As we leisurely walked towards the Special Monster Race's racetrack,
we exchanged a few words.
[Is Lynn-chan asleep again?]
[…Looks like she's sleeping out her grumpiness.]
Just as Dr. Vier and Neun-san had said, after her conversation with
Fafnir-san, Lynn crawled into my clothes again, looking like she's
sulking as she fell asleep.
Hmmm, I don't really know what's going on, so I can't say anything for
sure, but Lynn isn't the type of person who won't drag out her troubles,
so I'm sure she'll be fine after some rest.
[Speaking of which, I'm going to change the subject… but isn't Bell also
a Monster Race champion?]
[Yes. Though I say that, it's only one race…]
[Gaoo!]
As if he's proudly puffing out his chest, Bell nodded his head, which
only made him look cute, so I just patted his head.
[Heehhh… Fafnir said it's also fine to just directly participate, so why
don't Bell-chan join in?]
[Gaooohh!]
[You'll get dirty, so no.]
[Guruaah!? K- Kuuuuu~~]
[No!]
[Kuuuu…]
I firmly scolded Bell, who looked really motivated to go on the race even
after all the running he did earlier. I bet Bell only wants to participate
since he just wanted to run around.
However, in a Monster Race, where almost everything can happen, it's
inevitable that Bell's fur will get dirty. That's something I can't let
happen. If that happens, we'd have to stop going around the festival so I
could start cleaning Bell's body.
[M- Miyama-kun? B- But you see, Bell-chan wants to go though?]
[I said no. That's final. Besides, if Bell were to participate in the Monster
Race, he would just end up overwhelmingly winning, which would be
bad for the other monsters. It would just be bullying the weak.]
[…I- I guess you're right.]
I would have liked to see Bell's performance, but since I know what the
outcome will be if he participates, I didn't see the need to participate.
Hearing what I said, stiff smiles appeared on Dr. Vier and Neun-san's
lips for some reason, but I decided to not mind it and clear up a
misunderstanding that Bell might have in his mind.
[…Also, Bell. Just so you know, you can't put me on your back in a
Monster Race.]
[Guruuaahhh!?]
Yes, what Bell likes to do is "run with me on his back". After hearing my
words, Bell looked shocked before he started leisurely following behind
me.
It seems like he had lost interest in Monster Racing. I haven't been able
to take him for a walk for a few days since the Six Kings Festival started,
so I guess that's why he wanted to join the Monster Race earlier… I'll
just take him to the grassland again later.
[…Miyama-kun really takes good care of Bell-chan and Lynn-chan huh.
Speaking of which, you did buy that miniatureable pet house before,
didn't you?]
[…Eh? How did you know about that, Dr. Vier?]
What Dr. Vier was referring to that pet house that I had won from the
auction when I went around with Isis-san. I'm pretty sure that Dr. Vier
hadn't arrived yet at that time though… Did Alice tell her? It must have
been Alice who told her.
[Shalltear-sama told me about it.]
[I knew it.]
[Ahh! That reminds me! Didn't Miyama-kun bid on that diary that Neun
wrote?]
[Wha!?]
Hearing what Dr. Vier said, Neun-san vigorously reacted. Speaking of
which, I did accidentally bid on it huh.
I was so confused after that meeting with Luce-san before that I
completely forgot that diary that I was going to give to Neun-san.
[H- Hey… K- Kaito-san!? W- What does she mean? Why did Kaito-san
bid on my diary…]
[I actually won the bid for that by accident, and I was going to give it to
Neun-san later… but I had completely forgotten about it. Please don't
worry, I didn't look at what's written on it…]
[I- Is that so… T- That's great.]
[…Errr, where did I put it… Ah, here it is. Here, please——- [ Miyamakun, wait right there! ——–Eh?]
[Vier?]
Although it was late, I tried to return the diary just as I had originally
planned, but for some reason, Dr. Vier stopped me.
[…Miyama-kun. If I'm not mistaken, you won that for a white gold coin,
didn't you?]
[A white gold coin!?]
[Y- Yes, I did…]
[Fumufumu… Hey, Neun. I don't think this would be the case, but
there's no way that you're just going to accept that diary and be done
with it, are you? After all, it can be said that that diary is Miyama-kun's
property, isn't it?]
Uwaaahhh~~ Vier-san's expression looked so evil that I can't even
imagine it from how she usually looks. Come to think of it, Dr. Vier had
only been teasing Neun-san a lot huh…
Hearing what she said, it seems like Neun-san had a bad feeling about
something as her face turned pale.
[…W- What are you trying to say?]
[Well, it's just that I think Miyama-kun deserves to at least read that
diary. By the way, I'd like to have a peek too.]
[Wha!? Y- You can't! Rather, isn't the second half your true intention!?]
[Now, now, it's fine, isn't it? If it's a diary about your journey, it's not like
you wrote anything strange in it… right?]
[T- That is… certainly true but…]
Dr. Vier and Neun-san continued to argue for a while, but I had a feeling
that Dr. Vier would win their argument.
It seems like I predicted right, as after being convinced by Dr. Vier,
Neun-san reluctantly agreed to let me and Dr. Vier read her diary.
A diary she wrote during her journey to defeat the Demon King… I'd be
lying if I said I wasn't curious too. Dr. Vier would probably like to know
what Neun-san was thinking during her journey to defeat her.
[…Then, I'll open it.]
[Uuuu, alright… However, when was the diary written?]
[Errr… it seems to be written in Earth month.]
I heard that the current Light month used to be called Earth month.It
was changed to Light month in honor of Neun-san's achievement in
signing the Treaty of Friendship.
(T/N: I've explained it before in c344, so I won't repeat it again. Anyway,
this is the 6th month (Earth/chi), not 4th or 10th (Earth/do).)
[Ah~~ That means it's a diary written around this month… wait,
arehh? It's written with otherworldian letters though. I can't read this…
Miyama-kun, do you mind reading this for me?]
[I- I understand.]
It is easy to forget since I can read the letters of this world due to the
Translation Magic automatically granted to us after we were summoned
as Heroes, but for Dr. Vier, Japanese is definitely a language from
another world.
This means that most people in this world wouldn't know what was
written in Neun-san's diaries.
Ahh, I see… So that's why Neun-san isn't madly searching for her past
diaries…
Thinking about this, I looked at the stack of papers and started reading.
Earth month, Day 12
N- No more, I'm already at my limits. I know that I can't be extravagant
as we're in the middle of a journey… but still, there are still things I can't
stand! There's no rice here! Rice, I'm telling you!!! I don't want to eat
bread anymore! I want to eat a breakfast of white rice, miso soup,
takuan and grilled fish…
I mean, putting aside the grilled fish, there's no miso or takuan here… TThis must be hell…
Earth month, Day 16
We stopped at a diner in a town that we stopped at during our journey.
The food didn't look great, but they tasted wonderful. It kind of looks
like chikuzenni. Eating the well-seasoned vegetables made me feel
happy.
I've been eating a lot of dried meat lately because we have been
camping out in the wild, and even having to eat a warm meal is already
a treat in itself. Ahh, how happy would I have been if this meal is served
with white rice instead of bread… I still can't find rice.
Earth month, Day 20
Today is a wonderful day! I may not be a Christian, for I'm a buddhist,
but I thank God for this wonderful day! In a village we had stopped by
today… What a surprise, I had found soybeans!!! No, the soybeans here
are a bit different in size from the one in my world, but that taste! That
texture! They were definitely soybeans!!!
Ahh, I'm beginning to see hope. As long as there's soybeans, it should be
possible to make miso and soy sauce! It will take some thoughts and a
lot of trial and error though…
T- That's right! If there's soybeans here… doesn't that mean there's "red
beans" somewhere in this world!? I- I may even be able to eat the
Anmitsu I've always dreamed of! Now I'm fired up!
Earth month, Day 24
…I can't find rice. Laguna mentioned about how there's something
resembling rice on the frontier of Hydra Kingdom… but that's in the
opposite direction of our journey. It's on the complete opposite
direction of the Demon King's castle, so we can't go and collect it.
G- Gununu… How long do I have to wait until I get to eat white rice!?
I have to defeat the Demon King as soon as possible and go get some
rice… Now, I have a definite mission in my heart! I will defeat… the
Demon King. I will defeat the Demon King, so that I could eat some
rice!!!
Starting tomorrow, let's do better than ever before!!!
[…Hey, Neun? Do you mind if I get angry at you? It's kind of obvious that
you're trying to beat me here… I mean, why the heck are all the things
written here about food!? What the heck are you doing!?]
[…Ehh, I mean, I wanted to eat white rice.]
[Oi, look over here, will you? If one looks at the diary, they won't see it
as the diary of the Hero who went on a journey to defeat the Demon
King, you know? They would see it as a d*mned foodie's journey
looking for the food from her hometown!!!]
[…Ehh, I mean, I wanted to eat anmitsu.]
Vier-san, who had thought that the diary would talk about her, the
Demon King, upon hearing that all it contained was about the food she
ate and the Japanese food she was craving, became astounded and got
mad at Neun-san.
Dear Mom, Dad——– Well, this certainly is a diary that cannot be
shown to the people in this world who were faithful believers of the
First Hero. After all, the most important motivation she had for
defeating the Demon King——- is white rice…