Perhaps it was because both Keiri-san and I were tired from work.
We had been working hard day and night, and even with the physical reinforcement from our Magic Crests, we eventually get tired.
Our conversation progressed to the point where I wondered if we were so out of it that we didn’t even notice our fatigue.
I asked Keiri, a woman who was merely a colleague and subordinate, not a wife or lover, about her preferences in men.
In a way, it was the kind of conversation that could be mistaken for infidelity.
Without even realizing the direction our conversation had taken, we discussed our ideal partners during our short walk home.
“Well, first and foremost, they have to be stronger than me, of course.”
“At that point, the participants in this marriage hunting party are pretty much hopeless, I think.”
I don’t know how strong the mysterious organizations in Japan are, but the combat power of Dark Elves who have lived for ages is not to be underestimated.
What’s more, Keiri is a close-combat specialist, considered one of the best even within the Demon Lord’s Army, comparable to Evia.
The average man wouldn’t stand a chance even if they stood on their head.
So, I blurted out my immediate thought that she had set an impossibly high hurdle from the start.
“Eh?”
“No, it’s not ‘eh.’ Keiri-san, do you know how strong you are?”
“I know. But I’m weaker than you.”
“No, I’m a General, you know.”
Could the demand for someone stronger than herself be a strong manifestation of her instinct to be protected by a strong man?
Having grown so rapidly myself, I couldn’t help but add the qualifier “even if” before “General.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, I don’t think it’s a problem, but…”
“Then it’s fine. Next… as for looks, well, they don’t have to be handsome, but I don’t want someone with a disheveled face. A face that gives off a sense of cleanliness would be good.”
“Because the first hurdle was so high, this current hurdle feels incredibly low.”
“Don’t be so loud.”
Next, when it came to appearance, particularly facial features, she didn’t seem to have any specific requirements.
I felt a little relieved about that.
The requirements themselves were normal, and they didn’t seem particularly difficult to meet.
I worried she might suddenly start demanding a handsome man later, but given our relationship, there’s no need for her to hide anything, so this must be her true feelings.
She nudged my side with her elbow as we walked.
It didn’t hurt.
I knew she was being considerate.
So, I silently accepted it.
“Ah, they should be taller than me.”
“Keiri-san, how tall are you again?”
“Last time I measured, it was about 165 centimeters.”
“That’s quite tall.”
“Jiro-kun is taller, though.”
“My family tends to be tall.”
The next condition wasn’t particularly difficult either.
If she had asked for a height comparable to basketball or volleyball players, I would have contemplated suggesting she look for men from the Giant race, but that was unnecessary.
“So, stronger than Keiri-san, has a clean-looking face, and is taller than Keiri-san. What else?”
She continued to add conditions by counting on her fingers, but so far, apart from combat power, none of them seemed overly difficult.
“Let’s see, as for income, well, as long as they can earn enough to live normally, that’s fine. If worst comes to worst, I can earn the money. But I wouldn’t want a man who does absolutely no housework, you know? If they’re willing to be a stay-at-home husband, that’s also an option.”
“So, a domestically inclined man is also a possibility.”
Even with the addition of a fourth condition, it felt like only combat power was an unusually high requirement compared to the others.
Listening to all this, I couldn’t help but wonder why Keiri didn’t have a boyfriend or a lover.
“Anything else?”
“Huh? That’s about all that comes to mind right now.”
I had expected there to be more, but if this was all, it seemed like a wide range of possibilities opened up.
“You don’t care about personality?”
I wondered why she hadn’t mentioned personality, which is a crucial aspect and often a source of difficult and high demands.
“Ah, you’re right about that.”
“That’s… a pretty important part, isn’t it?”
I’d often heard stories of couples breaking up due to personality clashes. Yet, Keiri seemed to have forgotten about it, as if it weren’t that important, and brushed it off lightly.
“I’m not worried about that. I trust my judgment of people, and I think I’d end up liking the personality of whoever I fall in love with. It’s too much bother to think, ‘I want someone with *this* specific personality.'”
“…Please don’t fall for the wrong guy because of that.”
“I can’t guarantee that. That’s just how we Dark Elves are as a race.”
The reason she hadn’t mentioned personality was due to this racial characteristic.
I never thought I’d be worried about a day when Dark Elves are known for their tragic romances and late marriages.
“Perhaps, Keiri-san, when you say a good man, you don’t mean someone who is good instinctively, do you?”
“Rest assured, that’s not it.”
A hint of unease in my intuition was instantly dispelled, and I felt relieved.
But, instead.
“Well, I guess a man who is better than my first love would be considered a good man.”
In a way, she revealed that Keiri’s love had not yet ended.
“Your first love?”
“Yes. When I was six, there was a person like an older brother who used to play with me a lot, and he was my first love.”
First love, isn’t that a rather significant event for Dark Elves?
“First love… isn’t that something quite important?”
“Yes, first love is very important to us. Some might even pursue that first love their entire lives. Suella, for example, might have you as her first love.”
Precisely because it’s so important, Dark Elves become cautious about falling in love. Yet, here was Keiri, experiencing her first love at a pace comparable to humans.
“That said, my first love was a bit unusual. For one, experiencing first love at the young age of six is an exception for our race. And the situation where I realized I liked him as a potential romantic partner was, in a way, the worst possible: he smilingly told me he was getting married. When I heard the person I loved was getting married, I cried uncontrollably in front of him. I didn’t understand why I was sad; my heart was a mess. He hugged me, thinking I was just a child upset about something, and took me to my parents while I continued to cry.”
She spoke with a smile, as if reminiscing about a fond memory, but her expression also suggested that she had forced herself to come to terms with it.
“It was awful. My parents couldn’t understand what I was saying because I was spewing out incoherent words I couldn’t even put into language. They vaguely realized I had experienced a heartbreak from the context of my conversation with him, and that’s how they ended up comforting me.”
She had to force herself to accept it.
She must have realized that she couldn’t move forward without doing so. How much time did it take for her to reach that self-awareness?
“If I may say so, polygamy is commonplace in your world, isn’t it? While six is indeed very young, couldn’t you have been betrothed to him and then married him?”
However, I felt that giving up then would be unlike Keiri.
“Yes, my parents told me that. ‘When your body grows and your heart matures, you shall marry him.’ Fortunately, he was a man of good character, so my parents didn’t object.”
“Then why…”
“But, you know, I can’t marry a dead person.”
*Hic.*
I instinctively understood that my question had crossed a line, venturing into territory I shouldn’t have probed.
Just as you can’t swallow saliva once it’s spat out, the words I had uttered couldn’t be taken back.
“He died in action during a Magic Beast subjugation. It was supposed to be a safe mission, but apparently, there was an abnormal specimen, and the entire unit was wiped out. No one returned. His remains were found, but they were too badly damaged for me to see.”
What started as casual conversation had led me to learn about Keiri’s past. She stopped, matching my pace, and as she turned, her face showed a smile tinged with a faint sadness.
“What kind of face are you making? This was over two hundred years ago. I’ve come to terms with it by now.”
And then, she uttered words that sounded so obviously false, as if she were asking if I believed such a blatant lie, that they also hinted at her vulnerability.
“…”
But at the same time, those words seemed to carry a plea: *Don’t probe any further.* It was a warning: *You know my story now, so don’t touch my past anymore.*
I understood that this was a choice that would shape how our future relationship would develop.
Faced with her words, which could be described as a childhood trauma, I didn’t know what to say.
“Does Suella know about this?”
“I haven’t told her. But, she might have an inkling of something.”
In the end, unable to say anything witty, I could only ask a safe question. The result was confirming the fact that I had learned information that even her best friend Suella hadn’t heard.
“…The reason Keiri-san seeks strength is related to this, isn’t it?”
Then, after hesitating for less than a second, I decided it would be better to delve into this than to back down and leave it ambiguous. Ultimately, I had decided to pursue this topic.
Once I’ve boarded the ship, I’m committed.
I resolved to see this through to the end.
“Perhaps so.”
After all, if I were to falter here and worsen our relationship, it would tarnish the good rapport we had built.
Therefore, though it might be meddling, it would be better to show that I could offer support where possible.
“I see. Then this item is essential, wouldn’t you say?”
If it’s related to trauma, it cannot be excluded from consideration. To be blunt, if someone is exceptionally hard to kill, sturdy, and has combat ability, it would be easy to meet Keiri’s preferences.
“You don’t have to worry about me, you know? I’ll just go fishing for men myself.”
“If you fell for a Hero, that would be a complete disaster.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“I’m considering the one-in-a-hundred-million possibility.”
However, if a Hero happens to fit that criterion, it becomes a dangerously complicated condition. A Demon Lord’s Army soldier falling in love with an enemy Hero; yes, that’s a cliché setting and a common trope.
Realistically, it’s highly likely that such a Romeo and Juliet-esque development could occur.
If such a situation were to arise, it might even lead to the worst-case scenario of Suella and Keiri parting ways.
To avoid such a development.
I pondered, crossing my arms.
“If you’re going to worry that much, why don’t you just take me, Jiro-kun?”
“Huh?”
“What do you mean, ‘huh’? That’s incredibly rude.”
“No, I just didn’t understand what you meant for a moment.”
I was so taken aback by Keiri’s words as she watched me worry that I stopped thinking.
When I looked at Keiri’s face with a startled expression, I saw her scowling, her brow furrowed as if to say, “I’m clearly displeased.”
“You perfectly fit all my requirements.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true…”
“So, if you’re worried about some shoddy organization snatching me away and doing something strange, why don’t you just marry me instead?”
Then, with a sigh of exasperation, she said something astonishing.
Today’s Word:
Unremarkable words are often the ones that deserve the most attention.
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Pandora Pandemic Panic – The Box of Pandora has been opened again, but we are fighting back with various things in our secret base!!
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