Chapter 24 The Kingdom of Vedna (Royal Capital Road Journey) : Peaceful night

　--Night.

　A peaceful night.

Thanks to Sota efforts and Phyllis participation, Phyllis squad were able to easily achieve victory after that.

　Thanks to a winning formation that was nothing more than a coincidence, Phyllis intercepted them as they tried to swarm Sota, and the soldiers can attack from behind

　The soldiers, who were victorious in the blink of an eye, made preliminary repairs to the village, which had been ravaged by the war during the day, and finished disposing of the goblin corpses.

　There was a quite a lot of damage on the human side, but considering the scale, it was still a small price to pay.

　And now, at sunset, the evening meal is being served around a bonfire.

　Nevertheless, the faces of the soldiers, who had to look tired, did not look glum. Instead, their expressions looked proud.

"Next, please."

　The reason for this is also due to Sota.

　He understood that it was his fault for attracting the goblins, and he felt guilty.

　That is certainly true.

　It was the pheromones created by Sota that attracted the goblins to the village, and if it had been only a group of female soldiers who visited the village, such a battle would not have occurred.

　But in response, these soldiers never complained about even a single word ... about what he did.

"To protect a drop of male blood, you must be a shield, even if it means risking the lives of a hundred women."

　... is the first thing that is told into anyone who is trained in the Kingdom of Vedna, and the idea is held by every woman in the country as common knowledge to begin with.

　Rather than an ethic ..., it is a religion at its earliest.

　In the Kingdom of Vedna, where men are given to women by God, and are considered to be life equal to God rather than human beings, it is a commonplace perception and culture.

　Therefore, for the sake of Sota alone, they are willing to make any sacrifice and go through any hardship.

　... but of course that idea was only abnormal for Sota.

　Even if all the women around him were think that he was a higher being, that did not make him behave pompously. It was certainly comforting to have people around him think so, but he felt ashamed when he imagined himself flaunting himself as a child of God.

　Of course, Sota also has a desire for power, just like anyone else.

　He wants to be able to seduce women as he pleases, and he wants to have enough power to treat others.

　But to do so, he has a little bit of a hurdle to overcome..

　Maybe he is a slacker.

　Maybe he is hypocritical.

　But he just want to live in a way that he is not ashamed to show his friends and family in his former world.

　After all, Sota is not a "Yggdrasil" person, no matter how far he goes. So he decided to do what he thought was right

"Next, please."

　With that in mind, Sota was currently serving the meal. He scooped up the boiling vegetable soup in a large pot with a wooden spoon and served it to the female soldiers who were waiting in line for their deep plates.

　He was doing this for them.

　For a man belonging to the Kingdom of Vedna, such a scene would be outrageous.

　There is no such thing as having men serve the food. In a country where slavery still exists, it is the kind of work that would first be done by slaves.

　However, it is the only work that Sota could do right now, and he wanted to do something, anything, to help the people who risked their lives for him and fought for him. He can't allow himself to just slump into a chair and do nothing but give, even though he's the one being protected

　Of course, Elrain and the others stopped him, but Sota still insisted on doing the work.

　As Sota handed out the soup, he thanked each woman in line as best he could.

　"Thank you for protecting me, and I am alive today because of you", he said sincerely and honestly.

The soldiers opinion of Sota only went up. He took on the role of female decoy on a battlefield like that, served the meals without a single look of disgust, and did not show even a glimpse of a discriminatory gaze or attitude towards women in the first place.

　It will be a while before Sota himself will be able to experience how much meaning and how destructive Sota gentlemanly behaviour has in this world.

　 "Sota-sama, how is your shoulder?"

　A voice of concern touched Sota back as he was serving the meal.

　When he turned around, he saw Elrain with a tragic look, as if she had been sentenced to death. She is concerned about Sota, who hit the ground from the shoulder when he fell off his horse, and raises her face fearfully.

　Sota turns his shoulders around with a slight wry smile.

"Im fine. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my bones, so it's no big deal. I was lucky to only have bruises. They also gave me first aid, so I'm fine as I am."

Sota had previously felt guilty, but it was Elrain who felt more guilty and responsible now.

　The reason Sota was injured and the reason Sota went to the dangerous battlefield was because he wanted to save Elrain, and there was no way that Elrain, who witnessed the scene in front of her, could not feel guilty.

　It was a shame that the man she was supposed to protect had to risk his life to protect her. The meaning of warior itself could collapse if she was in such a state of mind.

　she deserved to be laughed at and abused.

　But ... Sota has a good-natured smile on his face.

　As soon as he had finished distributing the soup to all the people, he turned to Elrain and invites.

"If you don't mind, would you like to have dinner with me? "