「Eh?」
Lutte couldn’t believe her own ears at those words.
It was break time right now.
Thanks to the captain’s energetic efforts since morning, there wasn’t a single notable dragon in sight around the capital.
The young knight apprentice, eating with one eye closed along with everyone else, heard the captain’s words while munching her own meal… and glanced around.
Mische, who should have heard it too, had quickly moved away and was now pounding her fist into a tree trunk.
Frea, who would have been the most helpful in this situation, had popped a thick vein on her forehead the moment she read a letter from the royal guard captain, leaped onto her horse, and ridden off—she still hadn’t come back.
In other words, Lutte was the only one left to handle this conversation.
「Um… Captain?」
「I want a child.」
The woman holding meat on the bone in both hands, chewing with soft mogu-mogu and gulping sounds, is beautiful yet somehow adorable.
But her face is always expressionless.
Lutte has never once seen even a fragment of emotion appear on that face.
「What should I do?」
「Ah～ Well, you see～」
The other party is a married woman. Lutte herself is still a maiden who’s never even had a boyfriend.
She’s fundamentally consulting the wrong person.
「Um… when a man and woman do this and that and it feels like ah～ like this, then…」
「Reproductive activities?」
「If you already know, please say so from the start!」
It was a completely serious retort.
Explaining it as a not-yet-adult fifteen-year-old would mean struggling through nothing but secondhand knowledge.
All the effort of a maiden piling delusion upon delusion deserves some kind of reward.
「So… just work hard with Argusta-sama.」
「He says we won’t until we move into the new house.」
「……」
The shocking confession from a newlywed froze Lutte’s thoughts completely.
There’s probably some special meaning because he’s a prince. Definitely. It has to be. I absolutely shouldn’t ask. If I do, I’ll regret it and there’ll be no turning back.
「…Why is that?」
But Lutte lost to her growing curiosity.
「He doesn’t want the maids to see. Or hear.」
「!」
The statement was so shocking she could feel her own face burning bright red.
So, they’re let people see and hear. Royals really are amazing—that’s all she could think.
「In the new house, it’ll be fine. Until then, we hold back.」
「Th-then just hold back.」
「…Child.」
「Eh?」
「Warm. Smiling.」
After finishing her meal, she taps the leftover bones against her hand, shattering them into powder and scattering it into the river.
It’s a bizarre sight, but… thanks to Noie’s habit, the fish in this area of the river all grow big and delicious.
She brushes the bone fragments off her hands with a few pats and reaches for the bread next.
「When I held it… my chest went all tight and fluttery.」
「So that’s why you want one?」
She nods firmly, without any hesitation.
「Then you just have to hurry up and move so you can work hard with Argusta-sama…」
「Yes.」
Having swallowed the bread and washed it down with water, Noie sharply turns her gaze westward.
Even through Lutte’s closed eye, she catches the shape of a dragon approaching from the west.
Her detection ability rivals any blessing…though it’s limited to dragons only.
Lutte follows the captain’s movements in her mind as Noie dashes off, leaving afterimages behind.
Displaying inhuman speed and leaping power, she closes the distance to the dragon in the blink of an eye.
Just before contact, she unleashes magic, blowing off its head and securing the body. She tosses it into the nearest corpse disposal site, then starts moving toward her next target.
「Wait, Mische-senpai?」
「What? Want to curse all the men in the world together?」
「I’m not officially an “unsold” yet.」
「Neither am I! Pretty soon buyers will be lining up in a long queue!」
「Yeah, for you, Mische-senpai, maybe.」
「If you’re going to cheer me on so straightforwardly, I’d rather you just insult me～」
What am I supposed to do with that?
Maybe that’s exactly why men don’t like her, those twisted thoughts.
Swallowing the idea that popped into her head, Lutte voices the original question.
「Can the captain even have children?」
「Huh? Why?」
「Because… I’ve never once seen her monthly visitor.」
-0-
「You perverted commander! Think about women a little more!」
The door nearly flies off its hinges as a highborn noble lady storms in, ready for a fight.
Halfren, who had been reviewing documents from the top of the stack, sighs wearily and places the paper in his hand back on the pile.
「You’re really biting hard today. Is it about that day?」
「It’s not!」
「Then why are you so angry?」
「Obviously! What kind of order is 『If you know anything about the captain (Noie) collapsing the other day, come tell me. That’s an order』?!」
「It’s actually a pretty important matter related to national defense. Also, don’t slam the desk so hard. The paper mountain will collapse. And hey, I’m a prince, you know?」
Slamming the desk hard in protest, Frea cleared her throat lightly and calmed herself down.
「The commander’s question was simply far too rude. Now I understand why, even at balls, the ladies all flock to Schnitt-sama instead.」
「Hey, hey. My charm shines in bed, you know? There, I won’t lose to anyone.」
「That’s exactly why you can’t settle on a legal wife.」
「It’s not that I can’t. I just don’t want to. …So, what’s the reason?」
With a deep sigh, Frea let out the hazy frustration in her chest and straightened her posture.
「It’s because the captain is a woman.」
「Well, yeah? If that one were a man, I’d seriously question a lot of things about Arg.」
「That’s not what I mean… Ugh! I’m talking about her monthly cycle. The captain can have children too, you know.」
She had tried not to say it outright, but her superior was painfully slow on the uptake.
If it were Argusta-sama, he would surely have noticed right away. When it comes to his wife, he’s incredibly perceptive.
But even Captain Halfren, who had been judged slow in this regard, had five concubines. He had at least some knowledge.
「Then does that mean she could collapse at any moment for three or four days?」
「No. For the captain, it’s a day at most. Sometimes only half a day.」
「……」
「It seems her blessing reacts to her cycle too. And in the captain’s case, she doesn’t feel any pain or discomfort from it at all.」
「…I see. This is troublesome.」
Scratching his head, Halfren shrugged.
「In the end, we really don’t know much about Noie, do we?」
「Yes. That’s probably why Argusta-sama actively tries to talk to her and learn more.」
「He really is the perfect mirror of a husband.」
「Yes… In that sense, I can’t help but envy the captain a little.」
Even though she herself had a fiancé… that’s how much Argusta seemed like the ideal man in Frea’s eyes.
Though the person she truly idealized was very close… and yet impossibly far away.
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