Well that got pretty long, so by the time I was done talking the tea was cold.
But the Sister’s face was even colder. It seemed like the color had drained out of her already colorless face.
“That’s about enough talk, I think. Now strip.”
When I gave her the order, she stood up and began undoing her white dress. As I thought, she had a body that would make any man happy. She must have dangled this carrot before many a fellow and given them tasty memories.
Her face gradually reddened as if she felt some shame. Or maybe she was thinking about what I was about to do to her. Either way, I thought it was stupid. A life where this is your weapon?
“May I tell you a little about me?”
The Sister suddenly made a brazen request. Maybe because she’d shown me her skin. Maybe she thought men were suddenly kinder once you got naked.
“I’m not interested. Now that you’re naked, just shut your trap.”
I thought that would get her to close her impertinent mouth. But she smiled for some reason. I couldn’t tell if she was mocking herself or me, but her lips trembled.
“...That’s how it is. The muck sinks to the bottom.”
“Huh?”
“I understand. We’re always down there, too.”
She buried half of her face in her hair and murmured, “Then can I give you my impressions on what you said?” Before I could reply, she said, “That was a horrible story. Truly. Maybe you don’t really see it. Or you’re pretending you don’t?”
Was she trying to start some sort of religious dialogue? I didn’t quite know what to make of that question she asked me as she bit the corner of her mouth.
“There wasn’t a single woman in your story.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. I just stared at her blankly.
“You had a mother didn’t you, Mr. Igo? You must have had a mother who was happy to see you pass your trials, right? But you never mentioned her even once.”
“...Maybe I had one. I don’t know. We didn’t make families in our village. Men and women lived separately once they got to a certain age. I told you the men were warriors, right?”
“Then what did the women do?”
“Their jobs were to make kids and meals. No different from here.”
A woman’s role was the same whether in a city or village. The only difference was whether she belonged to a household or to everyone jointly.
“What happened to the women after the army occupied your village?”
“They became the army’s property. Women are lucky because they don’t get killed. They can be useful.”
“Your mother was among them, right?”
“I guess so.”
She inhaled through her nose and then exhaled. Her eyes were awfully determined. “When you went to take revenge on the hero...” She glared at me and confirmed that we hid out in a church.
I told her yes, we did, but what about it.
“There should have been Sisters there. Even in a poor neighborhood, they should have had some of the more skilled people in the area.”
“Yeah, there were—two old wenches. I wasn’t interested in them, but the wall men were happy.” They were women, after all.
We didn’t kill them. When I told the Sister that, a tear fell from her right eye.
“...And you don’t remember the women who were in the house when you burned it, I suppose.” And then, “The muck always sinks to the bottom.”
I did think that they were unlucky.
“You seem angry that you’ve been discriminated against, but there are other people you completely ignored. It has nothing to do with where they were born or what color their skin is. They were only born as women.”
“They have a role. Their bodies are different. That’s that, isn’t it?”
“Yes. That’s what I thought for a long time too. I had given up. No, I didn’t even realize I had given up. But someone told me I couldn’t live like that. It didn’t matter if we had different roles or different bodies—it was wrong to put up with discrimination.”
“Hey, what are you even talking about? I told you I don’t care what you have to say.”
“And I won’t be silenced like that anymore, either!” she shouted, puffing out her big chest. “We can’t get anything unless we first get naked. No one will listen to us. Have you ever been ordered to strip by the opposite sex and gotten completely naked? Has anyone ever shouted obscene words at you in public? We’ve got disgusting eyes sizing us up twenty-four seven, but then get despised as if it’s our own moral failing. I don’t want to believe that’s just how it goes. There are actually good people and wonderful men in this world. But for some reason we’re just getting hurt every day because of all the hurtful things shouted at us!”
“What am I supposed to do about it? You blame men, but I don’t see how telling me—”
“Please let us defeat the demon lord!”
She made such an absurd request I just stared at her dumbly with my mouth hanging open.
Maybe even this weird Sister finally felt embarrassed, because her voice grew quieter. “...I want to defeat the demon lord. With Miss Haru. As women. I want to let women around the world know that we’re every bit as capable. And I want to show the men. I’m aware that it’s a silly, childish dream. But if we don’t do something that big, we can’t turn the world upside down.”
Turn the world upside down...?
That was the hero’s job. That’s what I dreamed of when I was a kid. But a woman doing it? Ridiculous. How crazy do you have to be to come up with an idea like that?
“I want to get stronger. So strong that I can defeat the demon lord and change the world. Even if it’s impossible, I want even a little power so I can inspire the next generation. I want to be the kind of person who can rally others. I don’t want to be the person with no confidence I used to be anymore.”
Maybe she had run out of breath shouting like that? Her shoulders were heaving. Then she bowed her head.
“I’m sorry I was rude. I won’t say anything else. I’ll obey you. I’ll do anything, so please make me your apprentice. That’s my wish.”
I sighed and wiped my face with my palm. What the fuck. Why’d she have to go and ruin the atmosphere? She really doesn’t understand how to read a mood if she thinks she can do all that and then just say, Do whatever you want.
Looking up at the ceiling, I sighed again and ended up laughing. What the heck. I never thought I’d see the day I’d be impressed with a woman.
Turn the world upside down... I saw myself—hiding out in the woods preparing for an attack—in her.
And this woman had met someone who was to her what Widge was to me. That chick Haru. And you really could mistake that one as Widge’s daughter—sheesh.
What a bunch of nonsense. This world, I tell ya.
“Right, well, let’s get started.”
I stood up and took my clothes off. She made a little urk sound and hid her face. After I had taken everything off and kicked away my underwear, I grabbed the nervous sister by her trembling shoulders and made her look up at me.
The area around her big eyes was bright red. She seemed like she was about to burst into tears. My body was covered in tattoos, patterns for transforming myself into a demon. The mark of a man who had forsaken humanity. I must have looked awfully creepy to someone who did the work of a Sister.
“Look at me. Look at every last part of me.”
She gritted her teeth, opened her eyes, and did as she was told, running her eyes over my entire body starting from the top. She sped past my crotch, and then stared at her own feet. She was so bashful even her chest was blushing.
Satisfied, I moved away from her. “Okay, you had a look. Now we’re even—for me getting you naked.”
“Huh?”
“If that’s not enough, I’ll give you what you want in return. For starters, you want to learn barriers, right? Sure, that’s fine. I’ll teach you.”
The Sister—err, her name was Kiyori, right?
Kiyori’s eyes opened so wide I thought they were going to pop out.
“What? Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Y-Yess, but...it’s okay with you?”
“I said I’d teach you, didn’t I?”
“And your condition is...?”
Oh, that. I glanced at her big chest and said, “Don’t worry. It’s like you said—I never once paid attention to women since I was born. I never intended to lay a hand on you. You’re not my type.”
“What?”
Well, I don’t blame her for being surprised. It was a secret I never even told Widge. I was raised among men, and the first one I admired was that wall man. And during all the time before I met my partner, my heart never once settled on a woman. And now and forever, my soul belongs to that man.
In other words, I have no interest in your naked body.
“I only fall for guys. I don’t feel like fucking women. Actually, women’s bodies seem jiggly and gross to me. My plan was to get you naked and then throw you out. I’d be like, ‘How could you make me look at that?’”
“...”
Oh?
Kiyori’s face was looking stupider by the second. Maybe she would be more appealing to men when she was this off guard. If I fiddled with her makeup a bit... It just seemed like she didn’t really have a sense of beauty.
And if she hurried up and got excommunicated, I could make her some clothes.
“H-Hold on, then why did you strip, too?”
“To apologize. It’s unfair to only make you do it, right? I’ll admit that much makes sense—out of respect for your determination.”
“If you get it, then please let me wear my clothes! And please hide your dangly thing!”
Kiyori covered her body with her hands and crouched down. She really did have a huge chest. Eww. I even told her I wasn’t interested.
Well, but for other men, her body was probably pretty alluring. The thought that Widge would probably like her made me jealous.
“Okay, first I’ll explain about the medium. Listen close, Kiyori. The medium has a bigger effect in dark arts compared to magic. Think of this as a very important basic principle a—”
“But could you please put on some clothes before we start, Master?!”