Book 4 Chapter 9 Nina's Future
After our wild sex, I made Nina sit down on the couch inside the room, before going to the place where the bucket of hot water was, where I dipped the towel that I received along in it.
Then, I wiped her all over with the now warm and wet towel in my hand.
Halfway through, Nina woke up and said “Nyo! I told you nyot to do it!” and got angry at me, but she wasn’t able to resist as she didn’t have any energy left in her body.
While I was busy appeasing her, I took advantage of the situation, and managed to finish wiping her entire body. After that, I handed her some clothes that suit her figure.
The maids seem to have bought them yesterday, as Irene’s clothes were just too big for her.
After doing all of that, I combed my now messy hair and fixed my outfit, getting my body ready for the rest of the day.
Of course, I didn’t leave the room unattended. I hurriedly cleaned up the mess that we have brought to the room.
I put away the now-soggy sheets and opened the windows to let some air out.
With this, the preparations are now complete.
“Somehow, I was able to make it in time?”
“In time? For what?”
“For the talks with Irene.”
“Hmmmmph”
She doesn’t seem to be interested.
Is she still angry from the wiping?
“Let’s just go for now. I think we’ll have lunch first before we commence the talks.”
Since it’s already late in the morning, we will start our discussion after we’ve eaten our meals.
Well, Irene also said that it would make her fess up easier. After all, you won’t be able to talk easily on an empty stomach.
“Nyaa, Food!? Let’s go, let’s go!”
“Uwaa, H-hey! That’s dangerous!”
Upon hearing that we’re gonna eat some food, Nina did a 180 and pushed me at the back, urging me to lead her to the dining room right away.
Soon as we arrived, Irene was already waiting for me, and the food was already been served.
“Sorry, I’m late.”
“It’s fine. You were working hard with that girl, right?”
My back stiffened up.
“Are we making too much of a loud noise?”
Irene only laughed a little to my question.
“I’m sorry, really……”
I bowed my head deeply, complete with the momentum of getting down on my knees and performing a dogeza.
I had sex right after having that conversation with her. It’s only natural to have such a thought. It was nothing but a betrayal.
“Raise your head, Tomo. Its not that I’m mad at you. If anything, I’m more than grateful that you have established a good relationship with that girl.”
“What happened, big brother? Awe you having a tummy-ache?”
“Ara, now it’s big brother. This is very promising.”
Irene put her hand over her mouth and laughed.
“Hello, Nina. I’m Irene, and I’m the mayor of this city.”
“Miss Irene……big sis?”
Nina murmured in confirmation, and Irene nodded in response.
“Yes, you can also have it that way. For now, let’s talk about it after we’ve eaten our meals, shall we?”
“Un! Nina’s weally hungwy!”
Nina immediately jumped at Irene’s words.
You, to be easily swayed by food……well, she’s still a kid, so it’s still alright.
I gave a light chuckle as I headed for my seat.
After that, we immediately started to eat.
I don’t know what she has been through before I found her, but Nina was really hungry, as she’s eating with a momentum like she’s about to eat the table alongside it.
I and Irene were both amazed to see such a……lively meal.
Then, as expected, Nina ate so fast that she choked, in which I quickly made her drink water as I rubbed her back.
Nina continued to gobble despite that, and within 30 minutes, she had devoured all the food that was served to us.
We, who could only do nothing but watch the scene, felt a little disheartened, because the meal ended earlier than usual.
As the tabletop was cleaned and the after-dinner drinks were passed around, Irene began to speak.
“Nina, I’d like to hear more about you. May I?”
“Okay.”
Nina obediently spoke about herself.
“Nina used to live in a village of Beast People, and helped them with their work. Nina was ugly, but Nina worked so hard so that Nina won’t get kicked out. But, it got worse because of the recent drought.”
“I see what she meant. Well, because people attach more importance to their appearances in urban areas, it was easier to live in the countryside. Even so, it doesn’t mean one can live more comfortably. I have also heard that the rainfall in this region has been decreasing recently.”
Irene affirmed the facts of Nina’s story.
There seems to be a difference in mentality between the central and rural areas, with regards to beauty.
It seems that in rural areas where manpower is a complete necessity, discrimination is not so prevalent as long as there are more hands to do the work.
With that, we have also deduced that Nina doesn’t seem to have come from an extremely faraway land.
“With that, they decided to perform a traditional ceremony in the village to cause a rain.”
A local ritual? I have a bad feeling about this.
“And, what was it all about? Can you care to tell us?”
Despite that, Irene cut in mercilessly.
“It was to dedicate a sacrifice to the land gods and ask them to bless us with rain clouds.”
“S-sacrifice?”
I couldn’t help but flinch to their……active solution.
“Wait, that sacrifice. Don’t tell me-“
“Please wait. Irene. No matter what, to sacrifice a living sentient being is-“
“But it is, you knyow?”
“-!?”
I was shocked when Nina affirmed her words.
I thought the sacrifices were, at best, livestock.
I started to feel sick. I felt like the food I ate is rushing up from my stomach.
“You look pale, Tomo. I think it was a little too harsh on you. Do you want to take a break in another room?”
“No, I’m fine. Keep going.”
I stood up and stopped Irene, who was about to come towards me, and urged her to go back by raising my hand.
I was naïve to think I was ready for this other world.
I was made painfully aware of this just now.
“If you say so, Tomo……I’m used to these kinds of stories, but I didn’t expect Tomo to be uncomfortable to this. I’m very sorry.”
“It’s fine, Irene. After all, it was something I have to face at some point.”
Rather, I felt even sadder for Irene, who just said she was already used to these kinds of talks.
They’re discriminated to this extent, huh.
“Did Nina say something bad?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just make sure that Nina will tell us the truth.”
“Nyauu”
I stroked Nina who said those things in worry, then in turn she pressed her head against my hand even more as she squints at it pleasantly.
She gave a vibrant smile, which made mood of the surroundings ease up a little.
After a few minutes, Nina finally pulls away from my hand and resumes her story.
“You see, Nina wasn’t originally the sacwifice. The daughter of the village’s repwesentative, the mayor, was chose, but the mayor’s father, who didn’t want his granddaughter to be sacrificed, tried to make Nina take her place. The people also agreed with this.”
“That’s terrible.”
At this point it wasn’t a ritual anymore, only a way of appeasing the people’s desires of getting rid of something unpleasant.
“Nina doesn’t want to die just like that, so as soon as Nina heard it, Nina decided to sneak away.”
I’m glad that she got away, really.
“But, did they chase you after that?”
Irene followed up a question.
Certainly, even though it sounded like a fraud, a ritual is still a ritual, and they must have made a lot of preparations.
“They didn’t, or rather, they couldn’t. Nina washed off the traces of her scent in the river on the way, and Nina doesn’t think that they have enough manpower to chase Nina alone. Nina doesn’t think so. Plus, it was wraining when Nina came here, so they wouldn’t trace Nina easily.”
“So, you’re safe then?”
“Yeah, for now. After all, no one will come to this city just because they feel like it.”
Irene said in a way to make Nina feel relieved. Then, the cat-eared girl continued.
“Still, Nina was really suwrprised, as she never heawd of a city like this before. The same is twue for big sister, and for everyone else.”
“Ufufufu, I made this place so that women like us can live in peace after all. So, Nina, go ahead and take it easy, okay?”
“Is it true, big sis!? Amwazing!”
Nina praised at Irene with gratitude and respect.
I was happy that she’s being praised too, to the point where I keep help my face from loosening to a grin.
It’s a city, yet people rarely come to visit, so chances like this were rare.
Anyway, it seems that Nina and Irene will be on good terms after this.
“So, what do you want to do now that you’re free, Nina? If you want to live in this city, we can assist you.”
“Then, Nina wants to be with big brother!”
Nina answered immediately.
“Ara, I knew it will come to this. But that will be troubling. Tomo can’t give priority to Nina alone, you see.”
Irene made a face of worry.
I’ve had sex with a lot of women in my work as a gigolo, but I haven’t met all the women in this city yet.
I’ve been told that there are some women who don’t even want to have a conversation with a man, but more than that, it’s Irene who’ll get the shove if she agrees to place Nina near me.
She’s the mayor of this city, and with that, she always has to make the difficult decisions about me.
No matter how much Nina feels for me, no matter how much Irene feels for me even, she cannot make a decision based on that.
As I also knew the hardships that she’s going through, I often decide to stay silent and not meddle with her decision.
But still, I couldn’t help but get worried about leaving Nina alone, so I gathered my wits to see if I can come up with a good idea.
“How about we put Nina in a study session to help you with your work?”
“My job?”
“Yep. You always bring quite the number of documents in the mansion, don’t you? How about we make her an assistant who cleans things up for you?”
This city, albeit not official yet, has already grown big enough to have a government office on its own. I heard that she used to work there before, but since I came, she’s done most of her work at the mansion.
Because of this, Irene has to clean up the things that were previously assigned to the staff alone, and the burden just keeps on increasing as the documents increase twofold.
“Even though Nina cyant rwead or write letters??”
“Then how about including that on her training?”
This should be able to make her keep up the pace, somewhat. Two birds, one stone.
“……I understand. I’ll try to make the arrangements.”
After thinking it for a moment, Irene accepted my proposal.
“So, Nina can stay in the mansion nyow?”
“Yes, but you have to learn to read, write and do the math too. Can you do it?”
“I’ll do my best!”
Nina answered in enthusiasm.
The things she’s going to learn will be good for her in the future.
I just hope she will be able to take the lessons properly from now on.
With this, Nina’s case is closed. For now.
For a moment, I was afraid, afraid of someone dying in close proximity. In the end, it didn’t happen, and the city gained another lovely friend.
I just hope that more people will continue to come to this city – before it’s too late for them.
