the flower’s children.”

“Okay.”

“For a flower to bear seeds, the male and female flowers need to have se-“

“MiinyaAAAAA!!!!”

“…My apologies.”

Did she just say sex?! Did she?! Was that why my mother was so furious like this?!

“Ahem… For a flower to bear seeds, the male and female must meet. And then, the male will put his pe-“

“MiinyaAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

“Madam, you’re startling El-sama.”

“Bu-But! This is all your fault, Miinya!!”

“….When stamen and pistil meet, seeds are produced.”

“Why didn’t you just say that from the start?!”

“I was merely joking…”

“We don’t need that kind of jokes, okay?!”

“However, because of a certain disease, the stamen can lose its function…”

“…Okay.”

The male genitalia lost its function?! So the men couldn’t get into a battle stance anymore….

“The man that suffered severely from the disease ended up losing their lives as well. It was a disease that seemed to exist only to kill men…”

This world had that kind of disease, huh..

“…Then how did that disease start and how was it cured?”

“That… Unfortunately, we still don’t fully understand it yet…”

“As Madam says. According to ancient literature, the disease just naturally disappeared over time…”

The only thing that came to my mind was to isolate those that became infected to avoid contagion… And then isolate those who were not infected as well? Something like that, I guess? However, I couldn’t really understand any more than this. 

“…So we don’t have many men because of that pandemic?”

“…Yes. Naturally, with the number of men dwindling, the number of births also decreased…”

I see. That made sense.

“And that’s not all…”

There was more to it?!

“For some reason, almost all children that were born after that pandemic are girls… It’s almost like a curse…”

Right. It sounded like a curse indeed.

“…So basically the pandemic is the reason why there are so few men in the world today?”

“That’s right…”

“Exactly, El-sama…”

Hm? Then… How do women meet men and have children? Putting aside my mother, but I remember I saw a girl around my age in the village. 

“Mother..”

“Wha-What is it?”

Probably fearing that I wanted to ask about my father, my mother looked a bit flustered. In that case… I would need to ask indirectly… But how.. Right! Asking this question should be fine!

“Where can the other woman meet another man like me?”

“Well… A few times a year, we might have a chance to meet with men dispatched from the kingdom…”

“A few times a year? Dispatched?”

“…El-sama, there are men who serve the kingdom in that way. These men travel around to various places and to meet with women. If the women are lucky, a child will be born… We say ‘a few times a year’ because they came to visit this village twice last year. However…”

“No women from the village got pregnant…”

Don’t they have artificial insemination or something? Maybe the medical knowledge in this place is still lagging behind? I would like to ask about that, but I know that’s not something a 3 year old like me should be asking… I guess I should wait and see for now…

I thought to myself when Miinya then said…

“Rainrose Castle is a bit far from here after all…”

“Rainrose Castle?!”

I exclaimed in surprise upon hearing that foreign name.

What the heck is Rainrose Castle?! Does that mean… This place is another world or something?! Is that why there’s no electricity here?! Just where exactly have I been reincarnated into?!?!

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T/N:No, but I also don’t want to get isekai-ed in a world without electricity… ( • ᴖ • ｡ )