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Chapter 17: Night Crawling Fails
Shizuko taught me how to crawl in the night.
Surely this would not hurt her, so I decided to crawl on Haruka at night.
"Listen, Ceres-kun... you have to follow the rules. If you don't, you'll be in big trouble."
I didn't know there were rules about crawling at night. But below are the following rules:
1. The woman must be 24 years old or a widow.
2. You must sit on the right side of the bedding and wait until the woman wakes up.
3. To avoid startling the woman, you must not speak to her until she speaks to you.
4. Not to embarrass the woman who accepts you.
5. If she doesn't accept you, don't abuse her and leave immediately.
6. Give up if she rejects you.
That's pretty much it.
This is quite different from what I had heard in the stories and gentle.
Still, it must be scary to have a stranger standing by your bedside, but this is a village community... and there are few strangers.
According to Shizuko, this night crawling is somehow successful nearly 70% of the time.
But what about the door key?
Perhaps one might think so, but the door is never locked in a village where there are few strangers.
By the way, if anyone breaks the rules and forces his way, he will be beaten up by the village's young men and kicked out of the village.
It may be said that night crawling is a means of love based on the proper rules.
※ This rule is based on an old rule of night crawling that is said to have existed in the past but was adopted by those who are faithful for marriage.
After Shizuko taught me, she greeted her two good friends, saying she would have a drink with them for the first time in a while.
"There's still some time left. Should I visit them too?"
I told her that.
"You'd better calm down, or you'll make a mistake. I'll take care of the meet and greet, and I won't be home today, so good luck Ceres-kun."
Thus, I waited for the night, feeling a little embarrassed that Shizuko was cheering me up to crawl into another woman's bed at night.
* * *
Before I knew it, it was night.
It's about 23:00 in Japan, and since morning comes early in the village, everyone is already in bed by this time.
At Kazuma's restaurant, too, the lights are out, and I notice that they are both asleep.
I went around to the back of the house and entered through the back door.
I know how the room is built because I used to come here many times when I was a child.
Hmm...? Wait.
If I'm not mistaken, they weren't sleeping together, right?
If that's not the case... I can't crawl in the night in the first place.
I can't be next to Haruka when she's sleeping with Kazuma.
But since I've come all this way, I might at least check on them.
I walk down the corridor and look into the room where they are sleeping together.
There was Kazuma sleeping alone.
I thought they used to sleep together in this room, but why is Haruka not there?
Incidentally, Haruka was sleeping in the next room next to his.
"Zzz..."
She seemed to be sound asleep, so I sat down on the right side of the bedding.
Not to wake her up is a man's sincerity.
Even if my legs were numb, I had to wait without waking her.
If she doesn't get up, I have to sit on the floor for hours, which is quite a hard task.
But, since I force my way into a woman's place, I guess this is how I show my sincerity.
In villages, there is often an imbalance in the number of men and women.
If Zect does not become a hero, two men and three women will be in the village. Then, if the two men and the two women become two couples. There will be one woman left over.
In this case, the story will be over if the leftover one marries another village man.
However, the story is not over if there are more men than women.
I am an orphan, so I don't have to worry about it, but men basically don't leave the village.
If he is a farmer, he lives by cultivating the fields, which means he owns the land, so he needs an heir and a wife.
If he is a merchant, he needs an heir if he is doing business in the village, and since this village is wealthy, even the second and third sons can share the fields, and there is a lot of land to be cultivated.
So, there is a question: what if more men were left over?
Well, because of this question, someone had an idea of marrying widows who had lost their husbands to the leftover men.
Later, the widow included not only widows but also women who had children and had finished their roles as wives.
This may be because this world is similar to the old Japan and 20 years old is already too old to be treated as an adult.
Most of the villages have this system, though there are some differences.
However, few people practice this system.
For me, it is a pity, but in this world, 24 years old is already an old woman.
Even if there is such a system, most young people do not use it.
So, no boy in his mid-teens prefers to choose an older woman.
※ The lifespan of the human race in this world is about 50 years, similar to an 18-year-old boy dating a 40-50 year-old woman, except for the appearance.
Perhaps some people abused women when the time came.
So maybe rules about not abusing women, etc., appeared.
But, nowadays, many parents choose to give up some of their fields and buy young slaves when their children cry out for them.
So, although it remains a system, not many people do it nowadays.
This is what Shizuko told me.
* * *
Right now, I have been sitting on my knees until Haruka wakes up.
It's hard to endure this.
As for Haruka, she has been sleeping and snoozing since a while ago.
She is wearing a shirt close to a tank top and pants close to hot pants from my previous world.
Perhaps because she has trouble sleeping, she pulls the blankets off with her feet.
And because there are no such bras in the village, I can glimpse her well-shaped breasts through her shirt, and her beautiful long legs are also visible, which is very attractive.
'Haah, haah... ugh'
It's not that I am excited.
But rather, my legs are numb, and I can't stand it anymore.
'Haah, haah, my legs are numb and painful...'
As I was thinking this, I made eye contact with Haruka.
"Ceres... what are you doing?"
"Nee-san, this is..."
"You're sitting on the right side!? Do you know what that means!? Ceres, you idiot—!"
*Smack!
She just slapped me.
"Nee-san, wait a minute."
"I'm not waiting, Ceres. Do you think I'm stupid? Come on! You can't be serious—!"
*Bwack!
Ugh, my back of the head hurts like hell...
I didn't expect to get kicked too.
"W-Wait, listen to me... Calm down first."
"Ceres, I'm calm enough... and I'm asking you why you did this!"
"Nee-san, I like you... Whoa"
"Ceres, we're supposed to be brother and sister, right? Don't make such a funny joke! You're hurting another girl... and me."
Another slap... I couldn't help but shut my eyes.
Haruka is scary when angry, but I'd forgotten all about it.
"Haruka, what's going on! Ceres, are you okay!"
Kazuma wakes up and restrains Haruka from slapping me.
Hahaha... it's over.
Our brother-sister relationship is over.
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