Chapter 162: The Battle Against Pride V

「So, what's this all about?」

As Lanseal was asking that question, I blocked a fist flying in from my right. I then blocked an elbow from my left with my arm.

「This is, well, a sisters' quarrel」

This had been going on since Ea regained consciousness, and the stage had shifted from the Adventurers' Guild, to the city, and finally, to the dinner table at home. With me as a buffer between the two, the situation hadn't gotten too out of hand, but it was still pretty bad.

Frankly, my regeneration point is almost exhausted. I literally can't take any more.

「Onee-chan is the one at fault!」

「Ea! Shut up!」

「What the heck?! Don't lash out at me despite being in the wrong!」

「Shut up!」

Fists started flying again as the sisterly brawl began anew.

Ea's flurry of blows was steadily piling up the damage to my body. And bone-jarring pain accompanied each of Rana's blows.

「By the way, what do you want for dinner? Do you want noodles? Or would you prefer rice? Or maybe bread? We’ve got some of Lutz-san’s new creations」

「Lanseal, noodles!」

Said Ea.

「Lanseal, rice!」

Said Rana.

The sisters each grabbed one of my arms and a tug of war ensued.

Their faces ended up right under my nose when they tried to intimidate each other with threatening looks. They smelled really nice.

「Onee-chan, don't you ever get tired of eating rice all the time? You cook rice and eat onigiri by yourself at night, don’t you?!」

「Don't you get tired of eating curry ramen, ramen curry every single day? You get up in the middle of the night and eat cup noodles, don't you?!」

Yes, I was not aware of it.

I was not aware that such a scene of carnage could have happened at any time.

I'm also concerned about the big smile on Lanseal's face that ran contrary to the rage shown by the sisters. That's the smile of someone who's got something cooking in their mind.

I had also forgotten, but Lanseal has the blood of the king of adventurers flowing in her veins.

That shrewd blood.

I have a feeling that a storm is coming………………and it's going to be a wild one at that! Maybe I should run away somewhere before the storm hits in earnest?

But I don't know what will happen if I leave the sisters to their own devices when they're like this. Even though they usually get along so well, the pent-up frustration between them has now reached the breaking point. Worst case scenario, our home might become ground zero?

「Lanseal, I’ll have yakisoba and fried rice for dinner along with some vegetables and some kind of soup」

「Okay~♪」

I tried to take the middle ground, and after taking my order, Lanseal went into the kitchen. With her tail causing the edge of her skirt to flutter, she hummed a tune as she began to cook.

「Grrrr」

Growled Rana.

「Shaaa!」

Went Ea with teeth bared.

They're taking subtly animal-like stances. Do elves use animal fighting styles to settle fights, I wonder?

「So noisy……… What's going on?」

「Misuranika-sama!」

The salvation of my god has come.

She walked up the stairs to the basement in the form of a young girl, which was a rarity.

「Hyaan!」

For some reason, she spanked Lanseal's butt.

「Take that smirk off your face. It's creepy. It'll make the food taste bad」

「Oh, I'm sorry」

Lanseal apologized.

What kind of face did she have, I wonder.

「So, what's going on here?」

「Umm, the sisters had a falling-out」

「Okay. Souya, it's your fault! Apologize!」

I was immediately branded as guilty.

「I’m sorry」

「Alright, it’s settled」

I don't think that's going to do it.

「Just so you know, I'm telling you to break up for both your sakes, Onii-chan, Onee-chan. If you stay married to each other, you will both be unhappy in the end. For the sake of Onii-chan's goal, I was going to keep quiet about it until we had reached the 56th floor, but I can't stand the thought of the person I care about being continually deceived」

Ea stared daggers at Rana.

「Let me say one thing, just one thing」

Rana shrank into herself, almost as if she had reverted to her old self.

「Ea, if you speak of that matter, we will no longer be sisters. I'll also leave the party. And since I can't return to our family home, I'll leave on a journey somewhere far away」

「Wait, Rana!」

What are you saying all of a sudden?

Not only will you leave the party, you'll go on a journey far away?

「Tsk………………I, I understand. I'm fine with that」

「Then………do as you wish」

When Rana got up from her seat and tried to run away, I grabbed her by the waist and took her down.

「Wait a minute, Rana!」

「Let go of me!」

「I'm definitely not letting go! Tell me what's going on! Don't leave me behind!」

「Once you hear about that matter, even you will be disillusioned!」

「Why are you assuming that?!」

This time, it was a quarrel between husband and wife.

For crying out loud, I'm sick and tired of no one explaining anything to me.

「Rauaryuna, you should have a little more faith in Souya. If you're going to run away anyways, it's not too late to do so after he's heard the whole story, right?」

As expected of my god. You've made an excellent point.

「Dear, let go of me!」

But my wife wasn't listening. She was flailing about wildly and she wouldn't stop, so………

「Hyaa!」

………I decided to massage her breasts from behind until she quieted down.

「Hold on, dear! A, at a time like this, hyaa」

After giving both of them a good kneading as a warm-up, I started to focus on the central part of her breasts through the bikini armor she wore in place of underwear. Instead of touching those points directly, I rubbed all around them in a circular motion.

「S, stop it! Everyone's watching! No way! Aah, aahh!」

As I gradually reduced the size of the circles, I could feel them growing stiff and swollen even over the armor.

I nudged, flicked, then rubbed them at high speed.

「uu………uuu」

Rana quieted down.

Phew.

「What the heck are you doing?」

Misuranika-sama smacked me in the back of my head.

Sorry, I was having so much fun that I got carried away.

Anyway, I had succeeded in rendering her powerless. She probably won't be able to run away for a while.

「So, Ea, what did you want to tell me?」

「Eh? You're kidding. You're going to make me spill the beans under such circumstances?」

That's a perfectly reasonable point, but……

「I don't want to see you sisters fight for even one more second. So get on with it please」

「Then I'll say it, I guess―――――」

For all that she had threatened Rana, she was having difficultly saying it.

「Onii-chan, when you got injured in the fight with that idiot prince of Lemuria……」

How nostalgic.

That's the time when I lost by chance because I had let my guard down. Probably.

「......After healing you, Onee-chan cast charm magic on both "you" and "herself"」

「Eh?」

I've just received a piece of information that I'm finding a little difficult to process.

Is the charm magic Ea spoke of that "charmed" status ailment seen in games? Indeed, I had fallen in love with her.

「I was against it, but Onee-chan said that things would go more smoothly if she also fell in love with you. She said that it would give the appearance that the two of you trusted each other」

「In short, the feelings I had for Rana, they’re……?」

「That's right. They're all lies. They're fake feelings that were forced upon you. They’re not real. But forgive Onee-chan. At that time, the only person we could rely on was you, Onii-chan. And we needed to be sure that you would never betray us. We wanted a guarantee that someone of another race wouldn't betray us elves」

The feeling that my whole world had crumbled beneath my feet………………didn't come over me.

That's because I have a feeling that I’ve heard something like this somewhere, sometime before......…

「Oh!」

I remembered. It was something said in a conversation between me, the Demon King, and a goblin.

「About that, it seems that the curse of the hand protector didn't work on me. Does that mean that Rana's magic didn't work either?」

「Onii-chan, what do you mean by the curse of the hand protector?」

So Ea didn't know about it either.

「Rana, what about……Rana?」

After I had taken her down and massaged her breasts, Rana had been crying with both hands covering her face. She was trying to stifle them, but her sobs were still escaping. There were also tears spilling out from between her fingers.

Somehow, it feels like I had raped her, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

「Ra, Rana?」

「Uuu, uuu, sob, uuu」

Unable to hold back her tears anymore, she started wailing. She was in no condition to talk.

Rana is crying, Ea looks depressed, and Lanseal is humming while making dinner as her tail swished back and forth.

I have no idea what to do here.

「Hey, Souya, let me give you a piece of good news」

「Yes」

God came to the rescue.

「Charm magic is like a curse that a woman places on a man. Women who are famous for their beauty are capable of this naturally. The beauty of elves that so captivates people can also be considered a curse」

「In other words?」

I've already got an idea of what she's getting at, but I want to hear something definitive.

「Rauaryuna, your charm magic was nullified by me a long time ago. I also nullified the charm magic you cast on yourself. In other words, the love you feel is your own. Good grief, it's tough having a forgetful follower. I'll tell you something else as a bonus, Souya is madly in love with you. And of course, those feelings are his own」

After saying that, Misuranika-sama coolly left. She went next to Lanseal and started pinching food.

I won't stop you today. Please eat to your heart's content.

「That’s how it is, Rana」

「Eh? You’re kidding」

Was Ea’s reaction.

As for Rana, after turning to me with tear-filled eyes………

「I……」

………she hugged me with all her might.

It was the strongest hug I had ever felt.

「I! I like you! Do you like me too?!」

「Yup, I do, I do」

If I didn't, I wouldn't have risked my life for you. I wouldn't have wanted to hold you in my arms again and again.

「I love you!」

「I'm so happy」

Our feelings had been mutual. It's true love that had been mistaken as fake feelings.

But through all the twists and turns, the trials and tribulations we have overcome, here is my vow of a steadfast bond between us.

In sickness, in death, in health, in joy, in sorrow, in wealth, in poverty, in love, and in suffering, I will share my life with you.

I will love you, honor you, comfort you, help you, and devote myself to you for as long as I live.

「Dear! Let’s get married!」

Yup.

「We already are」

This time it’s Rana’s turn to say it, huh? If you recall, it was the other way around the last time. Did a tear come to your eye reading the (wedding)vows Souya made inside his heart? Lots sure came to mine!

Here are my thoughts on the progression of the last part. I may be right or wrong on this, it’s just my interpretation. Souya’s promise of a steadfast bond was triggered by hearing that Rana had wanted a guarantee that he wouldn’t betray her. Then he launched into wedding vows because, yeah, that sure is a lasting bond(or at least, is supposed to be) and also because he truly loves her. Then when Rana showed that she was feeling the same as him by asking to get married, that “Yup” to sorta mean “Yeah, we already did cuz I’ve just said the vows” before he replied was so great as it also alluded to what she had said to him back in volume 3. Seriously, that last part had me in tears the entire time I was translating it because it was so darned touching.

Oh, if you thought that the “charmed” explanation seems weirdly extraneous, it’s because it’s 2 different words in the original text, 魅了(mi-ryou, which means charm in Jap) and チャーム(cha-mu, yes it’s charm in “English” and is what’s used in games).

Also, what do you mean you “lost by chance because you let your guard down” lol. Another case of Souya bending the truth.

Well, all’s well that ends well, it seems. Still, have you changed your opinion of Rana seeing as she’s a woman capable of doing something like that? There are other implications regarding how she acted too. All that next time, so stay tuned!