Chapter 485: The First Woman, Shimegamamo 2

Chapter 485: The First Woman, Shimegamamo 2 The First Woman, Shimegamamo 2

* * *

A touch-and-go situation.

An unsettling tension hangs in the air of the peaceful, rural town’s main street.

Kalamaruyu doesn’t even try to hide his hostility towards Shimegamamo, and the two adventurers acting as guards don’t lower their fighting stances.

The few residents who were on the street, sensing danger, quickly hid inside their houses.

The three town guards, who should be the first to protect Kalamaruyu, began to distance themselves from him, nervously.

“Kuku, ‘Barbarian’, huh? Those are harsh words, brother-in-law, for your brother’s wife.”

However, in that tense atmosphere, only Shimegamamo remained calm, smiling quietly.

“Who’s your wife!? Our country’s law doesn’t recognize your marriage to my foolish brother!”

“But according to our clan’s rules, my husband, Wakiteryu, and I are already married. Unfortunately, he passed away before I could bear his child...”

“Don’t say such ridiculous things! What clan rules!?”

“Kuku, that’s right... there’s only one of us left in our clan. It’s hard to talk about rules in such a situation... Even I understand that.”

Kalamaruyu was furious, shouting, while Shimegamamo didn’t seem to care about his anger at all.

Their conversation, going nowhere, echoed clearly through the windless street, with no one there except for them and the guards.

“But as the last Shimegamamo... I have decided to live according to the rules... Therefore, brother-in-law—“

Here, Shimegamamo erased the smile she had been wearing, no matter what was said to her.

And looking at Kalamaruyu with her straightforward eyes, she said clearly, in a gentle voice, like a mother admonishing her spoiled child—

“Stop ‘ravaging’ the Great Grassland of Beginnings.”

...

A breeze blew through the street under the blue sky.

That cool breeze, carrying the scent of the grassland, incongruous with the atmosphere between the two, ruffled Kalamaruyu’s coat and Shimegamamo’s reddish-brown hair.

For a moment, there was silence.

“...Haa! What would a barbaric woman who knows nothing about politics say!?”

And the one who broke the silence was Kalamaruyu.

“Do you even know!? I doubt you do! ...How much our First Viscounty is looked down upon—as a backwater! We... need to change! How many hundreds of years have we been stagnant!? We need a revolution!”

Kalamaruyu, his face flushed red, shouted, trembling!

“Please spare me! Please spare me, Shimegamamo-samaaa!”

“Shimegamamo-samaaa!”

The remaining three guards, trembling, prostrated themselves on the ground, their foreheads rubbing against the dirt, desperately begging for their lives.

“Brother-in-law, I really didn’t want to do this.”

Shimegamamo spoke gently to Kalamaruyu, watching the men.

“But there are rules. Those who break the rules will not be forgiven... Even if it’s you, brother-in-law.”

She said that gently, gently, with a smile.

“Stop ‘ravaging’ the Great Grassland of Beginnings.”

And then, she emphasized that one last time, and—

Shimegamamo turned on her heel, and disappeared into the shadows of the buildings.

* * *

“...Haa! ...Haa, haa, haa...”

A few seconds after Shimegamamo left.

Kalamaruyu resumed breathing, which he had forgotten, gasping for air.

“Tomandon... Jemizogu...”

And then, not caring that his clothes were getting dirty, he knelt on the ground, and called out the names of the two adventurers who had turned into bushes.

They were two trustworthy people whom Kalamaruyu had known for a long time.

Whenever Kalamaruyu went out on field work as a researcher, he always asked them to be his guards.

They were serious, and good-natured people.

And yet...!

“............”

Kalamaruyu looked up and glared at the direction where Shimegamamo had disappeared.

He stared, and stared...

And there was a pair of blue eyes, watching him from the entrance of a shop facing the street.

At that point,

He wasn’t aware of that.