“In other words,” Riviera said suddenly over dinner, picking up right where she’d left off earlier, “the way you conduct yourself allows you to fill in the emptiness in a woman’s heart.”
I had no idea what she meant by that.
“I mean, you say that, but…” I trailed off, trying to make sense of it.
I couldn’t help but be confused.
What was this about my conduct letting me fill in the emptiness of their hearts? None of that rang a bell!
Apparently everyone else understood, because most of the women sitting around the table started nodding in agreement. What was going on?
“Like, you don’t judge folks based on how they look, y’know?” Bela said.
“You’re clearly different from ordinary human men,” Tozume added. “In terms of your tastes and stuff, that is.”
“A normal human man would be afraid of us ogres,” Shemel pointed out.
“And you’re super kind to us harpies,” Fronte added.
“You’re not disgusted when you look at us!” Rei chirped.
“Y-you don’t treat us like shitty birds…” Flamme mumbled quietly, feathers drooping.
That last one stung. I knew the Holy Kingdom had always used that kind of language to degrade them and reduce them to something less than human, and less than worthy of love.
The ogre girls and the harpies all spoke about my various qualities, but it was having the opposite effect…
“Does that not simply mean he’ll accept anyone?”
Aqual’s single, sharp comment cut through their voices as her narrowed eyes fixed on me again.
I mean…yeah, that was basically true. But could you blame me? I had no clue what the men in this world thought about the different demi-human women and their appearances. I didn’t have what was considered “common sense” in this world, nor did I share their universal values. To me, Shemel and the ogre girls, Fronte and the harpies—they were all just beautiful, strong women in a fantasy world.
“I don’t think that’s all there is to it,” Grande said, coming to my defense.
I blinked. That was unexpected.
“You were kind to me even before I took this form, Kousuke,” Grande continued.
She was right. Back when she’d still been a dragon, I hadn’t treated her any differently. Honestly, nothing about the way I saw her had changed much even now.
“He treated me as an equal when I was still in my dragon form,” Grande told the others. “When my older brothers bullied me, he got angry and fought them. He even won. Can you imagine a human standing up to two dragons for someone else’s sake? There was no way he did that with ulterior motives. Kousuke even said so himself.”
It was true, I definitely wasn’t attracted to her then. Even Grande’s mother tried pushing the idea, and I’d firmly turned that one down.
“Whoa. Hearing that puts you in a whole new light for me,” Bela said, impressed.
“Grande’s big brothers…? So that means they were two full-grown dragons, even bigger than her, right? And you fought them?” Tozume asked, eyes wide. “That’s crazy.”
“Well, Kousuke could probably deal with two dragons,” Shemel said. “Still, putting them in their place like that? That’s incredible.”
The admiration and respect in their eyes was almost too much to take. I hadn’t done anything that special. I just saw Grande being treated like garbage and lost my cool.
“It’s that indiscriminate kindness of yours that makes you so attractive, I imagine,” Riviera said, meeting my eyes again.
Her steady gaze was getting to be a bit much.
“…It’s very arousing,” Riviera whispered.
“E-eek…”
I sensed something dangerous in her tone. She wasn’t giving outright predator vibes yet, but I got the feeling that I’d be in real trouble if I made one wrong move. I was gonna have to be careful.
“In any case,” Aqual said, spooning up her soup, “you put dragons in their place? I heard you ended the northern conflict single-handedly, but it’s difficult to believe when I look at you.”
Princess? Could we not talk with our mouths full?
“Mrm, so you do not believe my words?” Grande replied, a tinge of anger in her tone.
Easy, easy. Chill.
“Having seen him create this very base, I do understand his powers are unusual,” Aqual conceded. “However…”
“Then make sure you watch Kousuke work tomorrow,” Shemel said with a shrug of her shoulders. She took a big, loud bite of her sausage, chewed, and swallowed before continuing. “Once you see him in action, you’ll understand just how insane he really is. Whether you want to or not. Considering his true powers, he doesn’t even need us ‘protecting’ him, quite frankly.”
“Oh, come on,” I protested. “Now you’re exaggerating. Sure, if I used golems, maybe. But on my own, I’m not that strong.”
“You sure about that?” Shemel teased with a grin. “I’m pretty sure we’d have trouble bringing you down even without those giant things.”
Aqual’s suspicious stare only sharpened.
Shemel, could you stop raising the bar? You’re only making Aqual more suspicious.
“C-come now,” Gerda said quickly from the kitchen, clearly desperate to change the subject. “We’ll see the truth tomorrow, won’t we? Let’s rest for tonight. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
Seeing how frantic she was, Aqual gave a soft huff and went back to her soup, while Grande grumbled under her breath and focused on her own food.
Aqual and Grande were a worse match than I’d imagined.
Hopefully I’ll be able to get them to tolerate each other by the end of this trip…