CHAPTER 12 - PART 5 & 6

Part 5

— The servants formed a row before the entrance with Darkness and her dad right in the middle.

Aqua and me stayed on either side of Darkness.

I suddenly noticed that I had not seen Darkness' mom. But now is not the time for that.

The other party will be arriving soon.

"But… To think that you will agree to this matchmaking, I am really happy… when Alexei said he had something to discuss with me, I was thinking what it was about. He was confident you wouldn't reject too. Leaving Alexei aside, his son is a good man. You will have a wonderful life with him, Lalatina."

Darkness' dad said to her happily.

But Darkness replied:

"How mean, dear father. Lalatina only said she will seriously consider about the marriage, fufufu… After thinking it through, I think it is still too early for me to marry. It's too late now. I agreed to the matchmaking session, but I didn't say I want to marry! I will mess up this meeting. I will utterly destroy the matchmaking meeting! Hmm hahahaha!"

Darkness felt there was no need to act anymore and revealed her true nature!

Her dad turned pale as he realized our true intent…

"Could, could it be the reason the two of them are here is to…!"

Her dad looked at us in fear.

Oh no, Darkness was so excited she forgot about keeping her family name untarnished.

At this late juncture, she probably didn't care anymore.

If that was so, I had no need to continue acting.

"… My lady, your choice of words are too crude, please don't speak in such a way."

When they heard me said that, Darkness and her dad looked at us in surprise.

Aqua seemed to like her maid attire a lot, swaying her skirt around happily as she ignored the tense atmosphere.

After understanding my true intent, Darkness' expression turned sour. Her father blinked away tears of joy, looking at me as if I was the messiah.

"Kazuma, you, you…! What is this, are you planning to betray me?"

"There is no betrayal to speak of, my lady. Right now, I am Dustiness' butler, and my greatest wish is for my lady to achieve happiness."

Her father sighed in relief and replied:

"You, you are Kazuma right? Even if this matchmake fails… at least, don't let Lalatina do anything disgraceful before the other party! I will reward you well! So, so…!"

Before her father could even finished, I bowed deeply.

"Please leave it to me, old master. I will aid my lady with all I can…"

— At this moment.

The door of the mansion opened with a crack, and the man I saw in the photo appeared at the door.

He had an entourage with him.

Darkness was bent on making the first move, crossing her arms, glaring at the other party as she said loudly!

"You are the brat who is meeting with me right? I'm Dustiness fon Lalatina! You can call me Queen Dustiness…"

"Ara, watch out my lady! There's a bug on the back of your head!"

I hit the back of Darkness' head hard!

Part 6

After I stopped Darkness from making a scene.

We excused ourselves saying that we want to check if the bug stung the lady and moved to the room next door. Darkness' father accompanied the guest to buy time.

"Hey, what are you thinking! Aren't you here to help me?"

Darkness grabbed my back collar and dragged me to the corridor.

Aqua who still didn't understand what was happening followed beside Darkness. She seemed to like stroking Darkness' plaited hair, toying with it in her hand.

— Right now, Darkness was interrogating me.

"Anyway, calm down my lady. You had forgotten about something important.

"Don't call me lady when it's just the three of us!… What is that important thing?"

Darkness regained her composure, her attitude had softened enough to listen to me.

"You forgot the part about not tarnishing your family's reputation. If you make too big a mess, you will be the one who will be hurt the most."

Darkness frowned when she heard me said that.

"How would I be hurt? If the negative news spread, I won't be able to marry and can continue my adventuring career without worries! The worse case would be my father disowning me, I am already prepared for that… After being disowned, I will feel uneasy about my uncertain future… Despite that, I still did my best to survive and took on jobs too hard for me. In the end, my body won't be able to take it and I will get captured by the minions of the demon king army, and be ravaged…! ... I want to live a life like that."

"So you finally admit it."

After expressing her wish that was incredible in some ways, the young lady continued:

"And that guy is not my type. The guys my father wants to set me up with are all bad."

I was confused when she said that.

But that guy was a handsome guy.

"Is that guy as bad as you say? According to your father's description, he sounds like an okay guy. But I only know what he looks like though."

Darkness replied to my question:

"That guy is Alexei Barnes Walther. He is talented and looked nothing like the landlord. The citizens give rave reviews about him, he is a cheerful man."

Aqua gave her comments too:

"Speaking of Walther from the Alexei family, everyone in the town of Axel has nothing but praise for him. He distribute items to help the poor, I had received it a few times too."

You, you…

Hearing Aqua say that, Darkness said unhappily:

"That's not good! My father doing that is enough! How can a noble who wants to marry me do such a thing!"

"Is, is that so? Ah, could it be that he does charity on the surface, but does evil deeds in the dark? If that is so, I will feel bad even if I didn't know about this…"

He was that landlord's son after all, I was too rash. As I was feeling a bit remorseful, Darkness said:

"There's no such thing! First of all, I heard that guy has excellent character. He won't get angry with anyone, and won't lecture his staff when they make mistakes. He will think together with them why such errors occurs, a weird person…"

…? That sounds like a great guy.

"And he is very hardworking, studying everyday in order to help the people with his knowledge. He is smart and great in swordsmanship, the youngest knight ever in history. I have never heard anything negative about him, a real perfect man. He also advises his father often, pleading him to change the harsh policies."

...

"Neh, from what I am hearing, isn't he the perfect man? Which part are you unhappy about, Darkness?"

Aqua asked confusedly.

"Which part am I unhappy about? Everything! First, nobles should have the behaviour of a noble, and wear a sinister smile at all time! When we met just now, what is with his clear and forthcoming eyes? It should be more like… like Kazuma's lecherous gaze when I walked around with loose clothes in the mansion, eyes that want to rape every inch of my body!"

"No, no, no, I don't! I, I, I am not looking at you with such eyes!"

As I was hiding my guilty conscience, Darkness continued:

"He doesn't get mad when his staff screws up? Is he an idiot? If a maid make a mistake, then he should do this and that to her using that excuse, that's the proper way for a noble! That man doesn't know anything, his staff make mistakes because they want to be scolded! As a noble, he should have the guts to make all the maids pregnant!"

"You are the only one that thinks so."

But Darkness ignored my retort and clenched her fist as if she couldn't endure it anymore, and said passionately:

"Simply put, the type I like is the total opposite of that man who will achieve great things even if I leave him alone! He must not be too eye catching, either too fat or too skinny will do. It would be best if he loves me but has a weak will, lusting after other girls if they are a bit kind to him. A mandatory criteria will be having a lecherous look and is horny all year round. If he looks down on the hardship of life and just want to live his life easily like a trash will be great. If he has debts, that's even better! He also has to drink all day and refuse to work, always grumbling that 'this is the fault of society'. He will then hit me with empty beer bottles and tell me: 'Hey Darkness, use your slutty body to earn back some cash!'… Hmmm…!"

After speaking her mind, our lady Depravetina blushed and trembled.

Damn, this woman was beyond redemption.

In this uneasy atmosphere, Aqua and I stood in place silently.

"… Enough! I will destroy this meeting myself! Kazuma, be prepared for the consequences if you get in my way!"

After saying that, Darkness walked out of the room angrily.

Aqua and I remained silent for a while.

Finally, Aqua said to me accusingly:

"…Kazuma, what are you planning?"

I said to Aqua:

"You saw her dad's face too right, he is really worried about his daughter's future. You heard how the other party's reputation was right? This is not a political marriage, but a father who wish for the happiness of his daughter, a carefully planned meeting."

"What then? Even if it was Darkness' father, he has no right to decide her life…"

Aqua said strongly.

But I didn't let her finish.

"Darkness is a noble. Isn't it normal for her not to be able to decide her own marriage? For aristocrats, they live a life of luxury and receive elite education… it's hard to tell from how Darkness looks though. Since they depend on the taxes of the commoners for a living, it's normal for their life to have less freedom. Living a luxurious life from birth and wanting the freedom to decide their own life, that is just being willful… She already had it good living such a carefree life all this while. And the one she is marrying is a perfect man. If you still want to be picky about it, it will incur the wrath of the people."

After hearing my long speech, Aqua seemed unconvinced.

"… But! That is still too much!"

"That's not all."

Aqua stopped when I said that.

"… Eh?"

I gestured for Aqua to squat down.

I then asked her with a very serious expression:

"Aqua. Our objective is to defeat the demon king and return home. But what are Darkness' wishes?"

Aqua squatted down like me, she didn't think I will ask her this so seriously, confusing her.

"Well, erm… To not marry and continue adventuring with us…"

Aqua gave a harmless answer which made me shout:

"Wrong! I don't want to listen to such pleasantries! You know the truth! Hurry! Don't be shy, say it, say it out loud! I want you to say it! Let me see what expression you will make when saying it!"

"To, to be kidnapped by a strong monster she couldn't win, and let the enemy do erotic things to her!… Ka, Kazuma, that is sexual harassment right? Neh, is this sexual harassment?"

I continued saying to Aqua who was on the verge of tears:

"This is not sexual harassment! Listen well, if you are a moron, that girl is a super moron beyond redemption! Her dream is to be kidnapped by monsters and have perverted things done to her? Stupid! Go, tell her dad about this! If you can, then do it! Tell him his daughter has a grand dream, so he has to forget about marrying her off and let her realize her ambition. Explain to her dad right now!"

"I am sorry! I can't say it! Sorry!"

Aqua who apologized in a panic said timidly:

"But… But are you certain the right choice is for her to marry that person? Darkness should have her own preference for type of men."

"Are you are saying something stupid like the other party is pitiful because he is not her type? Darkness said what type of men she likes, you heard it too. If Darkness found her ideal partner and he is exactly as she described, what are you going to do about it? Listen, just force her onto that Walther character… He is a good guy after all, so we can trouble him a little. Darkness can be rash at times, so we should let that guy tie her down and watch over her. From what I just heard, Walther is different from his father, and is a warm and gentle person. If that is so, he might agree to Darkness going out for adventures occasionally. We can then accompany her and do quest from time to time. Her dad would be at ease, and I can relax, Darkness won't partake in quest that is too dangerous; more importantly, I can get rid of one of the three problem children."

"The three problem children you just mentioned, are you referring to me?"

I lift my fist and stood up.

"In the end, Adventuring is not a career you can pursue forever! This job that borders on the edge of darkness, if I can quit then I should quit! Or rather, I am ready to quit anytime! Let's make it clear, that girl is an idiot! I will support her if she wants to continue being an adventurer, but I must emphasise that she is an idiot! Others shouldn't interfere in her family matters, but my goal is for Darkness to marry off successfully! If that don't work, I aim to at least protect the reputation of the Dustiness clan, so she can marry and retire at any time!"

"Wait Kazuma! Answer my question!"