Chapter 20: I Won’t Compromise!

Chapter 20: I Won’t Compromise!

Angelica is engaging in a furious courtship with upturned eyes; she’s getting so dangerous that it’s impossible to look at her directly anymore.

I turned my eyes away in vain.

This type of thing isn’t fair you know. If someone found us like this, I might be arrested.

……arrested.

That’s right.

If you think about it calmly, I’ve been having my finger sucked by a 16-year-old foreign girl since early morning.

If you check my communications history in my phone, there was a selfie of Rio flashing her bare chest as well.

The other day, I raided a Yakuza’s office, and the day before that, I had a fight with high schoolers.

…huh?

‘t I someone worse than Gondou then?

In just a few days I’ve become a medalist for crime Olympics haven’t I?

I’ve accelerated through that like I’ve been suspected of doping, haven’t I?

I’ve been removing the competition one by one, haven’t I?

I’ve long surpassed the pervert who flashes his lower body in the side of the road, and all that’s left in front of me is just some famous serial killers, isn’t it?

Wait, I don’t even want to see what the assembly hall for the contestants look like. It’ll be hell.

Keisuke: “How did I end up with this…”

I slowly set my gaze downwards.

Still sunken in sorrow, I pulled my finger out of Angelica’s mouth.

Keisuke: “Let’s eat breakfast. You won’t fill your stomach just sucking on a finger, right?”

Angelica: “S-Sorry dad. Do you hate it? You look very sad. Even if you’re a man, you felt bad when I suddenly did that, didn’t you? That’s right, isn’t it? I won’t do it again, so please don’t hate me.”

Keisuke: “It’s not your fault, Ange. I just remembered some stuff and got depressed instead.”

Angelica: “…Remembered something?”

Ah, I get it! You’re mistaking me with Elza-san, right? She said, being completely wrong while she regained her spirit instantly regardless.

Angelica: “Fufu~n. It’s alright you know~ you can continue doing that some more. You remembered your previous girlfriend didn’t you~ If you do that, then~ please can think of me as the next Elza-san and quickly fall for me, okay?”

Keisuke: “Why are you talking cheeky even though you have no experience with love?”

I managed to eat my breakfast despite Angelica clinging onto me even intensely than before.

I brushed my teeth and rested my belly shortly.

As I laze about, the time turned half past 7.

Keisuke: “Shall we go soon?”

I said to Angelica and get to change my clothes.

I wore a black turtleneck with jeans, a combination that looks a bit flashy.

But since I’m covering it with a coat above them, it doesn’t really matter.

Or so I thought, but this coat looks pretty shabby.

On the other hand, Angelica is wearing the parka and skirt I just bought her yesterday, and she looks sparkling in it.

This is bad,

Angelica looks like a fashion magazine model but I look like a homeless guy.

If the two of us walk side-by-side, I don’t know how people will see our relationship.

…a Christian foreign official and me being a vagrant guarding and guiding her to a food donation…?

Keisuke: “This is too awful. Very much so.”

Angelica: “?”

As I was drowning in the ditch thanks to my own persecution complex, we went out of the front door.

I should pay attention to how I look just a bit more.

Ah heck, what am I doing being all gloomy the first thing in the morning.

Today I’m supposed to be going to investigate about the ghost issues with Angelica.

Angelica is slightly late after me to come out, so afterwards I locked the door and set off.

It seems like there’s been a lot of thieves lately, so I should really be careful.

Angelica: “Is that the lock of this world?”

Keisuke: “That’s right. Not that much different than the locks on that world, right?”

As I was crouching to lock the door, our eyes fell on the door next to ours.

A huge amount of newspapers are jammed into its mail slot. At this rate it’ll be so full that everything would spill out.

To be honest, it’s been like this for the past few days as well.

Despite me and Angelica making a lot of noises, there hasn’t been any response from the resident, so I thought the resident has always been absent from home.

Perhaps they’re out on a trip?

But would an unmarried old man be out sightseeing?

I unintentionally thought of something awful.

Like for example, he got a cold so bad was bedridden and can’t take his newspaper or something.

And without me knowing, he might have been sent into a hospital.

…or perhaps he died a solitude death. Perhaps.

Maybe I should say something to the landlord.

As I was busy hesitating, Angelica had descended the staircase before me.

Angelica: “Outside, outside~!” Angelica said with high spirits.

Can’t be helped.

Even though she came to another country different from hers but she ended up being confined so it’s not that strange for her to end up like this.

Keisuke: “You didn’t know anything about Japan, right? I’ll guide you around, so wait for me.”

I chased after her who was rushing ahead.

As I walked by her side, Angelica linked our arms together as if it’s the natural thing to do.

Angelica: “I have wanted to do this for so long. I thought that I have lived in the temple full of girls, so I’ve always yearned of walking hand-in-hand with a man”, she said with a fleeting smile. Just for a bit, her eyes and nose turned red.

She looked happy, but at the same time, she looked sad.

What she felt at the moment are probably not the feeling of love nor interest toward the opposite sex.

Perhaps it’s happiness and a sense of accomplishment from the fact that she regained the life she’d lost.

Just like when I regained my life as Keisuke rather than a hero, thanks to Elza.

In her case, perhaps she regained her life as Angelica rather than the Sacred Maiden.

Right now, I reaffirmed my decision to make sure that Angelica doesn’t look like an escort at all costs.

Keisuke: “Leave it to me, today we won’t just be exterminating ghosts. I’ll make sure you’ll be having fun.”

Angelica: “Dad?”

Keisuke: “Aah, um…we’re going to do…date-like things, okay?”

It’s just because she showed me that she was about to cry.

The time you lost when you should’ve been spending with your father or your lover, I’ll make sure I can compensate them with these hands of mine.

Just for today, I’ll be your dad and your boyfriend. It’s special for today, okay? For real.

Angelica: “What happened? Am I acting too similarly with Elza-san?”

Keisuke: “You’re still sticking to that joke? It has nothing to do with Elza. I am not mistaking you for Elza’s shadow.”

That’s because that role is already fulfilled by Rio. I mean, her face is too similar to Elza.

Keisuke: “Ange is Ange, not a replacement for Elza.”

Angelica: “Hmmm…?”

Keisuke: “I want to go on a date with you because you’re Ange.”

Angelica: “H…hmmm.”

Keisuke: “Oh, your face is turning red. It’s a payback for earlier, you know?”

Angelica: “H-Hmhmhmhmmm…”

That’s not an interjection anymore, it’s a hum at this point.

As I saw Angelica who tried to hide her trembling by sounding weird, I now understand the joy of teasing a younger girl.

Oi oi, aren’t I supposed to like women that are around her thirties? At best this is only to help rehabilitate Angelica’s life, don’t forget that, I told myself.

Keisuke: “Let’s start investigating first. The date can be right after…no, we can just cast the Perception spell as we walk around. Can you do that?”

Angelica: “I have some MP, so I can manage.”

Keisuke: “Alright. Ah, before that, I should dispel the Sacred Circle.”

If she did, she’ll be warding the evil spirits away just by walking around.

Our objective is to find them and exterminate them, if we ended up driving them away, there’s no meaning to it.

We both closed our eyes and concentrated our minds to the skill.

Angelica’s Perception and Barrier Magic is activated, I received a notification from the system.

The preparation is done.

Combining our skills together, we begin walking.

Moving away from our apartment, we proceeded through the road.

All the while, I taught Angelica about who asked “What’s that?” every once in a while about everything she asked about.

Angelica: “All of the roads are paved, is this a very rich country?”

Keisuke: “The economy has been pretty bad for almost 25 years, but this is still the third best country in the world in the scale of economy.”

Angelica: “Hee…eh? Then does that mean dad is quite a noble?”

Keisuke: “I’m just a middle-class. Middle-class, I tell you,”

We chatted as we proceed down the road, passing through several young men as we did.

But Angelica lost interest very soon.

At first, she turned her eyes to look at them, but she quickly lost interest.

Yet her eyes keep following the elderly or middle-aged men.

Keisuke: “You’ll be fine with anyone older, huh?”

Angelica: “No, that’s not it.”

Don’t you think the are a lot of elderly population? Angelica stared at the elderly people, looking like she’s very interested in them.

Angelica: “It’ll be better if there are more children and younger people around, or so I thought.”

Keisuke: “You’re quite perceptive, huh.”

It’s in the middle of winter vacation, so we couldn’t find a lot of younger people.

On the other hand, a lot of elderly people are often seen taking a walk.

During long vacations, there are a lot of students who are asleep during the day, but this is certainly weird from the perspective of a person from another world.

Old people are also a rare sight in that world. In a village, there’s either a few people or none at all.

For a world with high birthrate and high death rate, there are an overwhelming amount of younger people.

It’s obvious why Angelica would be confused.

Keisuke: “There is simply more number of elderly people. Our country has a rapidly aging population; one in four people living here is above 65 years old.”

Angelica: “Eeh! How did that happen?”

Keisuke: “People have long lifespan. It’s normal for men to live up to 80 years old, while women can live until their late 80s.”

Angelica: “Is this country a place where the people had Elven blood?”

What an explanation.

It’s because of the development of technology and medical care, so a lot of diseases are eradicated and so forth.

It’s also perhaps because of the improvement of conditions of our food, and also our welfare system.

The history followed by humanity on earth can endlessly be explained.

It’s an information we were taught post-middle school, so we would worry if it is true or not.

Angelica: “Haa…The humans on earth did a lot of hard work, didn’t they?”

Keisuke: “Yeah. I see you’ve managed to remember some words I taught you.”

Angelica: “We’re on earth, specifically in Japan. I remembered it. Are there any other points to understand?”

Keisuke: “There’s no more. If you need to know it, I will tell you.”

She’s young and she has a strong thirst for knowledge.

The brain power of a person before twenties are like a sponge. They absorb anything.

She’s so great and bright that I was dazzled.

Angelica somehow was narrowing her eyes as well and looking at me.

Rather than thinking I was bright, she looked at me as if she’s sympathizing me.

Is my clothing too tacky that she felt pitiful?

Keisuke: “Is there anything on my face?”

Angelica: “It’s a pity for you, dad.”

Keisuke: “Is it really my clothing?”

Angelica: “Clothes?”

She tilts her head as if asking what are you talking about?

Keisuke: “If it’s not my clothes than what are you pitying me for?”

Angelica: “For what dad’s been through.”

Keisuke: “What do you mean?”

Angelica’s blue eyes are glued onto mine. There’s a light in it that indicates her strong will.

Angelica: “Monsters don’t appear in this country, and there are no wars. It’s wealthy, everyone are taught to read and write. It has such long life expectancy that there are a lot of old people and it’s the norm while the people’s happiness are fulfilled. That is true, right?”

Keisuke: “If you put it that way, it feels like this is a terribly blessed country.”

“It is very blessed.”

Angelica asserted without losing her point.

Angelica: “If you weren’t summoned to our world, you could’ve lived in peace in this world, you know? Perhaps you could have been married by a woman in this world and have some children. After several years you would turn eighty and pass on, leaving behind a lot of fortune. Yet you were deprived of that sort of life and became a hero…and you even lost Elza-san whom you had an encounter with.”

Keisuke: “It’s all in the past. I don’t pay it any mind anymore. Besides, if I continue living here, I would have been a boring office worker.”

That was a lie.

There’s no one who hated the other world summoning more than I do.

But being an adult is to not show it to everyone.

Keisuke: “Our talk had gotten heavy, isn’t it? Let’s change the subject. Did you catch anything with your Perception?”

Nothing for now, Angelica turned her head to the side.

At the same time, she held both of my hands.

Angelica: “Dad, please don’t forget….until dad had thrown everything away, your reward for defeating the demon lord is me. My youth and my body are offered for you, you know?”

While looking at the leaves dancing in the wind, I answered,

Keisuke: “You shouldn’t forget too. For every time you spent being a Sacred Maiden who answers to your people’s beliefs, I want you spend your time in this world experiencing the happiness of a woman. Look for a younger, cooler man to fall for and go out with him.”

Angelica: “…We’re saying quite the same thing, didn’t we?”

Keisuke: “Hm? Is that so? Perhaps we’re similar to each other in a way.”

Unfortunately we couldn’t find anything here either.

We couldn’t find a line of compromise between us, and we couldn’t find the ghosts we were looking for.