Campione! - Volume Ex - Chapter 5.2

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As expected Erica’s bedroom also had nice lighting from the sunlight although it wasn’t as good as the greenhouse.

Godou spoke to the owner of the room who was lying down on the bed.

「How do you feel? Your complexion looks better than yesterday.」

「So so, I guess. Yesterday was the worst. I couldn’t get up from the bed for the whole day.」

After answering with a sour look, Erica put her hand on her mouth.

It was to hide her yawn. Even though the sun was still high in the sky, she was wearing negligee and sleeping on the bed. Her lower body and stomach were covered by a blanket.

A cushion was affixed on her back. She was facing Godou while leaning on it.

「I’m also really sleepy right now. To think that the period of morning sickness is this horrible, I didn’t want to experience this. ……I heard that there is difference based on the individual on just how painful morning sickness is.」

The tone of the sleepy looking Erica was filled with strength.

「With Erica Blandelli’s good luck, surely I will be able to go through it easily──that was what I expected, and yet! This is frustrating.」

「You’re raising a life inside your body after all.」

Godou spoke with a deep feeling.

One month had passed already since Erica’s pregnancy came to light.

Right now was the period when the morning sickness was the worst. Numerous poor physical states that represented nausea and listlessness assaulted Erica without end. Sleepiness and shivers were also the symptoms of it.

As expected even Erica was weary from it.

「Aa! I want to be liberated quickly from this torture!」

She unusually let out a grumble. It was a way of speaking that was unbecoming for Diavollo Rosso who believed in being elegant and gorgeous no matter what time it was.

The female knight and lady who was audacious and full of composure.

That was the identity of Erica Blandelli. And yet she was now like this!

But, Godou felt that his partner who was like this was irresistibly lovely. Even a great woman like Erica was getting troubled to this degree. Pregnancy and childbirth were just that momentous. She was planning to bear with it and gave birth to Kusanagi Godou’s child.

There was a chair beside the bed. Godou was sitting on it.

「Well, just stay quiet for a while. It’s still not the stable period right?」

「Yes. I never thought that an inconvenient period like this will come in my life.」

Erica who was a free spirit at heart was grumbling again in frustration.

Even Godou only saw her being like this for the first time.

「It has been around six……no, seven years since when we first met. It felt long, but it also felt short.」

「You should call it long. Quite some time has passed since we made love with each other in the physical aspect too. The frequency of it was piling up in lieu of us being unable to meet often……」

「Be a little bit more moderate with your phrasing.」

It was a roundabout way of talking that was really like Erica. Godou smiled wryly.

However, the maiden who would become a mother, one of these days didn’t even pay any attention to that request.

「A certain hypothesis came to mind from the matter this time. ──Hey Godou, your partner isn’t just me right? There is also Yuri and Lily and also Ena-san.」

「……Well yeah.」

「You and also us are young, right now is the period that is the most suitable to conceive children without a doubt.」

「That’s why, be a bit more indirect when speaking about that!」

「Listen to me until the end before getting embarrassed. Listen, Godou. Even you manage to get more leeway with your time, especially since we came to this world of King of the End Mithra, and the number of times you make love with us also became many. The probability of us four getting pregnant simultaneously is even quite great from the frequency……」

The adult topic continued still with the excessively direct phrasing.

However, the talker Erica was looking really serious.

「And then──although Campione is formerly human, they are existence that is falsely similar to human isn’t it? It’s to the degree that it’s fine to even call them a different species.」

「About that then certainly, I can’t deny it.」

Campione was so tenacious that they wouldn’t die even when killed, and they absurdly excelled in battle.

It was a characteristic that was shared by many Campiones. Placing this kind of bunch into the category of 『human』 would cause the normal humans to complain.

Erica finally expressed her conclusion in front of one said person.

「From all of those, I made a conjecture. The possibility of conceiving a child from the “cross-species breeding” between Campione and human must be extremely low.」

「……I see. I never thought about that.」

Godou blinked.

Come to think of it, the ancient godslayer Urdin who he encountered previously.

Godou was also staying for a while in his “inner palace” that gathered more than ten wives and mistresses. But at that time he didn’t feel the presence of children at all.

Of course, they might be entrusted to other place but…….

「Could it be, you──this is why you declared that you 『absolutely will give birth』?」

Actually right after the pregnancy came to light, Godou was worried.

They weren’t in the world that they originally belonged to. In addition the situation was uncertain. He wondered if it was alright to have children like this.

But, Erica firmly insisted to the worried gene provider that she would give birth.

「If I have to confess, it’s exactly like that. If I let go of the chance this time, it will be uncertain if I’ll be able to leave behind Kusanagi Godou’s blood to the later generation or not.」

「Eh!? It was that big of a problem!?」

「There was also a Campione among my──Blandelli House’s ancestors. But based on the family tree that I saw, the legitimate child who shared his blood was only one. Even though it seemed he had wives and mistresses that couldn’t be counted with the fingers of both hands. Most likely he also had no illegitimate child──」

「…………」

The relationship between Campione and normal humans was truly difficult.

However, a child who overcame such difficulty was dwelling inside Erica’s stomach. Knowing that, Godou felt an emotion that couldn’t be described with words.

.

Since then, after a while──

Godou made a trip until the southern part of France, at the side of the Atlantic Ocean.

A “beast of disaster” descended at Bordeaux that was famous as producing area of wine. He travelled with the avatar of Gale and destroyed the enemy with Boar.

Well, it was a simple daily business like usual.

However, it only took an instant when going, but the path home took quite some time.

In the end he spent one day casually changing steam trains from Bordeaux to return until his headquarter.

……That day, Marseille was really sunny.

「Perhaps I’ll take a bit of walk.」

He wanted to quickly confirm that nothing happened to the pregnant Erica.

However based on a whim, Godou began to stroll wandering the city. Thinking back, he spent more than five years going through days where he didn’t even have the leeway to do that.

It would be nice to walk alone sometimes──.

Today Godou was wearing a black frock coat, white shirt, scarf around his neck, and grey long trousers. He was also carrying a stick.

There were a lot of Frenchmen sending curious gaze to the Asian person dressed as a gentleman.

However Godou paid it no heed. It was because he had the defiance to only persist with his own style no matter where he went, and no matter what kind of people he was surrounded with.

That was why he enjoyed walking in the city alone brazenly.

Currently he was wandering around the station. It was St. Charles station that he made use of just now. Not even ten years had passed since it was built.

The modernization of France was currently progressing under the order of Emperor Napoleon III.

The railroad network was also expanding smoothly. Even from this Marseilles people would be able to go all the way too the capital, Paris.

The castle walls that had protected the cities since the Middle Age had been mostly demolished.

Large scale land readjustment, road construction, the construction of factories, ammunition factories, warehouses, and so on were carried forward everywhere. Whether for good or bad this city had vitality.

Marseille was the number two city even in a large country like France due to its trade port.

Sailors, harbor’s manual laborers, merchants, suspicious gangsters, prostitutes, military officers, police officers, government officials, bank employees, etc. were clamoring in one place.

If there were a lot of people, there would also be a lot of quarrel. The whole city was being enveloped in chaos.

That was mysteriously pleasant for a human like Kusanagi Godou.

「It will be afternoon soon. I’m hungry……」

Midway, he entered a sloppy restaurant.

Potato mixed with salted cod broken into small pieces and crushed, combined with garlic, and then placed on sliced baguette. Sausage made from lamb meat and seasoned with spices. Bouillabaisse that was the specialty of a city near the sea. Even though all of them were simple food and yet they were delicious enough.

He exited the restaurant and looked around at the market. Before he realized it, the time was already past 2 PM.

He should go home soon──when he was thinking that.

「What!?」

Godou gasped and raised his face. Power was overflowing from his heart and body to a violent degree. He sharply glared at the direction of the bustling traffic.

Within the crowd, a youth wearing old cloak was standing still.

It was a heavy traffic with a lot of people coming and going. It would be really bothersome if someone was standing still in the middle of that. But the passerbys didn’t even pay it any mind. They were avoiding the youth with natural movement.

Kusanagi Godou was the only person there who perceived the youth.

「It seems you have something good happened to you. You’re in a really good mood.」

War god Verethragna. The radiant fifteen years old youth was there.

He was slowly walking toward him. An opponent who he once killed. The previous rematch was also suspended half-heartedly. Truthfully, it wouldn’t be strange even if a duel began at this moment.

It was the encounter of that kind of two people. However.

「You. Finally you come huh.」

「It’s really mysterious. For me to feel this joyful from encountering the man who killed me.」

When Godou spoke calmly, Verethragna also replied casually.

The two who ought to fight. The two who ought to kill each other. However, the two of them was bonded not only by an opposing fate but also by a favorable fate.

Godou spoke once more.

「You’re really late. I completely thought that you would come chasing me right away. And yet you didn’t show up in front of me for more than half a year──. Did you play hooky?」

「What are you saying? After you departed, I also demanded to Zurvan immediately.」

「To that guy? For what?」

「I asked him to please bring me to where my arch-enemy is quickly. However, time travelling is something uncertain. Although it’s possible to head toward the same era of the one who went ahead, it’s also likely for a gap of several months to be created. It’s something that can’t be helped.」

「Now that you mentioned it, we had also experienced something like that occasionally.」

It was a phenomenon that also occurred in the expedition toward ancient Gallia when they were going after Salvatore Doni.

He wondered what he was doing right now, that man who was spreading around the proclamation that Kusanagi Godou was his rival. It seemed that man had quickly got bored of wandering around the parallel worlds here and there but──.

「……Well, that guy doesn’t matter I guess.」

Godou addressed the arch-enemy who was in front of him right now.

「Where’re we going to do it?」

「Anywhere.」

A responsive answer. As expected, he and Kusanagi Godou were exceptionally compatible with each other.

Both sides grinned widely, then they continued further with the face of a prank-loving boy.

「When?」

「Anytime. ……However, let’s postpone it for a bit.」

Verethragna’s additional comment made Godou said 「Hee」 while his eyes snapped wide open.

「That’s not like you. Getting cold feet isn’t your personality right?」

「Of course. But, I wish to see with these eyes. ──The reason that make you so happy like that. Only after that I will exert my whole body and soul to be victorious against Kusanagi Godou without fail.」

The war god of the east gallantly declared.

「Now, mine arch-enemy! Display to me the treasure that you have obtained!」

.

The day he reunited with Verethragna.

The princess shrine maidens weren’t at Kusanagi Godou’s mansion. In order to investigate the 『aforementioned matter』, Ena set off on a trip while Yuri was stepping outside.

Liliana Kranjcar was also in the middle of going away from the headquarter to take care of a business of the Campiones association.

Otherwise there were only the servants working in the mansion and the subordinates of the association. That was Godou only brought him to meet Erica who was suffering from morning sickness.

She was lying on bed even today with her body leaning on the cushion placed on her back.

「You brought a rare guest here.」

「Well.」

Godou’s explanation was excessively simple. Erica was astonished for a moment.

But, she immediately straightened her back. Although she didn’t get up from the bed, she gave a greeting with as much elegance she could.

「It has been a long time, Verethragna-sama.」

「Umu, I remember you. So the girl from that time will soon become a mother.」

War god Verethragna narrowed his almond-shaped eyes even further.

However, their relationship wasn’t one where they would exchange words of blessing with each other. The beautiful face of the youth quickly changed into the brazen face of a resolute warrior.

「It pain my heart to make you into a widow but──you should resolve yourself from now on. This man’s thread of life will soon be severed and leave his corpse in the battlefield.」

「Please rest assured. Even without being told that, it’s a truth that I have been aware of for a long time ago.」

Erica didn’t even get agitated at the slightest and spoke smoothly.

「No matter what kind of hero, no one has ever won a hundred battle a hundred times. And that is even truer when it comes to the godslayer who are opposing the mighty gods. My husband Kusanagi Godou too will someday be smeared with a defeat in a battlefield somewhere……. That too is the rule of the battlefield. Even though your honorable self is a god of war, there is no need to lecture me of this.」

「Fufu. As expected from a bride of a godslayer. Very good.」

Verethragna praised with his archaic smile.

He stared at the stomach of Erica that was hidden under the blanket.

「This is a precious life that will be born to this world, I want to wish for the child’s happiness in this chance but……I believe another words would be more fitting for the children who will be swallowed by the hapless fate one day.」

He spoke dispassionately with the earnestness that was fitting for a divine hero.

「Listen well, be strong, strong to a degree that won’t put shame to your father and mother. Because when you children are fully matured, neither of them will be at your side!」

「You even proclaim your victory at my children huh.」

Verethragna’s bombastic proclamation.

I’ll defeat your father before you grow up──. Godou interpreted it like that and smiled wryly. Very well, bring it on!

He felt lively and called to the war god.

「Then, let’s begin soon.」

「How hasty. At the very least we should withdraw from the presence of the mother and child.」

Fighting spirit was drawn tautly between the godslayer and the war god.

Erica on the bed held her breath to watch over the course of events──at that time. The bedroom’s door was opened loudly and Liliana entered.

「So you are here, Kusanagi Godou──what!?」

As expected even the female knight was astounded by Verethragna’s existence.

Godou exchanged gaze with Liliana and nodded without looking really perturbed.

「What happened? Is it an emergency situation?」

「Ye, yes, well……. Seishuuin Ena and Mariya Yuri who went out to search for Madam Aisha sent an outrageous report──」

Liliana spoke while sending glances to Verethragna.

In that instant, the radiant fifteen years old youth started laughing loudly.

「Oo! I presume that you all have also finally noticed what that accursed witch had done──just how big this matter that was brought about!」

「Eh? So Aisha-san really made a mess just as we thought?」

Verethragna magnanimously chuckled at the exasperated Godou.

「Kukukuku. Well, you can listen to your retainer’s report. You will be able to listen to a tale that is really hard to believe, but one where you won’t have any other choice but to believe it!」

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