I now know how Emilia developed her phobia of men.
âIt was largely to be expected, but I didnât expect it to be a rape of a 10-year-old girl and an attempt to establish a fait accompli. So this ârapeâ is the cause of more complicated trauma.â
âCan this illness of Emilia-san be cured?â
Sierra-san asked me with a worried look on her face.
âTraumaâalso called psychological traumaâdoesnât work with heal-type recovery magic.â
âCanât you just cast it every day?â
Iris is the most receptive to this kind of talk, after all.
âEven if you cast a [Mental Recovery] spell every day, every time you cast that spell, youâll remember that time, and that can make things worse.â
âSo you canât heal because you remember more than you recover and it damages your mindâŚ.. Thatâs troublesome.â
âThatâs what I mean. Moreover, since the cause of the problem varies from person to person, even the act of asking the cause can be a burden. Thatâs why my master didnât teach me the magic of [Mental Recovery].â
âWhy didnât the Great Sage teach it to Luke-sama?â
âHe said it was better to leave that kind of thing to the priests and sisters of the temple rather than me. I didnât even try to learn it because I was convinced of the reason. Did you learn that kind of thing, Iris?ăDidnât you work part-time in the Temple infirmary when you were a student?â
âI think that only priests who can enter the confession room and teach in the temple have mastered the magic of [Mental Recovery].â
âConfession room?â
âIn the temple, there is a room to say âIâm sorryâ to God. It is called a confession room or penitentiary. After confessing your sins there, the priests will tell you what to do afterwards.â
ăâŞBy the way, confessing your sins in the confession room doesnât actually mean that God forgives you. Nor does he punish you. In the first place, before confessing, the lower world is under the control of the Yggdrasil system, so sins are always evaluated equally and the personâs sin is listed on the status plate and is a penalty. ă
âItâs kind of a story with no head or body.â
ăâŞBut âconfessionâ does have meaning. Most confessions are for minor offenses that are not listed on the status plate, so the priest says, âGod has forgiven youâ. Many are converted when the priest instructs them, âGod has forgiven you, and from now on you must repent and try to do good deeds. ă
âWell, they are the kind of people who confess their sins in the first place and repent because they feel remorse, right? Serious criminals like bandits wouldnât even think of going to such a room. ă
âWell, letâs not talk about that. I think it might be one way to go to the temple and ask them to cast a [Mental Recovery] spell, but letâs have you hear my idea first and leave it to Emiliaâs judgment. Is that okay with you, Emilia-san?â
âYes, Iâm fine with that. I will leave it up to you, Luke-sama. Please tell me what your plan is.â
âEmilia-san, your attitude toward Luke-sama seems to have suddenly relaxed. Is something going on between the two of you?â
Mifaâs jealousy, but I was also concerned about Emiliaâs sudden decision to show her true face and explain the background of her phobia of men.
âMifa-oneesamaâŚ. Sierra asked to be Luke-samaâs personal attendant while he is here.â
âSierra? Really?â
âSierra reports back to me every time Luke-sama does something. At first I told her to stop, but the more I listened to her reports, the more I became curious about what Luke-sama was doing â about Lara, about Sierraâs reports, about how he has been treating me, about my mother, and so on. I have decided that you are a person I can trust.â
âSierra-san was my watchdog?â
âIâm sorry! I was really worried about Emilia-sama. I wanted to judge you with my own eyes, not through rumors.â
âIâm not angry with you. So, did I pass the test?â
âYes, you did. The servants of the dukeâs household congratulate you on your engagement to Emilia-sama.â
All the servants? You mean you reported it to the entire duke household?
**********************
âWell, where do we start withâŚ. For now, letâs start with biology, since it has more to do with all the girls than with Emilia. And I think Iris might be interested in it as well.â
âBiology? I canât wait to hear about it!â
I knew Iris would be interested and happy to hear about it.
âWhat do you think is the purpose of life?â
âââThe purpose of life?âââ
âWhen you are born into this world, you have no choice but to âlive,â donât you? If I had to venture a guess, I would say that our daily life is our purpose in life.â
âI donât know if I put it in the right way, but itâs hard to put into wordsâŚ. For example, what do orcs and goblins do for a living?â
âTo continue the species, to procreate?â
âSierra-san, you are correct! Theyâre easy to understand, arenât they? But fundamentally what applies to all living things is species continuity. This is the instinctive root of all living things, regardless of whether they are insects, reptiles, or plants. And humans, of course.â
I guess this is a little difficult for everyone.
âWell, do you know that there are âthree major desiresâ that are absolutely necessary for living beings to survive, and that are instinctively present in everyone at the moment of birth at a level that seems to be etched into their souls?â
âDesires? Like appetite?â
âEmilia-san is correct! What are the other two?â
âThe desire for things?â
âThatâs not necessary for life. Itâs one of the seven sins.â
âSexual desire.â
âErica is right! One more.â
No one got the last one right.
âSo, letâs try to answer these questions. The first one is appetite, which is necessary to sustain life. Most babies are born with an appetite for their motherâs milk. Without food, any creature would die within a few days. Next, âsexual desire,â which is necessary for the continuation of the species. Without sexual desire, the act of reproduction would not take place and the creature would become extinct.â
âââIndeed, that is true.'ââ
âAnd the one you guys could not find an answer to was the âdesire to sleep,â which is also necessary for life-supporting activities as long as we are living organisms. If you stay awake for 3 to 5 days, the compulsion to âsleepâ is so strong that you will pass out on your own.â
âââI seeâŚthis also makes sense.âââ
âThe problem is that everyone has the three major desires, but the strength of each desire differs depending on the gender and the individual. By the way, what do you think I have the strongest desire for?â
ââAppetite!ââ
âWell, itâs just as you see it, isnât it? Normally, I would say that appetite > desire to sleep > sexual desire, in that order. Now comes the crux of my point. Letâs delve into the biology of sexual desire.â
âOh, but first, Your Highness Luke, would you like another cup of tea?â
âOh yes, please, Iâd love some more tea. Iâve talked a lot and Iâm thirsty.â
It was immediately prepared, but instead of Sierra-san, another two maids brought a tea set and baked sweets tea cakes on a wagon.
The two maids finished distributing them to everyone, but they didnât leave the room. On the contrary, they werenât waiting at the entrance, but were standing behind Sierra-san.
âSierra-san? Who are those two?â
The two ladies-in-waiting come forward, but itâs not their names I want to hear!
âDonât worry about it â I found what His Highness Luke told me very interesting, so I called them over so that the two of them who are so keen on these kinds of lectures could hear them too. Iâll have them refrain quietly, if thatâs okay with you.â
These kind of lectures? What Iâm about to tell you is about sexual desire.
âWell if you say so, then I guess itâs fine.â
âThank you.â
âThen letâs continue from where we left off. As I said before, without this desire, an organism will not be able to reproduce and will eventually perish. Basic organisms are divided into âmaleâ and âfemaleâ. In plants, we have stamens and pistils. Some of them are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female functions in a single organism.â
âEh? Is there a creature that can increase on its own by itself? Ah, slime!â
âSlime is a slightly different ecology they donât have the concept of gender, meaning It does not have a male and female, and grows by division. Among the familiar creatures that Iris is familiar with, worms, slugs, and snails are hermaphrodites.â
âWorms! They are very unusual creatures. Worms and slugs can be found everywhere because they grow alone.â
âNo, worms and slugs are both capable of male and female reproduction, but they do not multiply on their own. They always mate and pass on their offspring. Thereâs a good reason why they donât reproduce on their own, but thatâs a story for a later time.â
Except for Iris, no one else seemed to be interested in this story.
âBirds mate and lay eggs, right? What about the amphibian frogs we had for lunch?â
âFrogs also mate with a male and a female, and thatâs their egg. When the egg hatches, it is a tadpole, which gradually grows into a frog.â
âEmilia-san is very well educated. What about people, Mifa?â
âPeople are âŚâŚ that âŚâŚ well âŚâŚ.â
Oh? Mifa! Why are you so shy when you become aware of people?
âWeâre talking about living things, so donât be too shy to be aware of them! Youâre embarrassing me too!â
âIâm sorry!â
âWell, Iâll let Natalie answer next.â
âUmmâŚLetâs seeâŚ.. Men and women have sex to produce babiesâŚâ:
âNot wrong, but letâs go further into the biological and medical aspects of the question.â
âYes, a man and a woman mate, the man pours his seed into the woman, and she gets pregnant and gives birth to a baby.â
âAlmost right, but actually the female of the human race also lays eggs.â
ââWhat? Eggs?ââ
As I expected, everyone is surprised.
âWomen have a âmonthly thingâ or âmenstruationâ once a month, right? About two weeks after menstruation begins, an egg is laid, or rather released, into the uterus, which serves as the babyâs room. Then, the man pours his sperm, his seed, into the egg, and if the egg is successfully fertilized by the manâs sperm, it becomes a baby in the uterus and is born about 10 months later. Thatâs the whole process of human birth.â
âLuke-sama, a woman produces an egg. âŚâŚ This is a lie, isnât it?â
âIris, my number one disciple, doesnât believe what Iâm saying! Was it that surprising? I canât help it â Mifa, was I lying earlier as I spoke?â
âNo, there was no lie at all. I had no reaction to my skills as a first class inquisitor.â
ââEggs?ââ
I guess I said something unnecessary. âŚ.
I regretted saying something that had little to do with Emiliaâs case and was a bit of a pain to explain later.