The Female Knight Who Blushed And Got A Nosebleed Over A Slightly Deep Conversation Was Way Too Cute

“――She’s a slave trader.”

When I told them about what had happened while we were operating separately, Zena was the first to speak.

At present, there were four of us in the captain’s room: me, Karen-san, Ena, and Zena. As for Karen-san, I had originally intended to ask her to step outside this time since she was technically an outsider, but she started sulking and muttering, “Yes, yes, I’m just an old nuisance getting in the way anyway…” so for the time being, we decided to have her lend us her wisdom.

“A slave trader――so, human trafficking. Then could it be that the goods inside those carriages were…”

“Yeah, people. And every last one of them was a man――we bought them from that woman with the monstrous makeup so they could become slaves in this country.”

Ena was the one who answered my question. When I’d asked her to explain in detail the circumstances surrounding Lilia and this country, she’d seemed hesitant at first, but after some persuasion from Zena, she appeared to have taken a cooperative stance for now.

“Hey, Captain. You’ve only been living in this country for a short time, but didn’t you notice anything?”

“Hmm, let’s see… I did notice that there were overwhelmingly more women… from elderly people all the way down to children.”

In response to Ena’s question, I gradually recalled everything I’d seen since entering the Republic. Elderly women, girls, young children――and then adult men who appeared to be slaves――.

And that was when I realized something.

“…There aren’t any boys.”

I hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but in this country, I had never once seen a boy young enough to be called a child. Despite there being plenty of little girls.

“That’s right… Every child born to a woman of the Republic is female. No boy has ever been born in the Republic.”

“…Not a single one throughout your entire history?”

Mm, Zena nodded.

“Whether it’s some physical trait or a curse――we don’t know the reason.”

According to Ena, until fairly recently, they’d repeatedly experimented with various methods in an attempt to overcome the situation using only their own people, including some rather explicit approaches, but in the end, they’d never managed to determine the cause.

“If there aren’t any here, then you bring them in from somewhere else――which means the slaves working in this country are…”

“That’s right. They’re men who will eventually provide the seed for us to become pregnant. When Zena and I can no longer fight as warriors, we’ll choose someone suitable from among them――that’s how it works. Zena and I were both born and raised in this country that way, and someday we’ll raise children just like our parents did.”

Ena spoke as though her future had already been decided.

That was probably the duty――the law, perhaps――that every person living in this country was expected to fulfill.

The Republic had an especially small population, and in such unusual circumstances where the sex of every newborn child was restricted to one gender, I could understand why they had been forced to make choices like that.

And then I noticed someone beside me breathing strangely heavily.

“What’s wrong, Karen-san? Your face is incredibly red――”

“No, I’m fine. There’s no problem. I have absolutely no intention of criticizing another nation’s methods of preserving its people or its culture, so I’ve been listening quietly… but there are so many things I’ve never heard before that it seems the conversation is somewhat too stimulating for me――”

“Oh, you mean things like assigning several partners of different races in order to leave behind superior bloodlines――or having relations with an unspecified number of people at the same time?”

“Y-You don’t have to say it out loud! Ugh… j-just imagining it is making my nose bleed――”

For a pure-hearted maiden like Karen-san, whose room was overflowing with wholesome romance novels and stuffed animals, everything we’d discussed so far probably was far too stimulating. I was pretending to remain calm myself, but inwardly, my heart was pounding quite a bit too.

“Huh? Old lady, you’re getting worked up over something this mild? That’s pathetic… Wait, don’t tell me you’re actually a virgin?”

“…Living national treasure.”

“R-Rude! I’ve had experience too! I really have!”

Though it had only been once, not long ago. And even then, whether that really counted as experience was debatable.

“What about you two, then? Aren’t you the ones who just know a lot from hearing about it while actually still being virgins?”

“Of course we are. We still have to keep fighting, so that kind of thing is forbidden for us for now.”

“…Mm.”

Considering the age range of the girls in the Republic’s knight order, that made sense. Once their strength began to decline, they passed the role they’d carried until then on to the next generation――though the cycle still felt much too fast.

“I knew it. Hmph! A couple of inexperienced little children have a hundred years to go before they’re qualified to look down on an experienced woman like me――”

“But we’re usually present to help prepare things and assist while it’s happening, so we know more or less how everything works――”

“You’re PRESENT!?? You PREPARE!??? You HELP WHILE IT’S HAPPENING!!????――”

Apparently that had completely exceeded the boundaries of Karen-san’s common sense, because she turned bright red all the way from her ears down to her neck and collapsed.

Whatever dazzling world had unfolded inside Karen-san’s imagination, she fainted while mumbling, “Ahehh…” and the nosebleed dripping from her nose stained the sofa crimson. I’d have to clean that later.

“Um… anyway, I think I understand the situation your country is in now. And why slave traders come here.”

However, that alone still shouldn’t have been enough to explain why Lilia hated men as a whole so intensely.

The word “Father” she’d blurted out when she’d become delirious during our fight.

That was surely the key to resolving this mission.

“…All right. I’ll tell you. I’ll talk. But I haven’t heard all the details directly from Lilia-sama either.”

“――Me too. I’ll tell you everything I know, as much as I can.”

And so, the discussion among the three of us continued until late into the night――.

Karen-san really hadn’t been useful at all today. All she’d done was get a nosebleed…