Chapter 11 – Determination to Become A Father
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Imperial Calendar, Year 260 – Moon of the Topaz (November)
After we repelled Alexa’s royal army at the ravine, Malida collapsed from sickness. The cause was unclear. She whined about being depressed and lacking appetite. Later on, she started to demand extremely sour food.
Because the cause was unknown, I left the battlefield wrap-up to Brest and Lator, returning to Castle Ashley together with Malida.
Moreover, the Bavst fief, which had lost its ruler, had its governmental duties temporarily handled by Inspector Liese until a governor dispatched by the demon king would arrive.
“Albert…am I going to die…urgh. It’s so painful.”
During the journey back, Malida repeatedly threw up the bit of food she kept trying to eat on the carriage. She was starting to look haggard too. In the meantime, I could only stroke her back.
What illness is this!? Shit, it looks like the medicine we gave her doesn’t work either. Being unable to do anything while my wife suffers…that makes it painful for me as well.
“It’s fine. I definitely won’t let you die!”
I firmly clasped Malida’s hand.
“Albert-sama! I have brought Fray-sama since she said she knows the reason for Malida-sama’s bad condition!”
The one rushing into our bedroom was Lichere who had been investigating the cause of the sickness. Behind her stood Fray, the wife of Brest.
“Really? Do you know how to cure Malida-sama’s sickness!?”
Fray played a hand on my shoulder and grinned, “Regardless of whether it’s cured or not, that’s no sickness in the first place.”
No sickness? Even though she’s suffering so much?
“Malida, did you have your moon period recently?”
Malida counted with her fingers. But thanks to Fray’s question, I got a hunch for the reason behind Malida’s bad shape.
I see! For me to have forgotten something so simple…!
“Oh, right! I also forgot it since I got infected by Albert-sama being all flustered! Malida-sama! Congratulations! We must immediately have clothes tailored for you so that your body doesn’t feel cold! I am going to put in an order with the sewers!”
Having apparently perceived the cause of Malida’s state as well, Lichere rushed out of the room.
“What’s up? What’s going on with Lichere?”
The person in question seems to not have grasped her own situation yet.
“Malida-sama, you aren’t sick, but pregnant with my child. A baby is dwelling here.”
I gently touched Malida’s belly. Her stomach still hadn’t bulged out.
“W-W-W-W-hat w-w-w-was t-t-that!? I’m pregnant!?”
Malida looked completely exhausted, but once she learned of her own pregnancy, she jumped up from her seat.
“Malida-sama, sudden and intense movements are forbidden!”
I restrained her in a hurry.
“That’s how it is. We must immediately inform the head priest of the Alexias Temple and pray for a safe delivery. Things are going to become busy.”
Fray’s eyes zeroed in on me.
“The husband has to do his share as well, though. Albert, work hard and get the offerings.”
“Eh? What offerings?”
I was completely confused by Fray’s words, but it took only a short time for me to understand their meaning.
■
Five days after we discovered Malida’s pregnancy I entered a cave in our territory together with Brest who had hurriedly returned, leaving the aftermath of the battle to his son.
As for why we’ve come to a place like this――that’s because we’re going to pick up the offering that will be offered to the Alexias Temple while celebrating Malida’s safe delivery.
“Man, for Malida to get knocked up! Albert, you’re working way too hard! Wahahaha!”
Brest vigorously clapped my back, but since it’s my first child, my head’s full with the wish of the baby being born without any issues.
“It’s my first child, so I want Malida-sama and the baby to be safe. Anyway, I was told to get the offerings from this cave, but what are we actually looking for?”
“That’s something you can look forward to after we arrive.”
I had asked the oni and priests of the temple many times over, but no one wanted to tell me. Even Brest, who’s come with me as my groomsman, wouldn’t tell me anything. However, given that I was told to come here while fully armed, I can predict that we’ll fight against something, seeing how Alexias is worshiped as god of battle.
I wonder just what I’ll have to fight…an opponent which the oni just barely defeat will be impossible for me. No, if it’s for the sake of offerings to pray for my wife and child’s safety, I must persist no matter what!
I followed Brest who was going ahead while holding a torch. As we proceeded through the cave, we eventually reached a wide space.
“We’ve arrived. This here is the place to get the offerings for Combat God Alexias-sama.”
With those words, Brest put firewood into the iron baskets, which were installed here from the start, and lit them up one by one. As the fires started to illuminate the cave, I could finally tell how big this place was…besides, something was stinking terribly.
The flames flickered, making my shadow dance inside the wide room.
Could you tell me anytime soon what we’re going to offer?”
I asked Brest who had sat down on a rock after lighting all the fireplaces.
“Just wait, they’re soon going to arrive in person. We’ll just need 4~5 of them. When I came here for Lator’s sake――”
4-5 of them? So I have to fight something after all…?
I placed my hand on the sword at my waist and sharpened my senses to pick up anything going on around us.
I’ve been practicing my swordsmanship as much as anyone else, but since I’m not as trained as the oni, I can’t help but to worry.
Suddenly I heard something crawling across the ground from the direction where the light didn’t reach anymore.
“It looks like they’ve shown up. They’ll raise their bodies before leaping at you, so lop off their heads at that moment.”
Sure, but what are we talking about here? Just tell me already!
Because the sounds were getting closer, I couldn’t complain vocally. I slowly drew my sword and got ready. Soon the owners of the noise entered the illumination range covered by the fires.
Huge! That’s way too huge! Are you for real!?
Huge snakes who were bigger than humans and whose bodies were covered in light brown scales were the origin of the noise. It seemed like they recognized us as enemies or food. They began to threaten us while pushing out their tongues.
“Ooh, the big ones came out. Recently, the bigger ones had decreased in numbers, but nothing less of you Albert, I guess. If you offer the heads of the big snakes as offerings, Combat God Alexias-sama will rejoice and give his blessing to Malida and the child! Do your best!”
Ugh, if it’s for the sake of keeping my wife and child safe, I’ll work as hard as I can, even if that includes hunting down big snakes!
As the threatening hissing became louder, the big snakes started to raise their does
I-Incoming! Before that――
Faster than I expected, a big snake widened its big mouth and leaped at me. I immediately pulled back my body, but the snake’s lower jaw managed to graze the top of my armored shoulder. A part of the shoulder protector was blown away.
“Ugh! So fast!”
“You’re going to be eaten, if you stand around, dreaming.”
Due to Brest’s voice, the big serpents’ threatening became louder again, and they raised their bodies once more. With my combat ability, getting a head start and exceeding that speed won’t be in time. In that case――
I dodged the mouth of a big snake, which had jumped at me, and swung the sword in my hand upwards.
The scales were penetrated and the sword’s edge cut off the head. Blood that smelled like fish rained down on me.
“Oohh! Not bad! But, you see, these guys――”
Blood flowed out of the snake’s head and torso after it fell to the ground with a thud. Its smell filled the air of the cave. The sound of crawling immediately grew louder and more pronounced from deeper down the space, beyond where the light reached.
“They’re quite sensitive to the blood of their kin, you see. They’ll definitely attack anyone who has the blood of their own on them.”
HAAAH! I haven’t heard anything about this! Just now, I got splashed with a ridiculous amount of blood!”
“The real battle starts from now on. Do your best, Albert! Don’t die!”
“I cannot afford to die! For the sake of the child which I’ve made with Malida-sama!”
As soon as I could hear several crawling sounds from within the darkness, several big snakes entered the range of the fires’ light.
They’re here! Many of them!
They were smaller than the one from before, but more than fifteen snakes were threateningly hissing at me, lifting their bodies.
Isn’t that a bit too much here!? I feel like this is one of those hardcore games that are set to be unbeatable!
“The more snake heads your reap, the stronger the blessing given to wive and child by Combat God Alexias-sama!”
It’s a muscle-head event where intelligence and wit plays no role, but if it’s for the sake of my wife and child, I have no choice but to go at it at full force! After all, diseases and childbirth are the scariest occurrences in this world that has no medical technology!
“I, Albert von Erwin, shall sally forth for the sake of Malida-sama and my son!”
I adjusted the hold of my sword, lifted my body, and confronted the snakes. Straining all my nerves, I dodged the muzzle of a snake, which had leaped at me, and killed it by slashing my sword down.
“First one! Which is coming next!?”
Because it was right after a victory in battle, my adrenaline was pumping and I felt like I could move my body much better than usual.
“You’ve sure grown accustomed to being a family member of the oni, Albert. Yep, yep, those were some fine moves for a human.”
My groomsman Brest was rejoicing behind me, but I had my hands full just following the snakes’ movements.
“Combat God Alexias! Grant your divine blessing to my wife and child!”
Personally I had made it all the way up to being a priest as worshiper of Egerea, but due to the matter with Orgus, I’m denying the existence of gods in this world. Even an atheist lime feels like praying to a god when it comes to wishing for the safety of my closest family.
As my eyes grew accustomed to the snakes’ movements, it became a simple task to dodge and swing down my sword on the defenseless bodies of the snakes after leaping.
“Good work out there. With this, you should also be able to raise your child as a magnificent father, Albert.”
Panting hard, I answered, “Yes, I’m going to work hard from now on as well. For the sake of my wife and child.”
After having slain twenty snakes in total, I was barely able to keep standing by using my chipped sword as a cane. My armor was bumpy and depressed all over.
“Still, they do stink badly… I feel like vomiting.”
“Combat God Alexias-sama seems to like the big snakes, which are detested by people, as his favorite food, so it cannot be helped. Here, you can take a break later on, so gather their heads.”
I sighed, “Alright, I got it. I’m going to pick them up right away.”
The terrible stink of the snakes’ blood was emitted from all over my body. Because of that, I wanted to wash myself right away, but it had been arranged that we’d hurry back to Castle Ashley after gathering the heads which would serve as offerings.
■
“Oohhh! That’s just what I had expected of you, Albert! You’ve done well to have gathered so many big snake heads for me!”
After learning that her bad health condition stemmed from her pregnancy, Malida recovered her liveliness. Wearing a cute outfit with lots of frills, she hugged me. Lichere had apparently procured outfits with low exposure to avoid Malida’s body getting cold.
“Well, we must get Combat Got Alexias to grant you and the baby his safety, Malida-sama.”
“If we have this many heads, Alexias-sama will rejoice as well, I’m sure! Everyone, get the prayer preparation ready.”
“””Aye!!”””
Once we moved to the Alexias temple in the castle town, an altar had already been erected in front of the building. The oni were known as the most devout believers of Alexias in Elancia. The temple in the Ashley fief would regularly invite high-ranking priests from the head temple in the imperial capital and have them serve as head priests. The temple itself was quite a splendid piece of art, too.
“Albert-dono, I have most certainly received the offerings to Combat God Alexias-sama,” said the head priest, a guy who gave off the impression of being a crumpled, old man. He, too, was an oni – a muscle-headed warrior who obtained the rank of high-ranking priest by remaining undefeated at the priest selection tests which were carried out by the temples of Alexias.
By the way, he was also the one who blessed and approved of Malida’s and my marriage.
“We shall offer a congratulatory dance while praying that the divine child of Malida von Erwin-sama and Albert von Erwin-sama receives Combat God Alexias’s divine protection!”
The wrinkled grandpa strained himself with a grunt, causing a muscled warrior, who had a completely different body from before, to appear in front of us. Apparently, this was a technique developed by the priest-warriors of Alexias called fighting spirit art, but it’s making the body expand way too much!
With the oni joining the head priest’s dance, the muscle dance began. Once we sat down in the seats og honor, the feast to celebrate a safe delivery kicked off.
“Malida-sama is now carrying Albert-dono’s child. With this, the future of the Erwin family will be set.”
“If it’s a child between the strongest warrior of the empire and the man once called Alexa’s Crown Jewel of Wisdom, it will certainly grow into someone excelling in military and civil arts.”
“It’d be wonderful if the child were to be a man. But, since women can inherit the family as well, the gender doesn’t matter much as long as it’s born safely.”
The human civil officials, who participated in the banquet together with the oni, all sounded very happy. My child becoming the next family head of the Erwins probably gives them peace of mind that their status will be preserved.
While the congratulatory meat dance was going on, Brest said, 『If it were my child, I’d train it personally in martial arts』, with a rough, cheerful breathing, but what is he going to do if it’s a girl?
If it’s actually a girl, I’ll definitely keep him away so that he doesn’t produce a second Malida. In the first place, I won’t give her away as a wife in the first place!
The day a guy greeted me with 『Please let me marry your daughter』 would be the day when I murdered someone on my way back home. If it’s a girl, I hope she keeps wanting to marry Daddy.
“Malida-sama, my child is in here, right?”
I pressed my ear against her belly.
My precious, precious baby. As long as the baby manages to be born safely, Papa will be more than satisfied.
“Yeah, that’s right. For this reason, I’ll have Irena and the others take care of you at night for a bit while I focus on giving birth to a healthy baby.”
“Malida-sama, I’ll massage you every night when we’re in Castle Ashley to remove the swellings of your body. Besides, according to imperial law, you can assign a proxy as lord when you cannot carry out your official duties. I’ll apply for it right away. If we inform His Majesty of your pregnancy, I should be able to be nominated as a proxy for governmental affairs!”
I don’t want Malida to do government work if it causes her stress. It might have a negative influence on the child’s development in her belly. Moreover, I don’t want to burden her, who is already having a tough time.
Because there’s a regular reason for it, it should be permitted without a problem if I apply for it.
“You’re saying I don’t have to do any governmental work!?”
“Correct. You have the essential task of giving birth to my child. Besides, although our child is important, please pay careful attention to your own body as well, Malida-sama. I’d like you to stay by my side.”
Back when I met her, my head was full of using her to build a career, but after a year with her, the feeling of wanting to survive this world together has become quite substantial.
Well, I guess that’s because I’m madly in love with my adorable wife.
“Albert…”
“Anyway, I wonder where’s the child between Malida-sama and me,” I kept pressing my ear against Malida’s belly while being extremely happy over Malida’s pregnancy.
The congratulatory muscle dance ended, and a contest to brag about one’s muscles started, but none of it really registered with my brain. My baby is a lot more important than some muscles.
Afterwards, the celebratory banquet continued until late into the night.
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