The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Noble in a World with a Skewed Gender Ratio - 77-78

Chapter 77:  In the Underground Passage

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Grabbing Tia’s hands, I descended down the stairs of the hidden passage. I couldn’t tell if the enemy let their guard down or they simply didn’t know about the existence of this hidden passage, but the enemy still hadn’t come after us. 

“Tia, I’m so glad…”

I hugged Tia tightly and she returned my embrace. 

“El… Why are you here?”

“I was worried about all of you, so I hid in the cart and followed you from behind…”

“Stupid… El, you’re such an idiot. The enemy is targeting you, you know?!”

“I know…”

“If something were to happen to you… El, I wouldn’t be able to keep on living….”

“I feel the same way too, Tia.”

“Huh?”

“I wouldn’t be able to keep on living if something were to happen to you. That’s why I’m here.”

“El…”

“I’m really glad I was able to save you, Tia… I’m really glad…”

“El… Thank you.”

“Oh, and turns out there’s a prison down here.”

“The underground prison?”

“Yeah, Prime Minister Clara was there. Of course, she’s still alive.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah.”

“I’m so glad… I’m so glad she’s safe…”

“-?! Let’s continue our conversation later. I can hear footsteps.”

Judging from the footsteps, it seemed the enemy was trying to catch up after us. 

“Yeah, but before that… There’s one thing I want to do.”

“Hm?”

Tia gently pressed her lips against mine. 

“El, I love you.”

After she said that, she readied the sword she was holding. 

The underground passage had torches placed here and there. As we descended down until we arrived at an underground prison hidden in the king’s chamber, we used the lit torches from the prison to lit the other torches. Thanks to that, the room became bright enough to see the enemy’s figure to some extent. I readied my bow gun. I took down as many enemies as I could from a distance. The remaining enemy that slipped past my bow would then be slayed by Tia.

“Tia!”

“Leave it to me! This is the last one!”

“Argh-!”

Is that woman really the last of our enemies?

“Is it over now…?”

“No, not yet.”

“Huh?”

“There, I can hear another footsteps.”

Thud, thud, thud.  

“You’re right…”

“But it seems there’s only one person coming in…”

I readied my bow gun, but the footsteps stopped, as if the person didn’t want to reveal themselves to us. That person must had noticed the bodies lying on the floor. They knew I would immediately shoot them with my bow gun if they came into sight.

Then, to our surprise, that person lifted one of the bodies of their comrade I had shot earlier and started running toward us by using their comrade’s body as a meat shield. Of course, the meat shield couldn’t hide their entire body. I aimed my bow gun at the exposed legs and fired my shot. I hit the intruder once, twice, but they didn’t seem to care. They kept charging toward us and when they were close enough, that person threw the dead body at us.

“I WILL DEFINITELY KILL YOU!!”

Ah, this must be the man from earlier. Tia and I dodged the incoming body projectile and there, the man stood before me. He raised his sword high. Sure enough, it seemed I was his target. Well, or he might be extra mad at me because I had shot him with arrows before. I quickly blocked his strike with the bow gun. 

Clang!!

“YOUUU!! HOW DARE YOU TAKE AWAY MY… MY POSSESSION!! YOU THINK YOU CAN ENJOY YOURSELF WHILE I’M THE ONLY ONE SUFFERING?!?!”

“That’s only because you tried to lay a hand on my Tia!”

“SO WHAT?! THIS WORLD IS MINE! THIS WORLD EXISTED SOLELY FOR MY SAKE! IF ONLY YOU WEREN’T HERE!! YOU WERE LUCKY YOU WERE BORN WITH A CHEAT AS A REINCARNATED PERSON!”

“What?! You’re the one that strayed away from the righteous path!”

During our conversation, Dill blocked the slashes Tia sent his way with his shield while counterattacking when he saw an opening. Of course, Tia swiftly dodged all his attack. Then, he spun around to attack me. 

He was really strong.

I blocked his attack with my bow gun and tried to load another arrow, but I made a mistake. Dill had already launched another attack at me. This must be what people refer to as a backhand strike. With the shield equipped in his hand, Dill hit my forehead, causing me to stagger on my feet. 

“DIE!!!”

Dill raised his sword high…

“As if I would let you touch my El!!”

In the next moment, Dill’s hand fell to the ground, along with the sword that was still tightly gripped. Tia was relentless though. She quickly slashed his other hand, causing the shield-bearing hand to fall down as well. I quickly took my chance and shot an arrow through Dill’s forehead.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Chapter 78: Finally

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

After defeating Dill, we hurried back to the king’s chamber with Dill’s decapitated head in hand. 

“We’ve defeated your king! Cease the fight, lay down your weapons and surrender now! Further conflict has no use now!”

Tia’s voice rang clear through the king’s chamber and eventually, the news of Dill’s death reached the enemy forces still fighting in the castle town. Thus, the battle came to an end. 

“Tia…”

“El, this is it, right? This is the end, right?”

“Yeah. It looks like everyone is still alive too.”

Upon seeing the sight of me, everyone ran towards me. And… The first one to rush over and jump into my arms was…

“El!~~”

Plop!

“Oof-! Mother.. Yo-You’re too energetic.”

“Who cares about that! More importantly, you followed us in secret, didn’t you?!”

Mother looked clearly angry at me.

“Well… I’m sorry, Mother. But! I was so worried about you and everyone else! I couldn’t possibly-“

I tried to avert my gaze from Mother, but she grabbed my face firmly and pulled me close-

“Mmmph…”

“MMMMPHHH-?!!?!”

“””AAHHHH!!”””

Our lips pressed together for a moment that seemed to last forever until eventually, she let my head go. 

“Mother…?”

I glared at Mother, but my glare seemed to have no effect on her. 

“Mother did her best today, so it’s okay~ You tasted delicious, El~♪”

Delicious or not, that wasn’t the point here. Anyway, I hugged everyone as well and of course, I kissed them too. The last one that I hugged was Miinya. She then explained everything in detail to us. It turned out, Miinya was a princess from Deva Kingdom. Dill took reign after the former queen abdicated. Dill was the one that started all these wars and… Miinya also fought against her own mother. 

“Miinya…”

“El-sama…”

“I’m not sure what to say…”

“It’s alright. I’m alright, really. My mother also told me to be happy in her final words. Besides, while that man was the worst scum in our eyes, he was everything for my mother. My mother truly dedicated everything of hers to him. That was how precious that man was to my mother.”

“I see…”

Indeed. Such was love.. Falling in love was a precious feeling. Only the person in question could feel it. No matter what other people said, only the person in love could understand those smoldering feelings. 

“What’s so good about that person?”

“That person? He’s so scummy!”

None of those words mattered when someone was blinded by love. After that, we helped Prime Minister Clara from the dungeon. Although Prime Minister Clara was pretty emaciated, but her life was not in danger. 

She insisted on seeing the daughter of Duchess Vega and Duchess Spica despite her conditions. 

“It’s been a while, the two of you.”

“”It’s been a while, Clara-sama.””

“I.. I was saved by your mothers, Duchess Vega and Duchess Spica…”

Prime Minister Clara had opted for a defensive position, but when the enemy attacked, she realized the enemy’s force was stronger than she had expected. Prime Minister Clara was ready to forfeit her life when… Duchess Vega and Duchess Spica came storming in. They fought the enemy army without regard for their own lives and thus, significantly reduced the enemy’s numbers. 

Hence why, the enemy decided to keep Prime Minister Clara hostage, in hope to use her as a bargaining chip one day. 

“Mother… I will be sure to become an honorable lord like you.”

“Mother…”

“Also, I’ve received their final messages in their final moments.”

“Wha-What did my mother say?!”

“-?!”

“They told you two to receive El’s baby seeds and be happy…”

HM?! WAIT A MINUTE?! DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT? DID SHE JUST SAY MY NAME?!?!

“That’s their dying wish… El-kun, we’re counting on you, okay?”

ARE YOU SURE YOU HEARD THEIR DYING WISH RIGHT, CLARA-SAN?!?!?!

“”Absolutely! We will fulfill our mother’s wish!!””

WAI-?! WAIT A SECOND?! THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT AN ‘ABSOLUTELY’ MOMENT!! Stop!! Don’t stare at me like that!! Don’t gawk at me like I’m some sort of a prize! At this rate, Tia, Tia will…!

“Hey, Tia…”

“…El.”

“No, I mean, of course I will refus-“

“Please take care of them well, okay?”

TIA?!?! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?? SHOULDN’T YOU SAY NO INSTEAD?!

And so… Actually, I wasn’t quite sure what happened. One thing led to another and for some reason Lean also came into the equation. We ended up devising another plan to deepen our relationships in various ways by the time I realized it…

I don’t know anymore!! I don’t understand anything anymore!! Darn it!!

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

T/N: So many things happened in this chapter! I’m happy Maria finally got her wish and also Duchess Vega and Spica??