Jaena left the inn immediately. Though there were still plenty of gold bars and jewels remaining, Ban had asked him to exchange gold coins for Yeru’s currency just in case. Well, it also seemed like he was going to look for beastmen who could spread rumors quickly while he was at it, following Orma’s request… no, order.
The reason for going this far was because the ship to Yeru was leaving tomorrow, so they needed to somehow resolve the Lebesi family matter before then. Before they capriciously closed the port and prevented them from moving, they had to make them give up on Ban first. The Duchess of Lebesi had told him to come back with a more sincere lie, but unfortunately, Ban couldn’t think of any other plausible lies.
To refute the Duke’s words that he would pass the family to him because he was his son, all the cards Ban currently held either took too long or couldn’t be easily proven. Too sudden, insufficient to become a duke, no intention of staying long in Gillia… Even Ban thought those were ridiculous reasons for refusal.
The easiest would be if Ban wasn’t the Duke of Lebesi’s lost son, but after meeting the Duke and Duchess of Lebesi, he had neatly folded away that thought. ……Undeniably, Ban was their son.
The next thing Ban thought of was Orma’s existence. The Duke and his wife seemed like devout followers of Serka, so he thought they wouldn’t be able to accept their son if he was the Evil God’s apostle… But since they were people he’d never met before, the anxiety factor was that he couldn’t predict at all how they would react.
What if they were so pious that they tried to execute me? Could they not point at the resurrected me and call me a demon? Or perhaps they would just look at him with somewhat contemptuous eyes as if it were nothing, and say that even that made him unfit to be heir. For that reason, he also discarded revealing himself as Orma’s apostle.
In the end, going round and round, he couldn’t think of any plausible alternative other than ‘sodomy,’ which he’d committed in a fit of anger. It was something he’d said with a ‘whatever happens, happens’ attitude, but hadn’t it worked quite well on the Duke, if not the Duchess? He thought that if he designed it more elaborately, they might fall for it…..
“Ban, but… is there a need to pretend?”
“……Yes?”
“Is there a need to lie? It’s easier if we make it the truth.”
Just as Orma had said, until that lie became ‘real’ rather than an elaborate design. After having various parts bitten and sucked by his god, even showing him everything he shouldn’t see, now he had to make them believe that Orma was his lover, if only out of spite.
“Ah……!”
“What’s wrong, Ban? Is it itchy there?”
“…….”
How annoying that he asks so brazenly while pretending not to know. The place that lightly bumped into the table as he moved happened to be his chest area, which Orma had enjoyed playing with. He didn’t know why he’d tormented him so much when he wasn’t even a woman, but it seemed like he would keep teasing him if he made a fuss about it.
“……Ahem, shall we head out then? We need to send word to the Sky Island…….”
“Well, sure. I don’t know if there’s a suitable place. With the lighthouse there, the humans of Gillia must look up at the sky often.”
Orma was right about that. Lebesi Castle, tall enough to touch the sky, and the lighthouse like a giant soap bubble. Gillia was called the Azure City because it bordered the vast sky and sea, so if a giant dragon and Sky Island suddenly appeared, people couldn’t help but be surprised.
However, people still didn’t know that the Sky Island and silver dragon were connected to Orma. Even if someone saw that sight, wouldn’t it just end with them having witnessed a very mysterious legend firsthand?
Ban decided to leave the inn with Orma and lead the horse toward the highlands near Lebesi Castle first. Passersby still looked startled when they saw Ban, or glanced at him and whispered about the rumored wandering knight who resembled the Duke and Duchess of Lebesi so much.
“……But don’t you need to visit Lebesi Castle again?”
“I clearly refused. I never said I would visit again today either.”
“They could close the port. I’m saying you need to settle things, don’t you?”
“That’s why I’m walking around in such thin clothes. To make people believe the ‘lie’ I told yesterday as ‘truth,’ people need to see this state and talk about it, don’t they?”
He deliberately wore only a loose, thin shirt without an outer garment. It showed glimpses down to below his collarbone, including his neck, and there were so many reddened marks that anyone could tell he’d shared deep love with a lover.
Orma, who had made him look like that, had been acting brazenly with a shameless face until earlier, but when people passing by stole glances at Ban and fixed their eyes on his exposed neck and collarbone while whispering, he became restless. He wanted to snatch Ban away from the humans’ gazes right now and hide him away forever, but on the other hand, he was suppressing that urge with the desire to let everyone know that Ban was his.
“Orma-nim.”
“……What.”
“Do you see that? It’s the crest we saw at Lebesi Castle yesterday.”
Where Ban pointed, soldiers who appeared to be on patrol were standing. Like the guards they’d seen when entering Gillia, they wore thin metal armor only on their chest and shoulders, with the rest replaced by thick leather, and the Lebesi family crest was stamped on it. There had been soldiers wearing such clothes at the entrance to Lebesi Castle too.
While pretending not to, they kept glancing at Ban after spotting him—it didn’t seem like they’d come looking for him under the Duke of Lebesi’s orders, but rather seemed unable to overcome their curiosity about Ban, whom they’d encountered during patrol. Weren’t they the very eyes and ears of the Duke of Lebesi?
Having thought that far, Ban whirled his head toward Orma. Unlike Ban’s light attire, Orma was still wearing a robe to hide his face with the hood pulled deeply down. But with his tall height and large build, anyone could tell he was a man…..
“……Why are you suddenly staring like that?”
“Orma-nim, aren’t you feeling stuffy?”
“What?”
“I thought of what seems like the most definitive method.”
So I’m going to use you a bit. Ban boldly declared this and suddenly raised both arms to embrace Orma’s neck. With their height difference, it would look quite romantic to others. As soon as the flustered Orma lowered his head slightly at the sudden display of affection and made eye contact with Ban, Ban immediately kissed Orma.
Of course, he had no intention of being arrested for public indecency, so they separated quickly, but it was deep enough of a kiss to share breath. At the same time, their eyes met with the surprised guards, so they would immediately run to the Duke and Duchess of Lebesi to report this situation.
Just pretending to kiss, or just showing the marks. If he only did one of the two, they wouldn’t easily believe it and could deny that Ban was acting, but if he caused a scene on a street crowded with people like this, rumors would spread one way or another.
“……A-aren’t they both men?”
“With another man, just like that…….”
“Oh my, did you see just now?”
Right away, the rumor that I… like men….. Thinking this way, Ban felt strange and uncomfortable. Though it was something he did out of necessity with no other choice, still, to think that making his existence known after reincarnating in the game world would be as either ‘the Evil God’s apostle’ or ‘the gay of the century’…..
“Ban.”
This time, even when Orma called his name, he didn’t ask if he was displeased. Ban confidently nodded and smiled.
“Yes, did you enjoy it?”
“Uh, I did… why have you become so shameless?”
That’s because you blew away all the shame that made me shy last night. Even now, I can feel gazes staring with bewildered faces, but…..
“If you were displeased, I will apologize. From next time, I’ll make sure there’s absolutely no such thing…….”
“No! No, when did I say I was displeased? I was worried because you usually care about this kind of thing…….”
Orma muttered this and immediately rejected Ban’s apology, then slyly raised his hand to pull Ban closer into his embrace. Burying his forehead in Ban’s shoulder, he felt grateful to Lebesi for the first time—Lebesi, who had been nothing but annoying and bothersome. If he hadn’t suddenly said he would establish Ban as the next Duke of Lebesi, would Ban have pulled such a stunt? Ban tended to subtly care about others’ gazes even while pretending not to, so he absolutely wouldn’t have done it.
“Orma-nim, I think that’s enough now, so we should stop and leave the street…….”
“……Ban? B-Ban, is that you?”
At that moment, someone called Ban’s name from behind.
Ban flinched in surprise at the familiar voice.
Even Orma noticed, so before releasing Ban from his embrace, he first raised his head to look at the human who had called Ban.
Plain priestly robes without any particular decoration were a mess with dust, but fingers stubbornly wearing rings set with expensive-looking jewels were pointing at Ban. The thick eyebrows indicating a stubborn temperament and the beard he used to keep neatly groomed to show his prestige and experience were now bushy. And Serka’s crest.
“……Priest Winod?”
Ban called the priest’s name, unable to hide his bewilderment.
