Nowadays, the great tumult from Soumaâs gathering of talented people had calmed down.
But now, a ghost story about the land near Elfrieden[1]Â Castle circulated in mass.
According to the story, ăIn the dead of the night, a mannequin doll was loitering aroundă. In the story, the mannequin was a type of doll with joints in its arms and legs, had no face and was used to decorate a clothing shop, however this mannequin clutched a sword in both of its hands and hunted monster by itself night after night
A certain adventurerâs testimony:
ăThe other day, I was receiving a quest to escort a merchant and was walking in the highway at night, but unfortunately we were surrounded by Zelrin[2], a Gel subspecies. Although they were weak individually they are difficult to fight in high numbers, but at that same time, a mannequin doll, wielding a sword in both hands, staggered from the direction of the castle and started attacking the Zelrin. We became afraid of that eerie sight and started to run away as fast as we could... What the heck was that really?ă
Another adventureâs testimony:
ăIt was several days ago. I received a request from the guild to intercept a group of hobgoblins that had crossed the border from the north and were heading towads the south. We had lain in wait to ambush them in a valley on their marching route, but they never arrived. Becoming impatient, we then conducted a search, but the hobgoblins had all been massacred and standing there, still in the midst of their corpses, was a mannequin doll. My swordsman comrade, who thought that it was a new Monster reinforcement, started to slash at it, but was repulsed with the dollâs two swords style. My mage comrade started to attack it with fire, but it was nimble like an eagle, and fled the place with unbelievable speed. That.... was perhaps some sort of new unmanned weapon made by the Demon Lord, donât you agree?ă
There were many sightings of it, so although it was called a ghost story, it almost surely âexistsâ. However, at the time the adventurer guild started to recognize its existence and officially gave out a subjugation quest to capture that mannequin, the reports of its appearances suddenly came to a stop.
Today, the people wonder whether or not the rumor was a deliberate prank by somebody.
âăâăâ
ă......and that is what the story of the rumor that had circulated around.ă(Liecia)
ăEh... Is that so... (in monotone)ă(Souma)
Liecia[3], who was sitting on the bed, was telling me a story as I was leaning on the sofa. I replied without stopping my hand and then followed up with âNeedleâ. Her face became a bit sullen.
ăWhat is it? Are you not interested in such story?ă(Liecia)
ăNo, itâs not like that......ă(Souma)
ăAs a king, I think itâs important to solve a potential problem on the castleâs land.ă(Liecia)
ăAh.... Then it will be fine. Since that mannequin doll will never appear again...ă (Souma)
ă......How do you know about it?ă(Liecia)
ăHmm, Well.... You know...ă(Souma)
I made a vague answer while continue to stuff âcottonâ. Finally, after I sew the back, it will be complete.
ă......That reminds me. What have you been doing this entire time?ă(Liecia)
ăWhat am I doing? I thought you knew after seeing that. Itâs needlework.ă(Souma)
ăThen, why are you purposely doing needlework in my room?!ă(Liecia)
ăThereâs no other way, right? Since my room is more like an office...ă(Souma)
Thanks to theăMultiple Simultaneous Parallel Thinkingă[4] andăTelekinesisă[5] (the skill up version of ăWeak Telekinesis[6]ă, I could now manipulate objects that had the same weight as me, but only on inorganic things and not living organism), I was now able to make the pen continue working while the original body took a break. However, my room was, as usual, still established as an office. As one would expect, a place where government officials continuously go in and out of was not place where somebody could take a rest.
ăMoreover......(Souma)
ăYour Majestyyy!!!! Your Majesty , where are youuuuuuuuuuu?!ă(Aisha)
ă......Because of that DarkElfAisha my heart has no time to rest.ă(Souma)
ăI can sympathize with you....ă(Liecia)
Nowadays, Aisha[7]Â was never separated from my side.
Dark Elves had a law that they were proud of that said that they will protect and stay at the side of the person they had pledged allegiance to until their life had come to an end. Thatâs why I acknowledged Aishaâs position as my Guard. Now, whenever I work, whenever I take a meal, whenever Iâm sleeping, even whenever Iâm in the bath and toilet, she always tried to say by my side. Although it was a problem for a person not yet officially employed to stand beside the King, since she was both beautiful and extremely loyal, the Imperial Guards under Ludwin[8]Â had given their tacit consent for her conduct. Nowadays, even the one who distinguished himself as my Right-Hand Man, Hakuya[9], said:
ăIt doesnât matter if itâs with Princess Liecia, Aisha-dono[10]Â or Juna-dono[11], please quickly make some children. If you had some children, even their births can become a diplomatic card that we can use.ă(Hakuya)
He said this in a calm voice. Well, even in my previous worldâs history, diplomatic marriage gave birth to ăThe Empire Where Sun Never Setsă[12] or the Habsburg House Dynasty, or the ăDual Empire of Austria-Hungaryă. However, nowadays for Japanese (even if they enjoy Harem Romance), such notion about producing children for the sake of the house was an outdated concept and they refrained from it.[13]
Rishia glared at me with scornful eyes.
ăPeople with high social status is a magnet for beautiful women, right?ă(Liecia)
ă...Please leave me out of it. Even when I finally can take a good rest...... Huh? Thatâs right, where is Tomoe-chan[14]?ă(Souma)
ăAh, Tomoe is with my parents. Mother[15]Â really adores her.ă(Liecia)
Ever since Tomoe-chan became Lieciaâs stepsister several days ago, she had been living in this castle. Of course as promised, she is together with her family and baby brother. By the way, Tomoe-chanâs mother become a day-care worker in the experimental newly introduced ăCastleâs Day Care Nurseryă that is established to stimulate female social progress. It also mixed with the duty of Wet Nurses to nurse babies along with taking care of the other peopleâs children. Since the current society didnât have concept of maternity leave[16], if the castleâs maids have children then they must retire. Unless they were âtouchedâ by the King, the majority of the maids will end up unmarried in life. But with this nursery, the young maids could have peace of mind to find marriage partners, so this institution had become very popular.
The talks had veered away... But basically, Tomoe-chan had two mothers inside the castle. At first they were quite confused, but nowadays both of them cherished her as their daughter. Liecia stood up and put her hand on the back of the sofa where I sit down as she took a peek at my hand from the back.
ăEven if you say you have free time, to spend that time sewing is...... Is that possibly, a plush doll?ă(Liecia)
I had finished sewing the back so I took the doll in my hand and presented it a manner similar to a certain robot cat took out his tools.[18]
ăMusashi Boy?ă(Liecia)
ăYes. In my world...It can be considered as a rare animal?ă(Souma)
ăMushashi Boy-kunăis a mascot character[19] of the town where I live; it was a cute deformed[20] two head talls[21] of the Musashiâs follower, Monk Benkei.[22]The head is covered with a white hood and it wore a waist-long Juzu[23] on its shoulder. It was a really dignified figure of Benkei. However, peeking below the gallant thick eyebrows were adorable acorn-like eyes that utterly erased any majesty it had. Because of that Gap[24] that stole the hearts of the citizens, it became unexpectedly popular. By the way, the city where I live âhas absolutely no relationâ with Musashiâs Monk Benkei; the reason why they chose Benkei was because the Saitama prefecture was formerly called as ăLand of Musashiă[25].
I had boorish thoughts likeăThen isnât Miyamoto Musashi[26] or Musashimaru[27] also acceptable?ă or ăDo you want to introduce the enireSaitama if you bundle it as Land of Musashi?ă. But since it's just a mascot character; I should really just relax. Anyway, I had already sewn the 40 cm tallMusashi Boy-kun doll.
ăKuh... This is unexpectedly too cute for me to get angry with.ă(Liecia)
ăUnexpected, right?ă(Souma)
ăBut why this kind of thing?ă(Liecia)
ăMy ability is really versatile. See.ă(Souma)
The Musashi Boy-kun in front of us started to move by itself. Then it started to skillfully break dance with its short arms and legs. Then, with its head on the floor, both of its short legs spread out and started to spin like Spinning Back Kick[28]. It was really skillfully done but also incredibly surreal.
Liecia opened her eyes really wide and looked dumbfounded.
ăNoooiyaaa...... What is thisâă(Liecia)
ăBy using ăMultiple Simultaneous Parallel Thinkingăand ăTelekinesisă I can completely move this doll like some sort of clone. It feels like I can sense myself inside this stuffed doll?ă(Souma)
ăDo you want to become a street performer?ă(Liecia)
ăI think thatâs a good idea. Can I earn money that way after quitting as King?ă(Souma)
ăDonât say stupid things. I wonât forgive you if you quit halfway!ă(Liecia)
ă... I understand. Letâs leave that aside.ă(Souma)
I passed two knives to Musashi Boy-kun. Then the Musashi Boy-kun, that was only made from ordinary felt cloth at the outside and a lump of cotton on the inside, could hold them like the way an adult holds combat knives. Musashi Boy-kun then brandished the two knives like Musashi Miyamoto.
Liecia was amazed by it.
ăNo way... This is a doll right?ă(Liecia)
ăNo matter what kind of things the doll take, they are still counted as parts of the doll. I feel he stress that comes from the weight of it, but the doll wonât get crushed by the weight. As an experiment, I manipulated another doll to carry weapons and battle with monsters, but there were no problems in fighting with them.ă(Souma)
ăDoll and monsters, wait a moment... Could it possibly be that the rumored mannequin was a result of Soumaâs actionâă(Liecia)
ăAh. I was just experimenting with a different doll inside the castle.ă(Souma)
But I never thought it would become a rumor. Even though I was deliberately hunting monsters at night in order to avoid attention, but I think that because of that it had became an unwanted ghost story.
ăBut because of the frequent battles with the monsters, I have discovered something: Just by receiving experience points, the dollâs movements improved. The doll can even use the Intermediate Level Dual Sword SkillăHigh Speed Rotational Cută[29]ă(Souma)
As soon as I was saying that, Musashi Boy-Kun spread both of the knives in its hand and then started to rotate with high speed with ăGyuiină sound effects. It looked like a giant spinning top, but anything that approached it from the side will surely get cut into two.
ăPerhaps the experience points from the doll also are given back towards the real body?ă(Liecia)
ăThen canât that be considered as a Cheat ability? Because itâs like the experience points automatically rose by themselves.ă(Souma)
ăThat didnât happen?ă(Liecia)
ăSadly yes, there was no experience point feedback. Even if the Doll can use a skill, I canât use it. For that reason, I donât really get any boosts in physical strength or spiritual power. Thanks to that, the real body is still weak.ă(Souma)
ăThen how about you train it a little?ă(Liecia)
ăThen I think I will be able to use the doll more effectively. Even if Iâm alone, I can be very strong, since I can surround myself with three strong dolls standing beside me.ă(Souma)
ăThat is not how a Hero should fight, right?[30]ă(Liecia)
Liecia told me in astonishment. Iâm sorry to say but I canât refute her opinion.
In the fantasy genre of my former world I think that my âjobâ can be calledăPuppeteeră, ăDoll Useră or ăDollmanceră[31]. The main gist of those types of job was ăMid-Range Support Typeă. It was very different from a Hero who gave more of an impression of being a ăNear and Mid-Range Attacker Typeă. Well, it seems that in this country the Hero had a meaning ofăSomeone who Leads the Age of Reformationă[32].
ăSeeing you, the image of a Hero inside my heart has been thoroughly shattered.ă(Liecia)
ăDonât worry. I also feel the same.ă(Souma)
Not only had I managed the countryâs domestic affairs for a month, I also donât really have any plans other than managing domestic affairs for the next several months. Can I really be called a âHeroâ? No, I am âOneâ *irony*.
Suddenly, a knock came from outside the door.
ăYes, come in.ă(Liecia)
ăPlease excuse meă(Serina)
The person who said it while bowing her head was Lieciaâs chambermaid, Serina-san.[33]Â She was three years older than Liecia and wore glasses that really suited her appearance as an intellectually beautiful woman. It doesnât mean that I really know her, but I know from Lieciaâs story that she was a woman Liecia considered as an older sister.
Serina looked at my face and then politely bowed to me.
ăYour Majesty, Hakuya-sama want me to pass a message to you :Â ăPoncho-sama had started assembling everyone.ăă(Serina)
ăIt came at last! I have waited for this for a long time!ă(Souma)
I immediately stood up and took Lieciaâs hand.
ăLetâs go, Liecia!ă(Souma)
ăEh? Wai-? Wha-!?ă(Liecia)
We left the room as quick as the wind as Serina-san bowed and saw us off.
âăâăâ
En route, we picked up Aisha and then went to the conference room where several people were already assembled.
In the middle of the room was a round table where Hakuya (who had succeeded Marcusâs[34]Â position as Prime Minister), Tomoe-chan, Juna-san, and at last Poncho Ishizuka[35]Â were sitting. As Ludwin and Marcus were busy with another matter, they couldnât come right away, so all the assembled people in here were the talented people I had scouted earlier.
ăYour Majesty.ă(Hakuya)
ăAh, please sit down. I just came here on my own accord!ă(Souma)
Seeing that everyone tried to stood up, I raised my hand to stop them before Liecia and I took our seat. It was only Aisha, who for some reason, immediately stood beside me when I took my seat. Honestly, this was bothering me but I couldnât do anything about her since when I ordered her to take a seat, she firmly ignored my command. Wasnât I a ruler? ...Well, letâs just leave this matter aside for now.
ăI deeply express my thanks to everyone for your efforts in coming to this place.ă(Souma)
ăT-t-there is no need for it, Your Majesty! I-I-I am deeply sorry to cause this inconvenience!ă(Poncho)
ăYour Majesty, I wish for you not to lower your head so easily.ă(Hakuya)
Hakuya, who stood beside the flustered Poncho, began to frown.
ăIf someone like Your Majesty, who stands above others, starts to debase themselves, it might cause others to humiliate Your Majesty.ă(Hakuya)
ăI donât need to act in such a grandiose way and keep my dignity in here. After all, I think everyone in here as a friend rather as a retainer or a citizen.ă(Souma)
ăI think that words is unworthy of us, Your Majesty.ă(Juna)
Juna-san softly bowed. Juna-san was behaving in was that were really picture-perfect.[36]
On the contrary, Tomoe-chan was very nervous to the point where she started chattering her teeth.
ăAm-Am I also a friend of the king?ă(Tomoe)
ăThatâs wrong. Tomoe-chan is my sister-in-law, right?ă(Souma)
ăAh, thatâs right.ă(Tomoe)
ăYes. Thatâs why, donât refer me as King but as ăNiiă instead.ă(Souma)
ăAh, not fair! Then, also call meăOneechană!ă(Liecia)
ăEtto...ă*staring at us with upturned eyes*Â ăSouma-nii. Liecia-oneechan!ă[37]Â (Tomoe)
ăăïŒčïŒ„ïŒłïŒïŒăă(Souma)(Liecia)
Looking at Tomoe-chanâs adorable behaviour, I and Leichia spontaneously made a Guts Pose.[38]
*plack*! *plack*!
Our head were immediately hit by a harisen.[39]Â The one who had done it was Hakuya.
ăBoth of you please stop doing this foolish thing, since the talks canât continue on like this.ă(Hakuya)
ăăWe are sorry(;_;)ăă(Souma)(Liecia)
We gave an earnest apology. By the way, that harisen was something that I gave to Hakuya when he assumed the prime ministerâs position. ăWhen my conduct becomes intolerable, donât hesitate to strike my head with this.ă One way or another, the intention was for the formal Hakuya to calm down with a snappy joke, but, as expected of the unparalleled genius in all of the history of Elfrieden (according to Marcus), he used the harisen splendidly.
ă...How do you feel being a retainer who hits the head of the king in such a dignified way?ă(Souma)
ăMy heart is pained by this, however this is also the âKingâs Decreeâă(Hakuya)
Hakuya replied nonchalantly. I am delighted to be able to see his honest side, otherwise I would regret it if he had turned into a strict overseer... I was worried about this.
ăPutting those matters aside, Your Majesty. Could you care to enlighten everyone as to the purpose of this meeting?ă(Hakuya)
ăAh. Thatâs right...Ponchoă(Souma)
ăY-Yes!ă(Poncho)
Perhaps because he was called so suddenly, the plump Poncho knocked over his chair when he stood up. His round body was the same as ever, but looked different from the way it looked at the audience several days ago; his body was completely tanned dark. There was a reason for this: recently, he literally flew around the whole world.[40]
ăHave you prepared what I had requested from you earlier?ă(Souma)
ăY-Yes! Thanks to Your Majestyâs cooperation, the places that I needed to spend 20 years to visit, were able to be visited in just several days.ă(Poncho)
ă...What do you mean?ă(Liecia)
Liecia looked puzzled.
ăI lent âAir Force 1â[41]Â to him for the transportation.ă(Souma)
ăAerfos...What?ă(Liecia)
ăRoyal Family has flying dragon right? I lent that to him.ă(Souma)
It was the Royal flying dragon that the king uses when travelling abroad. Due to the armyâs prohibitions, there were no other flying dragons, just the one. Because rapid transportation was necessary for Ponchoâs errand, I lent it to him. There were objections about lending the Royal Familys exclusive flying dragon to a mere commoner. However, since it couldnât be substituted with one of the flying dragons belong to the Air Force led by one of the Three Lords, Castor Balgas[42]; they were forced to accept this decision. By now, it will be futile to oppose my loan and request. Really... They are standing in my way.
ă...It would be great if they were destroyed. Three Lordsâ territory that is.ă(Souma)
ăD-Donât say something so rash!ă(Liecia)
ăEven if Iâm thinking about this seriously?ă(Souma)
Liecia let out a gasp when she saw my expression. I wondered what kind of face I was making right now. Even Poncho and Tomoe-chan became frightened by it. Maybe this is not the right occasion to speak about this.[43]
ăWell then, Poncho, can you please show us what you have gathered?ă(Souma)
ăY-Yes! These are what Your Majesty requested ăThe Ingredients not used in This Countryâs Cuisineă!ă(Poncho)
Poncho said it while taking out the big bag with great haste. Yes, I made use of Ponchoâs plethora of food knowledge and appointed him to search for foodstuffs.
Seeing that bag, Liecia opened her eyes wide in disbelief.
ăIsnât that the Royal Familyâs treasured possession theăHeroâs Bag of Holdingsă?!ă(Liecia)
ăAh. I can store a lot of things without changing their appearance, thatâs why this bag is convenient for storing foodstuffs since they wonât go bad. Since I thought that it was useful for collecting foodstuffs, I lent it to him.ă(Souma)
ăThatâs why..... Argh, whatever!ă(Liecia)
Well, since the milk had been spilt, Liecia gave up and dropped her shoulders.
ăSo what are these? The ingredients not used in this countryâs cuisine?ă(Liecia)
ăMore accurately, these are  ăFood that are eaten only in another country or in a locality in our country and are not a particularly popular cuisine on this countryăă(Souma)
Different places have different goods, so different people also have different tastes.
Something that is not eaten and thrown away in one place could be considered as a delicacy in other places. This is a story that I hear often. Even in Japan, there are some localities that made us surprised.ăEh? That sort of thing could be eaten?!ă: That is what the Ken*n Show on TV had taught me.[44]
ăRight now, our country is changing from planting cash crops, such as cotton, tea and tobacco, to planting food crops. However we will only get results during autumn. To guarantee that the citizen s right now donât get starve, we need an immediate effective measure.ă(Souma)
A long term earnest reform was necessary to fundamentally resolve the food problem. However, in the meantime there might be people suffering from starvation and they were in danger of starving to death if it went on too long. Furthermore, the ones who would perish first will be the ones with meager vitality. That is, infants who require a large amount of nutrition. Children are the treasure of a nation. A country that couldnât protect its own children would have no future. However, even if we delivered the nutrition to infants inside of Elfieden, there will be some part of the land that canât be reached by the countryâs aid. Thatâs why while we are executing our long term plan, we also need a short term immediate effective measure.
ăThose are the ingredients not usually eaten?ă(Liecia)
ăFood that is eaten in another country but not usually eaten in this country: If we incorporate that food into the cuisine, it will be harder for the people to starve, since we would have simply increased the availability of food.ă(Souma)
ăDoes something that convenient actually exists?ă(Liecia)
ăThatâs why we need to make sure of it.... Then, let us move on from this place.ă(Souma)
ăMove? Where?ă(Liecia)
I smiled at the confused Liecia and said.
ăWe will need to examine whether or not we could use the food, so the place we should go to of course will be the dining room, right?ă
Author note (digested version, since Iâm too lazy to translate everything):
The author realized that Soumaâs cheat that should be only useful for paperwork, can actually also used in an OP way like funnels (Gundam reference), but the author decide to against using it in such way. So no One-Man-Many-Doll-Army Souma.
[10]Â æźżÂ Dono: A very formal polite way to refer someone. Mainly used in official letters and or situation. Actually means Feudal Lord / Master.
[11] ăžă„ă: Juna. This is like a Korean name. Larvyde transliterate this name as Gyna.
[12]Â Remember that it was the Personal Union between the Kingdom of Scotland and Kingdom of England that gave birth to the British Empire.
[13]Â This maybe explains one of the reasons for the low birthrate in Japan....
[14]ăăąăš: Tomoe. ăĄăă: Chan. An informal familiar way to refer a child or someone younger.
[15] æŻäžÂ Hahaue: A very formal polite name for Mother. It can be also translated as: Honored Mother.
[16]Â Refers to the period of time that a new mother takes off from work following the birth of her baby. In Indonesia, this is three months and considered as a paid leave.
[17] ă ă”ă·ćăăă: Musashi Bouya-Kun. Bouya means Boy
[18] The certain cat robot is Doraemon. When he took out tools from his 4 dimensional pocket, there will be a BGM playing and he will say the toolâs name.
[19]Â Yurukyara: Almost every city, company or etc in Japan has their own Mascot Character, just like how every university in USA has a character mascot for American Football or something....
[20]Â Deformed: A Japanese term for a character with unrealistic proportion; mostly 1:2 or 1:3, the so called chibified character with a large head. Like Gundam SD (1:2)
[21]Â This means that the mascotâs height is two times the head height.
[22] Benkei is famous in Japan for being an epitome of loyalty and honor.
[23]Â æ°ç :Â Juzu or Buddhist prayer beads. Just like the rosary used by Catholics.
[24]Â Gap: a Japanese concept of a character that had an unexpected side that is different from what they usually shown to others, related to Japanese concept ofHonne and Tatemae, like a girl who is really taciturn, composed, and always glaring at MC, but actually really shy and likes cute things. Just.... expose yourself to some Japanese popular media....
[25] æŠè” Musashi is also the name for a historical region consisting of Tokyo, Saitama and Kanagawa.
[26] Famous Japanese Swordsman who famous for two sword style
[27] Famous Sumo Wrestler
[28]ăăčăăăłă°ăăŒăăăăŻă, Chun-Liâs move from Street Fighter.
[29] ććŁăźäžçŽăčăă«ăé«éćè»ąæŹăă:  Souken no Chuukyuu sukiruăKousokukaitenkiriă
[30] Standard JRPG Hero party consists of 4 people: one Hero and three comrades  that stand side by side a la Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest style. Since Liecia didn't know about it since she was from another world. I previously mistranslated this line. Thanks to the kind anon who pointed this out.
[31] It wasăäșșćœąéŁăă (ningyoutsukai)ăă甥çč°ăäœżăă  (Karakuritsukai)ăăăăă€ćž«ă (Kugutsushi). Same Job different name.
[33] ă»ăȘăŁă: Serina. San. A formal polite way to refer someone.
[34] ăă«ăŻăč : Marukusu. Either it Marx or Marks, or Marcus.
[35] ăăłăă§ïŒă€ă·ă ă«Â Poncho Ishidzuka. His name come from Ishizuka Hidehiko, one of the most famous gourmet celebrity shows in Japan: Ishi-chanâs âExtraordinaryâ Gourmet Show
[36]Â Picture-perfect, adjective:Â lacking in defects or flaws; ideal.
[37]Â Upturned eyes are considered to be cute in Japan.
'Oniichan'
[38] A victory pose popularized by famous athlete, Guts Ishimatsu.
Thanks again, Kokoro...
[39] Harisen is a paper fan commonly used in Japanese slapstick comedy. Umm... this is another world right? I now picture Hakuya carrying a harisen like Zhuge Liang carrying a fan.
[40] This is a pun in Japanese: äžçäžăéŁăłćăăă Sekaijuu o tobimawaraseta. Could be a figurative way to say: âCircling the whole world.â Or âTraveling the whole worldâ like â80 days around the worldâ. The pun was Tobi literally means Fly.
[41]Â A nickname or moniker for the personal plane of President of the USA
[43]Â Beware the nice one. Maybe his face expression is just like Hinata Fuyuki in Keroro Gunso when he mad. Too bad we wonât see is army of dolls (funnels) decimating the Three Lordsâ army.
[44]Â Nope. I donât know what kind this TV Program is... Any reader know? It start with Ken and end with n, and the genre is documentary or reality show I guess.