Zenjirou was guided down a long corridor with stone walls and floors, into a large room with bright sunlight streaming in. There were two big leather sofas and a long wooden table between them, set up to allow for a comfortable discussion.
Following her gesture, he sat on one sofa. Once she had seen him seated, she settled down on the couch opposite him and began to speak calmly.
“Let us begin with introductions. I am Aura Capua. I would like for you to call me Aura.”
“Ah, sure, Aura it is, ma’am. I’m, uh, my name’s Yamai Zenjirou. Yamai is my family name, and Zenjirou is my first name.”
“Hmm, then may I call you Sir Zenjirou?”
“Yes, okay,” he agreed, earning a smile from the woman—Aura.
“My thanks, Sir Zenjirou. Now, I shall inform you of what has been done to you, explaining the chain of events simply. It may well be that this explanation displeases you, but it is not too late for the changes to be reversed. Should the circumstances not be to your liking, I swear on my honor that all shall be reverted to what it was. Therefore, would you listen in silence for the moment?”
Her expression turned quite serious as she prefaced her explanation with that rather worrying assurance. Zenjirou had a bad feeling but nodded in assent after a brief moment of thought. He had no idea what sort of situation he was in. Supposing he had the right to be angry like she said, he couldn’t very well feel that way without understanding exactly what there was to be angry about. You could only put in a complaint after listening to everything your trade partner had to say, after all.
“I understand; please continue.”
Aura let out a sigh of relief at his answer before taking a deep breath and beginning her explanation. “My thanks. First, allow me to start with the fundamentals of where you are. This is the Kingdom of Capua, situated in the west of Randlion, also called the Southern Continent. This room itself is inside the royal palace, in the capital of that country. You may not know these names. That is only natural, as this is a different world from that in which you were raised—a ‘Parallel World,’ if you will.”
“Uh... huh? A parallel world?”
With a sideways glance at Zenjirou, taking in his utter incomprehension, Aura continued steadily. Her explanation continued for a good while. He didn’t know how long they sat there for, but when he’d glanced at his watch about halfway through, it had been half past seven, and the hands had made their way around to eight o’clock by the time they were finished.
Zenjirou worked through everything he had been told over the past hour or so, and summed it up dazedly. “Um... so, we’re in a country called the Capua Kingdom, in a parallel world, and you’re this country’s queen, milady? Also, this world has magic, and you used a type of magic only the Capua royal family can, called ‘space-time magic,’ to summon me here from my own world.”
“Indeed, you are correct on all counts. It would seem you now understand what has happened. Also, you need not be so respectful with me. Titles and such are unnecessary; you may simply call me Aura. I am indeed this country’s queen, but you are not one of my subjects. In fact, I have taken you from your world without warning, and might well be as a tyrant to you. You have no current obligation to refer to me as such,” she said, giving a short, apologetic incline of her head.
“R-Right. Understood, Aura... ma’am,” Zenjirou replied, wrenching his eyes away from the glance he had stolen at Aura’s plentiful breasts when she bowed.
It was his inability to absorb her words that had caused such a simple explanation to take the better part of an hour. It was hardly surprising, though. Being summoned to another world was not exactly something the average human could easily accept as fact.
Aura hadn’t lost her temper at his disbelief; she’d simply continued to repeat the facts, politely but firmly. Thanks to her patience, Zenjirou had finally come to accept that he was truly in a parallel world.
The deciding factor had been the mount that a knight had brought over to the window at Aura’s order, a “dash drake.” The creature was a huge lizard, about twice the size of a horse. It had snaked its head in through the garden-side window and licked Zenjirou’s face. The warm, realistic sensation erased his doubts that this was a dream or some sort of elaborate prank.
His cheek was still damp from the dash drake’s grassy-smelling saliva. He wiped his face clean using his shirt sleeve, and voiced his doubts. “What I don’t understand is why you would summon someone like me.” He was just a normal Japanese guy with no particular skills. At the very least, he didn’t think he held enough value for another world’s queen to go out of her way to summon him. “What is it you actually want from me? I’m not proud of it, but I can’t use a sword, or magic, either.”
Aura smiled at his careful admission, shaking her head. “I have no intention of asking you to face such dangers for me. This western part of the Southern Continent may well have had a long history of war, but it is relatively peaceful nowadays. There is only one thing that I wish to ask of you. And that is for you to become my spouse.”
“Spouse?” he parroted uncomprehendingly, unable to divine the intention behind her words.
“Indeed, my spouse. You could also use the word ‘husband.’ I am asking you to marry me.”
Spouse, husband, marriage. Even Zenjirou, with his brain as frazzled as it was, could understand that.
“What?! M-M-M-Marry you? Why?!” he cried, leaping to his feet.
She seemed to have expected that response, as she simply chuckled and continued calmly, “This conversation may take a while, but please listen to what I have to say. As I explained earlier, our country was previously embroiled in a long conflict. Fortunately, we emerged as one of the winners of that conflict, but the price was steep. The population decreased, our lands were ravaged, and the royal line has died out but for myself.
“Blessedly, the ceaseless efforts of the nation and its people make our prospects better than they would otherwise be, but there is still the issue of the royal family. I am the only member, and the bloodline may soon die out. It is therefore my absolute duty to marry.
“However, the space-time magic inherent to my family is linked to our bloodline, so I cannot marry just anyone. To safeguard the magic, it would be best to partner with someone else who carries that bloodline.”
“Right, I see...” he murmured instinctively, even though he didn’t really see at all. He’d heard of the custom on Earth for royals to marry as closely as possible in order to maintain the purity of their bloodlines. And this world had a clear benefit in the form of inherent magic, so it was even more understandable.
But in that case, he felt that he understood even less. “Why me, then? I’m from Earth—I don’t know the first thing about magic,” he said frankly.
“The reasoning is simple. You carry the blood of the Capua family,” she answered, smiling meaningfully.
“I... what?”
Once more, he simply couldn’t grasp her meaning. It took more than ten seconds for him to unpack those words. Once he did manage to process them, he started waving his arms around like a broken puppet, disputing her claim.
“Wait, wait, wait, what the hell?! No, that’s not possible!” he denied profusely, but Aura merely pressed on.