MISTERLP
I was silent.
"So, how are you going to make up for it? There's stuff in this world
you can't make up for, sure. But if you can, you'll want to do that, so you
can puff your chest out with pride, right?"
Make up for it, and puff my chest out with pride...
"Make it up to the person I wronged, you mean?" I asked.
"No. To yourself."
Make up for what I did wrong. So that I can approach myself with
pride. I didn't know why, but for some reason, I found myself easily
accepting this young man's words. Then...
"What are you acting so important for, Hal?" a fox-eyed girl asked.
"Wha, Kaede?! Where's the harm? I'm just showing some compassion
here!"
"Hmm..."
The fox-eared girl looked at him coldly, and the red haired young man
began desperately trying to explain himself. He looked a little cool until
just now, but his panic ruined it.
Sometimes he was cool, and sometimes he was goofy... He was
interesting to watch. And besides...
"You'll want to do that, so you can puff your chest out with pride,
right?"
"To yourself."
I felt like this young man's words had given me direction. I got my
aching body up.
"Ah! Hey, are you sure you should be getting up?" the young man
asked.
"If it hurts, you can stay lying down, you know?" the fox-eared girl
said.
True, my body hurt all over, but... If I just lay here, I wouldn't be able
to puff up my chest with pride for my own sake. So I turned to the redhaired young man, the one the fox-eared girl had called Hal. I turned to
Hal and bowed my head deeply as I said, "I'd like to ask you a favor."
◇ ◇ ◇
Now then, with the dragons put firmly on notice about Naden, it was
time to think about the actual issue of what we were going to do with the
storm.
In deference to the thoroughly beaten dragons, we left the great hall,
which was filled with the sort of atmosphere you'd expect at a wake, and
relocated to a smaller room.
From what Naden said, this was like a waiting room for those who
would be having an audience with Madam Tiamat. In that room, I
addressed my companions.
"Naden and I saw something in that storm."
"Saw something?" Liscia asked.
I nodded. "I got just a glimpse of a black thing through a gap in the
clouds."
"You're sure you didn't imagine it, right?"
"We heard a voice, too, so I'm confident. I only really picked up
fragments of words, like 'you' and 'destroy,' though. You heard it, too,
right, Naden?"
"I did hear it, yes, but I wasn't able to make it out that clearly." Naden
crossed her arms and groaned in thought. "That, and I don't think it was in
our language. Like, I could tell they were saying something, but I had no
idea what it was?"
"Hm? Master could hear it, but Madam Naden couldn't?" Carla asked
in surprise, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
"...May I interject for a moment?" Kaede, who had kept quiet up until
now, raised her hand.
With her perception, Kaede worked as a staff officer for Ludwin, who
was seen as the future commander-in-chief of the National Defense Force.
In our current situation, without Hakuya around, she was a reliable thinker.
"If I recall, you aren't from this world, right, sire?" she asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, that's right."
"In your world, they must have used a different language than what we
speak in this one. In spite of that, you understand our language, and we
understand yours because of a strange power."
That was right. To be more precise, Liscia and the others heard the
Japanese I was speaking as Japanese, but they could apparently understand
it. The reverse was also true. For instance, if I sang in Japanese, Liscia and
the others would understand the lyrics, but if Juna then perfectly imitated
my singing, Liscia and everyone else would have no idea what the lyrics
meant.
Come to think of it... I can read and write in this world's language,
can't I?
Mysteriously, I was able to recognize the writing system used in this
world. I could write and read it.
On the other hand, if I were to show Liscia something in Japanese
writing, she would have no idea how to read it. So that meant the
translation ability only worked on my side. Thanks to that, I was able to do
my paperwork, but... could there be some meaning behind why the
translation worked differently for spoken word and text?
While I was wondering about that, Kaede asked Naden, "Madam
Naden, you and your fellow dragons are able to speak directly to our
conscious minds, right?"
"Yeah. We call it speaking into the heart, or psychic speech, though."
"That's where I've had a thought," Kaede said. "I think His Majesty's
ability could be similar."
That made sense. Telepathy, huh? It wasn't directly working on the
sense of hearing, it was working on the part of the brain that processed
information. Maybe Tomoe's ability to talk with animals and demons
worked similarly.
But why had this topic suddenly come up...? Oh, right.
"It's possible that the reason I could make out what it was saying, and
Naden couldn't, was that one of us had a power like that working for us,
and the other didn't, you mean."
"Yes. I can't help but suspect that."
"Well, does that mean that whoever's in that cloud was using the
language from the world Souma came from?" Liscia asked.
Oh, yeah. That was a possibility, wasn't it?
But Kaede firmly shook her head at the suggestion. "I don't think so."
"How can you be so sure?" Liscia asked.
"It would be faster to put this to the test. Sire, I know this may be a bit
of a bother, but can you teach me how you greet each other in the morning
in the language of the world you came from? Slowly, please."
When she said that to me, I broke it down for her syllable by syllable.
"O-ha-yo-u."
"Ohayou, is it?" Kaede asked. "Ohayou, princess."
Liscia looked surprised and her eyes opened wide. "Weird! They both
sound like 'Ohayou,' but I understand it means 'Good morning' when
Souma says it, and when I hear it from Kaede, it sounds like an unfamiliar
language."
"I-Is that how it is?" I asked.
Kaede nodded. "Yes. I think this is proof that the one in the cloud
wasn't speaking in the language of the world you came from. If they were
using the language of your country, Naden would have heard them
pronounce the words 'you' and 'destroy,' even if she didn't understand
them."
Even if she hadn't heard them as words, she'd have heard them being
pronounced... huh.
Kaede brought a hand to her mouth and spoke as if thinking aloud. "His
Majesty understood the one in the cloud, but Naden didn't. And it's hard
to think it was the language of the world His Majesty came from. That
would lead to the conclusion that the one in the cloud was speaking a
language that isn't the common language of this continent, and isn't the
language of the world His Majesty came from."
What was that? Did that mean the person in the cloud wasn't from this
world, or from my world, but from some other world entirely? If there was
someone like that out there, we'd really have no way of knowing how to
deal with them.
...Wait, huh?
No, that's not it, I thought. They don't need to have come from another
world. We already have them. Here, on this continent, there are already
people using a completely different language.
"Demons..."
When I said that word, everyone gulped.
The mysterious races, different from monsters, said to live deep within
the Demon Lord's Domain. The only known case of dialogue with them
had been a short exchange between Tomoe and a kobold. It was something
that only worked because of Tomoe's special ability, so that was to be
expected.
It wouldn't be strange at all for them to have their own language
system, completely separate from the common language of this continent
and the languages of the world I'd come from. Also, if the demons were
able to speak, my mysterious translation ability might allow me to hear it.
Just like how, in the middle of the storm, I was the only one who'd been
able to make out what was said.
My ability wouldn't let me hear what animals were saying like
Tomoe's did, but maybe it would allow me to talk to demons?
"...Do you think that could be why Madam Tiamat called me the
'key'?" I asked.
"I think that's likely it." Kaede nodded.
Holding her head in her hands, Liscia said, "Suppose for a moment...
that really is a demon in the clouds..."
"Suppose it is?" I asked.
"I don't want you to go, Souma." Liscia said, looking me straight in the
eye. "It's too dangerous. If anything were to happen to you, our country... I
would..."
Aisha was the next to speak up. "That's right! I'll go in His Majesty's
place, and I'll cut that evil thing down!"
I was sure they were both worried for my safety. I knew how weak I
was, so I would normally avoid this kind of danger. But this one time, I
felt like there was no way around it.
"If this could be solved with martial prowess, Madam Tiamat wouldn't
have bothered to call me here. There are plenty of folks out there who are
stronger than me, after all. Since that's not it, Madam Tiamat must think
this incident should be resolved through dialogue."
"But..." Aisha complained.
"I think this is a valuable opportunity. Our country has the good fortune
to be far from the Demon Lord's Domain. If we miss this chance, though,
there's no telling when our next opportunity to hold dialogue with a demon
will come. We should gather what information we can, while we're able to
do it."
"Souma..." Still looking worried, Liscia put a hand on my shoulder.
"Of course, I intend to keep myself as safe as possible," I assured her.
"We have the equipment we brought from the kingdom, too. I'll also have
Aisha come to escort me. I want everyone else to wait on the ground.
Naden, I want you to let Aisha ride on your back, too. Is that going to be
okay?"
I heard that dragons only let their partners ride on their backs, after all.
Naden thought about it for a while. "Hmm, I don't like it, but... Aisha is
my partner's partner, so I guess we can treat her as being like my partner,
too? Just remember that she won't receive my protection, so she better be
tied down tightly, okay?"
Carla crossed her arms and groaned. "'The partner of my partner is my
partner,' is it? It seems I can't accompany you, then. I can't fly in these
winds, either. I did want to do something to help..."
"There's no helping it, given the situation," I said. "Aisha, sorry to
make you do this, but protect me."
"I am already the one who protects you, your kochiji!" Aisha said,
thumping her chest with pride.
Liscia took her hand. "Aisha, look after Souma for me."
"Lady Liscia... Yes! Please, leave it to me!" Aisha put her other hand
on top of Liscia's.
Now then... For now, that was about it, right? Everyone had their roles
assigned... Wait, huh? I looked around at my comrades and noticed
something.
"Huh? Where did Hal go?"
"Huh? Now that you mention it... he's not here." Liscia looked around
restlessly. There were only six people in this room: Liscia, Aisha, Naden,
Carla, Kaede, and me. Where did Hal go off to?
"About that..." Kaede said, seeming to not want to say any more. "He
has some preparations to make, you know? So he's sitting this meeting
out."
"Preparations?" I asked.
"Well, um... Think of it as insurance, in case something happens."
Kaede said in a way that implied some deeper meaning.
Maybe Kaede was getting something ready in case an unexpected
situation were to arise. Kaede had great foresight, so if she was preparing
something to help us, that was reassuring.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up, you know... (Is Hal going to be okay...?
He understood what her proposal meant when he accepted it, right?)"
"Hm? Your voice got quiet at the end there," I said.
"...No, it's nothing, you know." Kaede said, hurriedly shaking her head.
I didn't really get it, but... Well, whatever.
"Anyway, everyone, I'm counting on you," I said.
"So, why exactly are you wearing that thing, Souma?" Liscia asked,
staring at me with distaste, while we were preparing to go into the cloud.
I was dressed up in a roly-poly kigurumi costume. In its hands was a
naginata; over its shoulder a string of prayer beads; over its face a silk
covering from under which peeked two adorable acorn-like eyes. It was
one of the Little Musashibo (Large) dolls that I hadn't worn myself since
the time I drank with Juno and her party. This Little Musashibo was one of
the pieces of equipment I'd brought with us from the kingdom, just in
case.
"I told you I intend to keep myself as safe as possible, didn't I?" I
opened up the head portion wide and turned to face Liscia.