Translator: Kenar Editor: Yuzuha Proofreader: Penguin
2The school keeps getting farther away.
Pulling my arm, Krau stomps off towards my house at a quick pace. My wrist hurts a bit from the grasp of her metal gauntlet.
Walking while holding hands with a beautiful girl should be a happy moment, but as expected… my legs are tired because she"s walking too fast.
"Hey Krau, don"t tell me that we"re going home walking like this?"
Even though one can say that both the school and my house are in the same town, they"re still pretty far away from each other. And although it"s a distance that can be walked, this Heike prefecture is a town located in a valley, so its road is full of slopes.
I usually go to school by bus, but there"s none at this hour. The bus only stops at the front of the school twice a day, in the morning and evening. "The bus only comes twice a day." (an original phrase I just came up with).
"In the first place, how did you get to the school, Krau? Did you walk from the nearby bus stop?"
Or rather, did you walk from home? While wearing such armor?
"Hm? What are you saying? Isn"t it obvious that I ran my way here if it"s only this far?"
An unexpected answer came out.
"Ran!? With that armor!?"
"It"s mithril armor. It"s stronger than iron, yet lighter."
Is that so? Last night, I helped tidy up after grandma removed the armor, and it felt like a ma.s.sive lump of metal to me!?
"Rinichirou, let"s stop the chit chat and keep walking. Why are you so slow? Perhaps… you don"t want to marry me!?"
That"s not the problem. I"m simply running out of breath.
Of course, I"m not going to marry Krau either. Even though she"s so beautiful, this is only the second day since we"ve met. As expected, this is too sudden.
"Krau, why do you want to marry me so much?"
"──Ha!? Yo, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, what with that question! Even I don"t want such a sudden marriage if it wasn"t for master"s order…!!"
"Master? Don"t tell me that you"re going to marry me just because Pau-hime said so!?"
"That"s right. You b.a.s.t.a.r.d must enter a political marriage with me."
Did you say political marriage!? So bold!
However, what kind of politician would want to marry a high schooler like me?
"I heard about the immigration laws from your grandmother. It seems that the simplest procedure to become a (political) refugee, is to marry with a local man."
So that"s the reason! What are you, an illegal immigrant!? That"s different from a political marriage. It"s more of a fraudulent marriage, where the person"s aim is to acquire citizenship.
"Krau, but it"s too bad. There is a law in j.a.pan that says men can"t marry unless they"re 18 years old. Even if we do marry, Pau-hime has nothing to do with us, right?"
"There is no problem in that regard. Your grandmother investigated it. Since j.a.pan has had diplomatic relations with our Holy Eis Kingdom, our law is partially implemented here. Both men and women can get married if they are at least 16 years old in our kingdom, and a RosewaldKnightess and their master are treated as sisters-in-law. Hence, if you marry me, Pau-hime will be able to attain j.a.panese as her nationality and will be granted asylum. Legally, there is no problem with it."
So, there"s that…. However, seriously, being told by a knightess who came from a fantasy world about our laws… it feels terribly out of place.
"I get that there is no issue in regards to the law… but Krau, are you fine with all of this? Since it"s an order from the princess, this is marriage against your will. First and foremost, about my feeling──"
"Eei, shut up! It"s already decided! To begin with, it"s not really contrary to my wish…"
What did you say?
What she just said makes it seems like Krau really does like me….
"Anyway, come on Rinichirou! Run quickly!"
"Ye, yeah…"
Krau grabs my hand and starts running. In this full of slopes village road, her face seems somewhat bright red──ah, maybe this quick pace is to hide her embarra.s.sment.