Chapter 381
XX Skill
“Oh, there you are. Long time no see, Tak.u.mi.”
“…?”
As I was walking on the street, a beautiful man suddenly approached me, calling out my name.
The other man was talking as if he knew me, but I had no recollection of having met this man.
“Allen and Elena also seem to be doing good.”
“”Unyu?””
He seemed to know Allen and Elena too, but they also tilted their heads curiously, as if they didn’t recognize the man.
“Err… who might you be?”
Long blue hair and golden eyes. I’d say he was in his late 20s or early 30s.
He had quite an eye-catching appearance, so I don’t think I would ever forget him if I ever met him again~
“Me, it’s me. Kaiser.”
“E, ehhh!? Ka, Kaiser!?”
“”You are Kaiser?””
To my surprise, the beautiful man introduced himself as Kaiser.
The magic power I felt was indeed Kaiser’s, but I could not believe it.
I hurried to appraise the man in front of me. It turned out that he was definitely Kaiser, the Leviathan.
… His status was full of uncertainties as ever, though.
“You really are Kaiser! Eh, why did you take on a human form?”
“N? Do you not know about the Humanification skill?”
“””Humanification~?”””
Me and the kids all tilted our heads.
“It’s a skill that allows you to become a human.”
“Ah, I see!”
Eh, Humanification skill? So something like that existed~ I wasn’t aware it existed.
“”That’s amazing~”
“I’m great, aren’t I~”
Allen and Elena walked around Kaiser and observed him.
Kaiser also showed off by extending and bending his arms as if to show off to the children.
Watching the three of them, I had a thought.
“……… Hey, Kaiser, did you acquire that skill just recently?”
“N? I’ve had it for some time already.”
… Kaiser had the Humanification skill for a while? So, is that skill among the unreadable part of his status?
“I see, I see now. Let me ask you something, Kaiser…”
“N? What is it?”
“Did you acquire the Humanification skill before you were asked to protect Allen and Elena?”
Five years ago, no, it was six years ago now, wasn’t it? When Allen and Elena were born, Kaiser was asked to protect the children as the Water G.o.d’s retainer. However, Kaiser was a Leviathan who lived underwater. If he went to the city to protect the children with his huge body of several tens of meters, he would have risked wrecking the city. For that reason, he had to refuse the request… that’s what he said when we met him before.
I was convinced that Kaiser had given up on protecting the children because of that reason, but then I realized that… he should have simply used Humanification then.
“……… I did.”
Kaiser seemed to have realized what I was trying to say. He looked disappointed.
“I’m sorry! I completely forgot all about this skill at the time!”
Kaiser immediately apologized.
“… Are you angry? I don’t want to make any excuses but, my first Humanification took place after I met you, Tak.u.mi.”
“After you met us? So you never tried the skill before?”
“Yeah. I was never interested in becoming human.”
“I see. Then why did you suddenly remember the skill?”
When Kaiser told me the reason, well… it made sense. If Kaiser had took the the children under his care, I would never have met them. He apologized honestly, and I don’t blame him for this.
But then, why did he suddenly used a skill he had long forgotten?
“After getting to know you, signing a contract with you, albeit a temporary one, and making a connection with you, I had a sudden urge of wanting to meet up with you guys.”
“Eh… is that so?”
“That’s right. You don’t call for me at all, you know?”
“Ah, yes, that’s right.”
I have never summoned the Kaiser, because there are only a limited number of places where he can be summoned in the first place~
“I thought to myself, if I can’t get him to summon me, then I should try to do reverse summoning myself.”
“Eh, wait a minute! Come again?”
“I thought I would try to reverse summon you.”
“Reverse summoning? What is that? I have never heard of it!”
“It’s means, I intended to summon you to me.”
“That’s exactly what the name implies, isn’t it!”
So does that mean Joule and the others can summon me too? I’ll have to examine it in detail next time. Or rather, perhaps Joule and the others could take on human forms, too! Let’s look into the Humanification skill later!
“But you see, reverse summoning means that only Tak.u.mi, the contractor, can be summoned. That would mean separating you from the children.”
“That wouldn’t be good!”
“”Not good~!””
That would mean leaving the kids behind and suddenly disappearing, wouldn’t it?
If we were at the Ruven house, that would be one thing, but if we were outside the city, or in a dungeon, that would be dreadful!
“I know. That’s why I endured. And while I was trying to figure out what to do, I remembered the skill.”
“I see, so that’s how it happened.”
I’m sure Kaiser was very considerate of our situation.
I’m really glad I wasn’t the only one summon to him.
“Mhm, that’s how it is. I thought of going to see you myself recalled the Humanification skill. But when I started using it, I couldn’t even keep it up for half a day before I reverted back to my original form.”
“Half a day!? Eh, what about now, then? You wouldn’t suddenly revert back to your original form inside the city, would you?”
“I’m a hard worker. I can now stay in my human form for a few days without any problems!”
I don’t know how hard he was working on it, but if he could keep it for only half a day and it extended to a few days, he must have worked very hard.
“I see. You worked hard.”
“Mhm. By the way, Tak.u.mi, the way you speak is different from before.”
“Huh? Sorry… I mean, I apologize?”
“You don’t have to rephrase. I’d rather you speak the way you do now.”
“Oh, really? Well, I’ll take your word for it then.”
Certainly, I was speaking politely when we met before. I think I felt dwarfed by Kaiser, the Leviathan, so I was speaking politely. But today, to my surprise, my speech was casual.
“How many days have you been in your human form for? How many more days do you think you can stay that way?”
“Well, I think I’ll be fine for three more days, I think.”
“I see. Then stay in the city… Speaking of which, Kaiser, how did you get here and how did you enter the city?”
“N? I came running in a straight line, relying on the magic power of my scales that I had given to you for directions. This was the only human dwelling I had entered, but I got in by going over the wall before dawn.”
“……”
No way, to think he was trespa.s.sing. No, but is it otherwise impossible for the Kaiser to enter the city? It would be cute for the soldiers to stop him at the gate, but if they found out he was a Leviathan, all h.e.l.l would break loose, and if they didn’t find out, I have a feeling that he would be unappraisable and all h.e.l.l would break loose anyway.
“Umm… anyway, for the time being, be careful that people don’t see you going in and out of the city.”
“Mhm, I hear you.”
Let’s see if we can somehow get a guild card for Kaiser.
“So… what is it? Ahh, you will need some time to move out of sight, so you can undo your Humanification safely, so that would make one or two days at most, but would you like to take a look around the city?”
“Can I!?”
I invited Kaiser, who had probably never been to a human city before, to join us for a day or two of sightseeing. Then, Kaiser showed an overjoyed expression.
“Of course, you can—Right, Allen, Elena.”
“”Yeah!””
“Allen will show you around!”
“Elena will take you to see some fun places, too!”
“I will be in your care!”
The kids were also eager to show Kaiser around.
However, the sun will be setting soon, so we won’t be able to show him around in earnest until tomorrow.
Then, what about a place for Kaiser to stay? As expected, we can’t let Kaiser stay at the inn alone. But that doesn’t mean we can go to an inn… I’m sure people will object to that. Mainly Rebecca-san.
I wonder if it would be better to be honest here and negotiate with the Ruven family to let us take Kaiser to stay with us. I’m not going to tell them that he’s Leviathan, just that I b.u.mped into someone I know.
“Kaiser, we don’t have much time left today, so we will have to wait until tomorrow to do a real tour of the city. Let’s give you a quick look around the town on our way home. And I don’t know how long you sleep, or what your habits are, but I know people sleep at night, so try to be as accommodating as possible.”
“Mm, I understand.”
At any rate, I have to make sure that the kids and Kaiser properly keep his true ident.i.ty in the dark.