Chapter 77 - Too Late
Finally released from the tension, I let out a deep breath.An overwhelming sense of fatigue forced me to my knees.
"Father..."
Angelica peered at me with worry.Rio gripped my hand, looking as if she was about to burst into tears at any moment.Seeing the two of them like that, I couldn't possibly voice any complaints.So, without thinking, I ended up saying,
"It was surprisingly easy to drive him off."
To reassure them even a little, I made a show of being completely fine.But inside, I wasn't calm at all.
Just how am I supposed to defeat an enemy like that?
I racked my brain desperately, trying to squeeze out any wisdom I had.The High Priest, who revives even when killed. A form of pseudo-immortality. But it's by no means an all-powerful ability.There has to be a weakness to exploit.
The High Priest's time reversal can only go back to a few minutes before his death.
In that case, I should cut off his limbs, crush his vocal cords so he can't use magic, and then stuff him into a sturdy container.The container... a drum can, with its durability raised by Strength Enhancement, would be suitable.
After that, just seal it shut and dump it into the sea.Given enough time, the High Priest should suffocate to death.Even if his skill rewinds time to a few minutes before his death, he'll still be in the sea.The High Priest will be trapped forever in a loop of suffocation and revival, rendering him harmless.
What's this, isn't it simple?
...Is it simple?
Will it really go that smoothly?My subconscious sends out a warning, but even so, I can't think of any other method....No, there are other methods, if I think about it.
That's right.Persuade him, and have him reform.In a way, that would be the best, but given that level of insanity, I can't expect much.
"...That guy, how did he end up like that?"
Where did he go wrong? I muttered. A voice full of regret came from the bottom of my gut.Angelica and Rio's reactions to me were,
"Is the High Priest an old lover of yours or something?"
"Is that person your ex-girlfriend, Nakamoto-san?"
That's what they were.
"..."
The two girls stared intently at me.Even though we just had a fierce battle, I wanted to say, is that really the first thing you worry about?
"There's a hole in the floor, so let's do something about this first. We also have to clean up the goblin corpses."
"I think Father's romantic history is more important than that."
"How many women were you dating before Elsa-san? You've got a quiet face, but you get around, huh."
I had no escape.It was an interrogation.
"Look. It's not the kind of relationship you're imagining. Shortly after I was summoned to this other world, in order to increase our fighting strength, I was calling out to anyone who looked free, one after another. I went out of my way to the Adventurer's Guild and negotiated with people looking for employers. And the first one to join my party was that guy. The High Priest, Philia. Though back then, her title was just Priest."
Angelica listened without blinking.As for Rio, she had a puzzled look on her face, saying, "Other world? Guild?"
Score.It seems modern high school girls can be thrown off just by using proper nouns from another world... Just as I was getting prematurely excited, Angelica started whispering something to Rio.
"So, an 'other world' is..."
"Mm-hmm."
Stop it, why are you giving her a glossary?Weren't you seeing Rio as a rival? Why are you teaming up only at times like this?It seems that when faced with the common prey of love talk, girls are creatures who join hands.
"Okay. I get the gist of it, so tell me the rest. In the end, how far did you go with that woman? Did you do it?"
"Father's meeting with Elsa-san is practically a mythologized boy-meets-girl story over there... It's a love story that's been published as a book and became a bestseller... If it turns out there was actually a messy love triangle with the High Priest, that's a shock..."
Rio looked at me with curious eyes, and Angelica with suspicious eyes.What do you want me to do?
"I'm telling you, it's not like that. Think about it. When we first met, I was fifteen. The High Priest was twenty-eight. That's a thirteen-year difference, right? That's practically like a parent and child, isn't it? Well, she was as beautiful as she looked, and for a time, I had feelings like admiration. But I thought there was no way a kid like me would be counted as a member of the opposite sex. Two years later, I met Elsa too. At a fairly early stage, I stopped feeling anything for her other than as just a Party Member."
"But the High Priest felt differently, didn't she?"
"...That's how it turned out. ...For some reason, when I started dating Elsa, she came out and said, 'Actually, I also loved Hero-dono.' ...It's too late. Everything was just too late."
"You didn't say that line to the High Priest, did you? The 'too late' one."
"I did, but was that bad?"
Ahh, Angelica covered her eyes with her hand.For some reason, Rio also had an "oh no" look on her face.
"I see. I've grasped the general situation. The High Priest is complicated too, but Father, you're also... a bit of a little devil, aren't you..."
"W-why does it come to that? Let me be clear, I never once did anything like trying to seduce the High Priest. And yet, when I was around high school age, I was approached by a woman in her thirties, and ever since I rejected her, she's held a grudge against me."
"Father isn't a bad person, but you're dense, aren't you?"
"About what?"
Angelica held up her right index finger straight and began her explanation.
"Please think about it from the opposite position."
"That again. ...Even if I had an unrequited love for a girl more than ten years younger than me, I'd back off thinking, 'This is a crime.' That's normal, right?"
"...Hmm. The High Priest, due to her profession, was certainly keeping her chastity, right?"
"Of course. She probably still is."
"Which means, the High Priest when she met Father was a twenty-eight-year-old virgin..."
For a person of faith, that's nothing to be ashamed of, I retorted.
"...That's true, but... um. To make it easy for even Father to understand, let's change the setting from that world to Japan. On top of that, let's reverse both the positions and the genders."
...I take the role of Philia back then... and she takes mine...?And what if it's Japan? What would that be like?
"Father, you are a virgin about to turn thirty. Moreover, you don't have a steady job. You graduated from a religious university, but you keep failing interviews. You go to the employment office every day, looking for a company that will hire you. Yes, please put yourself in the shoes of this character and imagine it."
"So a nearly-thirty Priest who haunts the Adventurer's Guild, translated into modern terms, becomes such a sad situation..."
That person seems like they could commit suicide at any time, I suddenly felt depressed.
"At such a time, a foreign girl called out to you. She's fifteen, and a female venture company president."
"You really have increased your knowledge of Japan. A fifteen-year-old Summoned Hero, applied to a modern girl, is that? ...Well, certainly, a party leader is kind of like the manager of a small business."
"And that female president is plain, but depending on the angle, she has some well-put-together features, a not-bad face. Furthermore, from the neck down, she's outrageous. She has a great figure. She's like this at fifteen, and she gets more womanly every year, you know? In a few years, she'll be bursting at the seams, so much so you can tell even through her suit, right?"
Why is it that when Angelica describes a female version of me, it turns into a pointlessly provocative image?
"...She sounds like a girl who jumped out of some anime or manga..."
"Right? Father, this is how you look from the opposite sex's perspective, you know? And that girl came up to you and asked, 'Would you like to work at my company?' To an unemployed nearly-thirty-year-old!"
"That's definitely a situation where you'd fall for her."
"Right? On top of that, for a time, she even directed feelings akin to admiration at you, right? Let's imagine a female president (15) hiding her indecent body under a ladies' suit, sending you heated glances?"
"...Oh crap... I'd work unpaid overtime every day and raise performance... Once the president turns sixteen, I'd register our marriage..."
"But, but, the president, when she turns seventeen, suddenly confesses to you. 'I got a boyfriend. He's an unemployed pretty boy.'"
"Wha...? Wha...!? What's that...!? That's unforgivable...!? I don't have an NTR fetish, you know...!? Why would she choose someone like that instead of me, who worked like a corporate slave with all my might, even if mixed with ulterior motives!?"
Wait, so a beautiful former slave girl, applied to a modern man, is an unemployed pretty boy kept by a woman?That's an analogy that might anger Elsa.
"So the panicked Father confesses, 'Actually, I loved the president too.' And the reply is, 'It's too late...' What's more, after that, the president starts flirting with her boyfriend right in front of you, as if showing off..."
"Ahh, this is a situation where you'd have no choice but to die. I'd embezzle funds too. I'd feel like, 'I hope this company goes bankrupt.' I mean, what's with the president? Toying with my pure heart? The fact that she has no malice is the worst part, like a natural sadist or something."
"The feelings the High Priest has towards Father are exactly that."
...Ah.As expected of Angelica, being part of the intellectual class, I'm impressed by how good she is at explaining things.
"This is bad. It feels like it's only natural my life is being targeted."
"She'll probably launch a hostile takeover too..."
"The stock price would plummet."
For some reason, using business terms, we hung our heads.
"Should I apologize to the High Priest?"
"No... I put it in a sympathetic way, but isn't it just misplaced resentment? I don't think Father did anything particularly wrong. You're still the victim. ...How should I put it, I guess you just made a mistake in choosing the people to put in your party. If Father has any fault, it's only that."
Wouldn't it have been fine if you'd filled the party entirely with men? Angelica pouted.
"Then this kind of trouble wouldn't have happened."
"Even if you say that, male adventurers had higher wages. And their food costs were more than women's..."
Even in modern society where gender equality is proclaimed, men's salaries are higher.In the other world, where every mindset was at a medieval level, when hiring male adventurers, it was normal to pay nearly double what you'd pay female adventurers.So back when I had no money, I was in a situation where I was adventuring surrounded by girls, which was hard to tell if it was a sweet deal or pitiful.
A Priest, a Mage, a Warrior.
I should have gathered orthodox classes, but they were all women.Then Elsa joined too, and things got complicated in various ways, but that's now a thing of the past.
"Speaking of which, I've heard that Father's party had even more beautiful women. I'd like to know what kind of relationship you had with those people too."
"I'm curious about that too. Tell us?"
By the way, how long is this interrogation going to continue...?