Chapter 6.2

Chapter 6.2

While surprised upon hearing Aearis and Rayna’s actual age, in another sense, it also made sense to him. He had initially thought Rayna to be a bit hopeless for being in her twenties, but if she was actually younger than him, things were different.

Fifteen years of age was after all middle school third year level in Japan. Sure, she was more capable than that of her Japanese counterparts, but still not adult level. Judging from this, her youth and reckless nature likely bolstered her to revolt against all of Aearis’s orders and she ended up not being able to hold back. Of course, he was a bit concerned about her being the knight of a kingdom, but he had no choice but to leave that issue to Aearis and Douga.

Even for Aearis, his initial impression of her from her firm responses and appearances was that she was a bit older, but hearing her actual age and carefully observing her, it certainly wasn’t out of the question. He hadn’t noticed so much yesterday, but her stature was quite shorter than what he recalled from saving her. Nevertheless, she was right in the middle with 150 centimeters, so judging by her age, she still had good upbringing.

「Well, I think I understand a lot better. Sorta feels like yesterday was just waitin’ to happen」

「Yeah. Putting aside personal feelings, I at least get that there wasn’t any way out of that one」

The two Japanese people concluded upon hearing everything. In Haruna’s case, she seemed to still not quite look impressed, but she felt obliged to observe what Hiroshi had said rather than say anything out-of-hand to avoid creating pressure.

「Be as it may, I still do not think it’s wise to end it like this」

「Well, we ain’t gonna touch on that. You guys can go ahead and deal with personnel affairs on yer own」

Douga nodded at Hiroshi, turning to Aearis.

「Unfortunately, I have not a shred of discretionary power. Though I may be able to say what I desire, rather than saying this and that, it would probably be better for Lord Douga to make a verdict」

「Understood. However, unfortunately as it stands, there would be no point in dismissing you. For now we shall have her continue with her punishment, then make a verdict once she is safely back in her official position, if that is all right. I realize this is selfish of me, but unfortunately, as this is a situation where she would be liable to be treated as a rebel, I cannot currently give an effective penalty. Besides, since it is unclear if we would even have enough backing personnel as of now, I must make do with a personal intermediary. Because of that, though she be a fool, it would be difficult to release her since she has more than ample battle prowess. There will certainly be a punishment, so please do be content with this for now」

「Well, yeah that makes sense…」

「For the time being, just hold the reins and do your best to make sure that she doesn’t revolt」

The leader and her retainers nodded gravely at Haruna. The conversation ended as Rayna rubbed her head against the ground in apology.

「Well, let’s leave all that aside… Couldja tell us why you were caught in the first place？」

It was finally the end of yesterday’s events, albeit at the minimal line of things, and a thin air of relaxation took ahold of the room again. It would seem that Hiroshi and Haruna had also resigned themselves to getting into something troublesome. It had been but more than a month since they had flown into this alternate dimension. The two high-schoolers had at last begun their first large-scale quest.

「…My apologies, but I have still not decided whether it is fine to tell you everything. Normally, we would be obliged to discuss everything with you as ye have saved us, but there are circumstances that do not allow us to easily do so. I realize it is selfish after putting ye through so much, but might ye give us a bit more time？」

「I’d expect as much, though」

「However, we can confidently say that we do not consider you enemies」

「Ain’t that a little too relaxed though？」

「You had three days. Were you an enemy, ye could have done as ye pleased, no？」

Hiroshi and Haruna unconsciously gave bitter smiles. They certainly could have done anything in those three days. But it wasn’t like anything good would have come of it.

「And this may sound a bit extreme, but… If ye youngsters had tricked us and we had betrayed ye, it would have likely all been over for ye」

「Yikes, that sounded super convincing」

Hiroshi, with his loser aura, and Haruna, with ample caution, yet with a good-natured persona and clothing to match. It would definitely have all ended if this lot had betrayed them. After all, thanks to their experience over this last month, they had struggled for their lives to gain enough caution, but in all other aspects, they were likely trying to get peace at any price.

They did not comprehend in the slightest just how guarded those around them would be for breaking through Aearis’s magic. If only they understood the weight of them making all the furniture or tools scattered about the house, they would have probably not so boldly created the magic tools like this.

If anything, the real reason why Douga could not trust either of them was because of how ill-prepared they were. Not just in their sense of values, however. The problem was far bigger than that.

From what they had discussed, they were not just selling whatever they could get their hands on for their livelihood, but in the sense that they were able to make and even sell their own tools in the stand.

「Well, with that, I suppose we should decide where to go from here」

「Right. First off, Aearis and everyone else have to hide their identity still, right？」

「Indeed」

「Then, we’d best prepare some fake names, I’d say」

Douga and Aearis nodded. Only Rayna looked dissatisfied.

「Now, what sort of names would be good？」

「If they’re too far off from yer real names, ya might not react when called, so… Alright, would Elle work for ya, Aearis-san？」

「What a cute name. Let us go with that」

「If yer cool with that. What ’bout you, old man？」

「Could I use the name I used a while back? It’s Dojison」

「I won’t even ask why the heck ya made a fake name in the first place」

Douga had burst out upon hearing Hiroshi’s somewhat drawn-back quip. To put things bluntly, with someone as talented as him, there was many a time when he was forced to do a strange job or two. Since using his actual name would have been dangerous, it was necessary to use that sort of odd name.

「Well, not like it’s guaranteed to be safe here, so rather than reusing it, how ’bout we go with Doul?」

「Aye. Then, I shall be Doul from now on」

「That sort of resembles my own name」

「Is it disagreeable to you？」

「No. It makes me feel like I am your grandchild, which is in itself fun, I say」

Rayna unconsciously frowned at the two of them delighted over their fake names. While not unnoticed, they all decided to ignore it and continue the conversation.

「’N then we have Rayna. Any ideas？」

「If we need something not too far off, then maybe Reena？」

「That’s what they say. What do you think？」

「…Well, I don’t really feel like calling myself something fake in the first place…」

「Circumstances are circumstances. Gotta accept it」

Rayna grudgingly nodded at Hiroshi. They all felt a tinge of unease at how she was acting. With that reaction, he came up with just one policy.

「So for what’s gonna happen from now on, Elle will generally do things together with either the old man or Toudou-san. And as a general rule, Reena must under no circumstances be with Elle」

Hiroshi had immediately started calling her by her fake name, so she frowned for an instant. Upon realization of the crazy thing he had just said, there was no delay in the blood that rose to her head.

「Why not！？」

「Cuz, ya’d always call her Your Majesty in front of other people, right？」

Not expecting Hiroshi to point that out, Rayna was at a loss for words. Even she had confidence in herself easily making such a mistake.

「’N now, to discuss what’ll happen from now on」

「But I need to go to work today. We do this later, after all have a lot to negotiate」

While slightly battling with her reluctance to leave Hiroshi here, Haruna had decided to go to work as per scheduled. Sure, she was worried, but there was no meaning in both of them being in this cramped room. She had of course thought of having Hiroshi be the one to go out, but if there were the sorts of people like yesterday mixed in with the unknown quantities, that was even more unbearable. Comparing the risks, it would doubtless be much better to leave Hiroshi here with Douga as an intermediary.

「Please do. I’ll prepare whatever I can make here. Anythin’ happens, just contact me via card」

「I know」

「What’ll ya do for morning and noon？」

「If I prepare anything right now, it’ll get late, so I’ll just eat whatever once I’m over there」

Upon answering his question, she carried the rapier and belongings, immediately leaving the room. After seeing her leave, he began various preparations for breakfast. Once they had finished eating the quite well-acclaimed curry bread, he began various preparations for filling their stock.

「What are you starting on there？」

“Well, quite a few things” he said as he continued working on whatever this was. It seemed like he was making daily necessities.

「Is that all you’ve been researching since arriving here？」

「There are honestly other priorities, but what with havin’ to procure equipment, secure locations, and the issue of ingredients, I hafta wait on those. ’N I don’t wanna waste my time, and those priorities are gonna be time consumin’, so we’re researchin’ lotsa things like the food situation around us or countermeasures for skin trouble」

「Hm. Might I ask what sort of things ye must prioritize？」

「Gotta find a way to return to our own country. ’N I bet y’all already get the picture of our situation, yeah？」

「You mean that you are guests from the Unknown Continent？」

Hiroshi nodded once in response. This was the perfect opportunity to ask what needed to be asked.

「The two of you will have been here around one month, yes？」

「Yup」

「And why do you not accept the protection of the country？」

「Toudou-san is also in agreement with this, but how should I put it… I could just smell somethin’ troublesome」

“As you’d expect, right?” said Hiroshi. Aearis couldn’t deny that, looking down. As he smiled bitterly at her mannerism, he got started on preparing the curry bread.

「Anyhoo, hopefully this satisfies ya. We were free, plus we succeeded in rescuin’ ya」

「That’s true. It’s just a little dissatisfying to think that what brought it on was because of an issue in cooking this curry bread…」

「What might ye mean？」

「Mm？Ohh. See, this curry bread, when making it, it easily gets on yer clothes. And this ain’t any ordinary dirtyness; it doesn’t wash off very easily, so we thought to make some strong resistant clothing by gatherin’ threads, ’N then we went to git some easy-t-git thread from spider webs」

No matter how many times they heard the reason, Douga and Rayna made dubious faces. Normally, they would figure you’d just go and buy work clothing, but not in the case of this loser otaku. He probably thought something unnecessary, like making them was cheaper or something.

There was also the fact that not just in Farlane, but in the majority of the world, making your own clothing was common practice, which was why clothing was high priced. However, since spider webs were made of silk, and if you were to make and sell the string and buy work clothing, it would be easy to get more than enough clothing. Was it just their imagination?

「Well, thinking back on it, I do realize that it’s super luxurious to want to go to all the trouble of making silk clothin’ from spiders when we stock up or sell bread at the stand」

「…So have you finished the clothing yet？」

「Nope. Gotta make the sewing machine first, but it’s a little cramped here, so we stopped at the part where we had to gather the ingredients」

Douga felt like he wanted to interject and ask if he gathered the ingredients, but felt like it would be a losing battle, so he shut his mouth. These two had so much talent and ability, yet they had the audacity to waste it. Aearis and the others couldn’t help but feel anxiety at what was to come.