There"s a joke involving English words in this first section so I"m going to underline all the words that were already in English because it won"t make sense otherwise once everything is translated into English XD But anyway, since I did it for the first part, I figured I"d just underline all of the English words in this chapter that Yuuri uses and the ones that show up in the narration as well just for fun. These include words that have been borrowed from English and it’s normal for them to be used, but a bunch of them are also just random English words that Yuuri randomly uses at random. Did I mention the random-ness? XD Murata does it too when he gets all goofy and Muraken-ish. Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to show just how many words the two of them use that no one else can understand.
So anyway, there was another name in this chapter that was different in the Chinese version and that would be the family name of the people who the high-speed s.h.i.+p belongs to, Duchar > Dugald. There is only one other name what was different in the Chinese version so I’m just going to throw it out here too, but you don’t really need to remember it because it isn’t used again in this novel (it might be in future novels, but who knows because I haven’t read them yet). The captain of the Dugald s.h.i.+p is named Hicks, not Descuss. I can see how all the other names changed a bit, but this one has me really confused o.O So yeah, he is Hicks Dugald II, not Descuss Duchar II.
Chapter 6
Greta presses her cheek onto the top of the desk after closing her book with a snap.
The coolness of the stone surface feels good in the overheated room.
"Dictionaries are boring."
"Really? Learning words you do not know one by one is exceedingly satisfying."
Lady Anissina von Karbelnikoff drops several strands of grey hair into a foaming, moss green liquid. It cannot be determined who they belong to.
"Around when I was your size, I had compiled a dictionary for my own personal use. While it is a disappointing fact, there is still no guide to the dialect specific to aquatic life in this kingdom and the survey of the elusive Fish Skeleton Tribe is going nowhere."
"Fish Skeleton Tribe!?"
Children from any world always love mysterious animals. After being depressed that her beloved mother and father (it is uncertain who is who) won"t come home, hearing the name of an UMA (Unidentified Mysterious Animal) makes her face light up in excitement.
"Awesome! What"s the Fish Skeleton Tribe!?"
"Similar to the Flying Skeleton Tribe and the Earth Skeleton Tribe, they are a species of aquatic life with bodies that look like bones. If someone encounters one on a beach and calls out to it, there is no answer and it appears to simply be a corpse. However, it is said that they swim freely in peaceful seas and lakes away from public gaze."
Greta knits her manly eyebrows together and tries to imagine it. Swimming bones.
"... Isn"t that just someone"s leftovers?"
"Of course not. No matter how talented the chef, it is impossible for them to leave a fish able to swim around so energetically. Because they are a rare creature that are hardly ever found, we call them Fish Skeleton Bowls and they are treated as bringers of good fortune. There is nothing more adorable than one of them wrapped up in seaweed." (1)
"Fish Skeleton Bowls..."
The child is listening with rapt attention. The skeletons probably have barnacles stuck on them as well.
"Deciphering their words and having interactions with ones of differing cultures is enjoyable. The dictionary I compiled is around here... ah!"
Even Lady Anissina von Karbelnikoff - the confident and intellectual beauty, the one who holds magical power worthy of being called one of The Great Demon Kingdom"s Three Great Witches, the number one woman to appear in the dreams of children, The Red Devil and the Mad Magicalist of any season - felt inconvenienced by something.
She was just a little bit on the small side.
"I don"t need money (I have it already) and I don"t need women (because I"m a woman), but I want to be just a little taller." The fact that she has murmured this to herself about three times since she was born is a secret that only Lord von Voltaire knows. In any case, there was usually someone taller around to a.s.sist her so she had never been troubled by this much. However, as she tried to grab the thick, leather-bound book from its tall perch, she knocked over something near it. She managed to catch it with her arms, many times stronger than they appeared, however.
"Anissina, are you okay?"
"Yes, I am fine. Oh, this is "Urgent Report: Authentic Information! His Majesty Yuuri"s 24 Words"."
"What"s that!?"
"It is a reference with words from His Majesty"s birthplace paired with words in the High Demon language that I began writing in order to show him some reverence and respect by understanding the circ.u.mstances in which he was raised. However, since he is a person who is often absent from the country... I am afraid I have only been able to record 24 words."
"I wanna see I wanna see let me see!"
Being faced with a girl who holds the future on her shoulders, even The Red Devil gets an uncertain look on her face.
"I will remind you that it still only scratches the surface. Fine then. What word would you like to know?" Anissina asked as she opened the dark blue book. There are letters with peculiar thickness and size written within. It is highly unlikely that it is her handwriting. It"s almost like a code. If a love letter was sent to someone in this writing, it would likely be mistaken for a new brand of hara.s.sment.
"Hm, okay then, "hel"!"
"Hel?"
"Yeah, that. Yuuri uses the word "hel" a lot. Like "helmet" and "help me" and Sakkon"s healthy s.h.i.+kou." (2)
"... "Hel" ... Ah, here it is."
Greta watched Anissina"s neatly trimmed, poison-sea-spider-colored fingernails in admiration. If she became a man, she"d like to be like Yuuri and if she was a woman, she"d like to be like Anissina.
Her plans for her future are fairly concerning. They can"t be encouraged.
"... h.e.l.l, it means h.e.l.l."
"h.e.l.l?"
"It seems so. Incidentally, "thy" means ocean. In other words, "healthy" means Sea of h.e.l.l." (3)
"A Sea of h.e.l.l. Yuuri lives in an amazing place... huh?"
The sound of quick footsteps and a trailing scream come echoing from the other end of the long hall.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
With his waist-length hair trailing behind him parallel to the floor, Real Lord Günter von Christ runs past them. The hems of his long pants are rolled all the way up and even his thighs are completely exposed.
“His Highness! His Highness"s return to The Great Demon Kingdom! With seven consecutive nights in celebration with banquets and drinking there will be so many people collapsing and shedding their clothes I must put aside my rank for tonight-------------------!"
He ran past the open door with a speed that surpa.s.sed the wind. Before that thought could even pa.s.s their minds, His Excellency Lord Gwendal von Voltaire, face red, rushed after him screaming as well.
"Wait! That"s exceeding our budget and the female n.o.bles don"t want that! THIS IS WHY I"M TELLING YOU NOT TO GO SPREADING THIS AROUND!"
"... I have been feeling as if it were chaotic lately and it seems that it is because the vulgar men have lost their minds. I suppose stopping this as soon as possible is the responsibility of the wise. Greta, cover your ears."
"Okay."
Anissina activates "Killer Bomb! The Magic-Powered Homing Missile".
"This is h.e.l.l."
"Yeah, it"s h.e.l.l."
------
(1) The way Fish Skeleton Bowl is written implies that it"s a rice bowl similar to a chicken bowl, shrimp bowl, etc. So pretty much what happened here is that Anissina said "No, they"re not food, but we call them this food name."
(2) I"m going to be 100% honest and say that I could not figure out what Sakkon"s Healthy s.h.i.+kou is supposed to be. The consensus is that it"s probably an energy drink.
(2) There is no "th" sound in j.a.panese so the way that Yuuri says the "thy" in "healthy" ends up being "s.h.i.+" which then in turn sounds like "sea". It makes sense, I swear!
Nigel Wise Maxine is the man who turned Caloria into h.e.l.l.
He has the Small s.h.i.+maron trademark hair style and beard style, a thin face and white cheeks without muscle and, if I had to describe them, thin eyes with single-fold eyelids. Because of that, his overall impression was sharp-witted and lethal more so than strong and fearless. The nickname I decided for him was Cropped Ponytail, but I have no intention of using such a cute name for him.
"Hey, Cropped Pony! You got some nerve showing your face here!"
Ah, I used it.
"Oh, that voice. Look who it is."
As usual, he was wearing even the dark red mantle of the Small s.h.i.+maron military and his face - with even more injuries - distorted a bit. He probably laughed. He starts talking in his intentionally slow and subdued manner meant to intimidate.
"The guest of Norman Gilbit of Caloria who, along with the gallant prisoners, volunteered for an honorable task in service of His Majesty Saralegi, king of Small s.h.i.+maron and then went missing after an unknown power went wild - Captain Crusoe or something... wasn"t it?"
"I"d rather you shorten that introduction."
And in any case, there are details that are conveniently wrong.
It was a while ago, but it also seemed like just yesterday. This man carried out an experiment in the name of his king and, as we were headed to Big s.h.i.+maron on the western side of the continent (which received no damage), we were gathered together in a stadium along with a bunch of unlucky prisoners where he tried to release the horribly evil weapon, "The End of the Land." With the wrong key that I have no idea where he obtained.
Conrad"s arm.
Maxine narrows his single-fold eyes and looked over my companions.
"The demons are multiplying. I"ve met your aide there, but this is the first time I"ve had the pleasure to meet this beautiful one. Well I say, you"ve all gathered together. Is this some sort of carefree sightseeing trip in s.h.i.+maron?"
"What!? You"re one to talk! After doing all that to Caloria, to half the continent, you"re on a family trip with your daughters!? Ah, you young ladies are not at fault here."
"Daughters?" The man who seems like he would even smell cold stands next to the twins in a heartwarming scene. "Mine? Certainly not. Although I did name them."
"You named them!?"
I wonder if naming rights lie with someone other than the parents in this world. But anyway, what"s up with naming beautiful twin girls Jason and Freddy? Even though they"re so pretty and cute, if you get them together they"re Splatter Sisters who you never know when they"re going to start murdering someone.
"Oh man, I-I"m so lucky that the man who named me didn"t call me "The Ring" s.h.i.+buya."
"I might have ended up Zaku Murata. That would have been bad." (1)
"... Zaku, huh? That"s a fitting name for a warrior," Wolfram says with a bit of appreciation. Even so, do not name a girl that.
"These people," said either Friday the 13th or Elm Street as they grabbed the cold man"s arm. I want to be a good big brother and tell them that they must not be friendly with a man like this. However, these girls might be like demons where you can"t tell how old they are just by looking at them. They might be much older than I am. I have never met a G.o.d in person before so it"s better to be safe than sorry.
"These people, World"s Best."
"They said they were going to enter? I see... honestly, I must say."
He looks like he should be stroking his beard so it doesn"t seem likely he"ll wish us luck. I got a bad feeling. If we"re talking about things with beards, I"d prefer the bearded seal.
"I hadn"t heard that the country of demons was invited. Ah, are you fighting for Caloria despite being visitors of another species? I"d thought they wouldn"t be able to partic.i.p.ate because that place had fallen on misfortune."
"... You don"t have any shame do you? ... That was your fault."
"You"re saying that was my fault? And here is another outrageous misunderstanding."
He raises the hands he had rested on the girl’s shoulders. After facing his palms to the sky, the standby for his speech concludes.
“Caloria became the territory of Small s.h.i.+maron. As such, the citizens of that place must devote everything to His Majesty, King Saralegi of Small s.h.i.+maron. That is their destiny. No one can defy the will of the G.o.ds. In fact, they should feel blessed to be able to be of use to His Majesty. At present we bow to our forefather of Big s.h.i.+maron, but that is only for now. Eventually the two kingdoms will unite and Lord Saralegi will rule over all. Oh what better word should be used to describe the joy of being able to serve this great being?”
He’s gotten completely carried away. However, I have made one surprising discovery.
“So at the moment, Small s.h.i.+maron has to obey Big s.h.i.+maron.”
Maxine frowned slightly and the scars on his cheek drew tight.
“Resourceful and talented men being able to rule over the ma.s.ses is the way of the world. Before long, the day will come when Lord Saralegi will govern over the entire continent, no, the entire world. That is also destiny. Captain Crusoe,” using my t.i.tle with deliberate, hypocritical politeness, the Refrigerator Man peers over my goggles and right into my eyes. “According to certain people, Twin Blacks with black eyes and black hair are rare creatures. You likely have quite a dignified position in your own kingdom. However… Captain, and the rest of you demons, it is interesting that you have the time to come to this far away, enemy territory to represent a foreign country that you have no ties to. As one would expect of those who struggled until the very end in the previous war and gave us all that trouble.”
I might be imagining it, but the temperature of my neighbor on my right was unusually high. The former Crown Prince seems to be boiling in his rage. Wolfram was so irritated it looked like he could draw his sword at any moment. However, he only spoke in a cold voice without moving his right hand in the slightest. He is impressively controlling his emotions in what looks like an imitation of his eldest brother.
“And how old were you at that time, human? You were probably wrapped up in your filthy bed trembling in fear.”
“Wh-… I was already 15…”
“A new recruit then. That reminds me, I remember letting a frightened recruit run away around Dormael. He had p.i.s.sed himself in his terror and I couldn’t stand the smell.”
“I was never anywhere near Dormael.”
“Hm, I’d thought that a new recruit’s first battle would have been just like that pathetic little skirmish. Then were you involved in the fierce fighting at Arnold? There’s no way. I heard from my brother that no one survived that battle.”
Maxine panicked at hearing the name of that place. I end up feeling a sense of reliability from Wolfram.
“Impossible! You’re a survivor of Arnold!? Then you were a member of the Luttenberg Division at such a young-”
“Oh you know, I was at Arnold.”
“Eh!?”
Behind us all, Josak lightly waves his hand.
“You’re talking about my division. Ah, how nostalgic. My lovely self was bursting with youthful energy and vigor back then.” (2)
The outer appearances of demons are as amazing as crab dishes. When you compare Cropped Pony and Josak, Josak is the one that looks younger. But that’s only on the outside and he is actually almost three times older. If thePheromone Queen Lady Celi were human, she’d be in the Guinness Book of World Records for age. However, it’s too late by the time you find that out. Fooled by that nice body and alluring smile, my mind and body were completely taken out of order. Although, I am also at fault for being deceived.
“Well, I guess I’m the youngest one here after all. Loaches and carps don’t come out until spring.” (3)
“But you really are lucky. The scars you got from this rookie here seemed to have healed nicely,” Murata comments.
Maxine’s lips twist. The scars on his cheek stretch. Did I really give him those?
“You’re joking- …” I swallow the words that almost left my mouth. Because as I watched, the man’s face was slowly being overtaken by fear. Cropped Pony grabbed the twins’ arms and ran away at full speed.
“Well then, everyone, we shall meet at the arena!” he calls over his shoulder like in a period drama. Freddy or Jason gives us a small wave.
While I was standing there in shock not knowing what happened, an animal charged onto the scene with roaring hooves.
“T-Zou!”
“Nmofunnmofunnmofunnmofufufufu!”
Her rectangular pupils turned triangular and her fluffy fur is standing on end in anger. She’s breathing heavily.
“Oh, he doesn’t like sheep? You really can’t tell by appearances.”
“A sheep…”
If there is a man with a similar unparalleled cool-headedness that has unending love for small and cute animals contradictory to his appearance, there are people who are abnormally fearful of hoofed creatures. It would be quite thescene if we threw the both of them into a children’s petting zoo.
Accompanied by Sizemore, Flynn appeared on the other side of the fountain. After finding me, she gives a relieved smile and her gait quickens to a jog. When she comes within arm’s length, her expression suddenly becomes worried. Her cold fingers touch my cheek.
“What’s wrong? You look pale.”
“Hm? Nothing much. There’s nothing new. My lips are probably just turning purple because it’s cold here.”
Without a doubt, there is nothing new since just a little while ago. My condition hasn’t suddenly become worse. I’ve been like this since I got off the boat. Like the first symptoms of a cold, my chest and head are bothering me. I’m a little nauseous, it’s hard to breathe, my head is heavy and I’m in a bit of pain. And then my ears are buzzing as well.
“It’s understandable; this is human land after all. There were s.h.i.+nzoku right in front of us before. The particles of their powers were strong. The effects are severe for both the bodies and spirits of powerful demons. Lord von Bielefelt feels tired as well, no? Gurrier, Captain Sizemore and I should be fine… What’s wrong, captain? You look depressed.” (4)
After being addressed, the middle-aged man bowed his head in dejection. “Ah, no Your Highness. I am honored by your concern, but… this is a very personal matter.”
As Flynn flipped through the registration booklet, she tilted her head to the side in suspicion. Her silver hair flows over her shoulder and gleams in the afternoon light as it covers her back. “This man is always depressed.”
“Depressed? Don’t worry captain, don’t hold back. If Murata and I can do something for you…”
“Ah, Your Majesty, that would be a waste! I’m only, well, all of the soldiers here in this country have... wonderful hair…”
Wonderful hair!? The Rookie Demon King, the former Crown Prince Pretty Boy and even The Great Sage all yell this in unison.
Now that he mentions it, their soft, long hair is attractive, but it’s not the sort of hair style that a middle aged man would dream about. Or maybe this demon version of Francisco Xavier simply longs for hair on the top of his head. The one who spoke first was Wolfram.
“A-are you an idiot!? For a soldier, hair is just something that covers your head!”
“Yes sir, I apologize, Your Excellency! It is as you say.”
“Come on now, Wolf. If Captain Sizemore wanted, he could transfer from the military into baseball. Then he can cover his head with a hat or a helmet.”
“No, captain, you shouldn’t cover up your individuality. In that respect, soccer is a good choice. Zidane is an international hero.” (5)
“Is hair really that important?”
At Flynn’s question – with her s.h.i.+ning platinum blonde hair – we all yelled, “We don’t want to hear that from you!”
She faltered momentarily at the men’s reaction but she quickly collects herself and changes the subject.
“Yes, that’s right. My hair is quite beautiful. It is one of the weapons of women. But now we need beast’s fur more than hair. The opening day for ‘Use your knowledge, speed and skill to win! The World’s Best Fighter Tournament’ is the day after tomorrow. Before then, we need to find a vehicle we can use in the speed contest and acquire an animal to tow it.”
If I’m hearing things like Tajima, Flynn just said that she has been using that weapon of women. That’s horrible. This is a gender studies issue! No wait, more importantly, if my hearing is correct, she just said that we need a vehicle and an animal to pull it. (6)
What’s up with that?
I’ve finally become a little scared of The World’s Best Fighter Tournament.
---------
(1) Zaku are mobile suits in Gundam ^-^ 99.99999% of the time, they"re the enemy"s.
(2) Linguistic note! The word for ‘bursting with youthful energy and vigor’ Josak used (yes, it’s only one word in j.a.panese XD) is usually only for describing young girls.
(3) This is a reference to a children’s song called Dojokko Funakko. It’s a silly little song about children thinking about what loaches and carps think of the things that happen in their waters. Like, they wonder if the fishes think that monsters are in the water when little kids go swim or if they think that a bunch of little boats have sailed up when the leaves fall in autumn.
(4) This is just a linguistic note about something that I wanted to call attention to. In j.a.panese, the "captain" in Captain Sizemore is not the same word used for Captain Crusoe. Sizemore is a captain of a s.h.i.+p so his t.i.tle is "senchou" while Yuuri was pretending to be a navy captain so he gets called "taisa". I"m saying this because in the next section, Flynn calls Yuuri "captain" and I saw the potential for confusion.
(5) Zinedine Zidane was a bald soccer player from France. He is now an a.s.sistant coach.
(6) Youko Tajima is a famous and popular j.a.panese feminist who is a former member of the j.a.panese Diet and appears on numerous variety shows, dramas, etc.
‘Use your knowledge, speed and skill to win! The World’s Best Fighter Tournament,’ audaciously abbreviated to ‘The World’s Best’ was a contest true to its name.
In other words, you can’t get by with just being smart and you can’t win if you have muscles for brains. Even if you’re wise and strong and smart, you can’t be a slow tortoise like in my mom’s favorite saying.
“As the schedule is now, the contestants will be thinned out during the ‘knowledge’ section first and then they will move on to the ‘speed’ event. We need a vehicle and animal for this. The starting point is Nilzon and all the territories partic.i.p.ating will race to Big s.h.i.+maron’s royal capital of Lambert.” (1)
“Wait! Wait, that knowledge test, will I be okay with having enough technical skill to buy juice from a vending machine?”
“s.h.i.+buya, we’re not chimpanzees.”
“I’ve heard they are written questions, but… it’s the first time for me as well.”
“Gah! A written test! I’m going to get disqualified! I’m only good with scantrons so there’s no way I’ll be able to get a good score on a written test in a foreign language!”
To make matters worse, Flynn had written Wolfram, Josak and me into the three spots on the team member list. We were so overconfident we overlooked the fact that we had to actually make it to the finals.
After all, the finals are a fighting contest based on ‘skill.’ We will have to fight with Big s.h.i.+maron’s strongest soldiers. It’s rude to say this, but I don’t think that Mr. Robinson is very skilled in combat. You, captain, don’t seem to be much better in this respect, but you have an unfathomable amount of magical power.
There was a really cheap jab in there, but she did her best to explain her reasoning. It says that hired mercenaries are allowed, but there has to be at least one person from the represented area in the three man team. It is also said that the opponents in the finals will be the victors of the previous tournament, Big s.h.i.+maron. It’s like an eternal seed for their perpetual authority.
“What does that mean? So I’m not entered as a mysterious demon or Captain Crusoe, but as the Calorian Norman Gilbit?”
“… Yes.”
“Wow.” So my failure is Norman Gilbit’s failure and my victory is Norman Gilbit’s victory? Now that a dead man’s honor is on my shoulders, my responsibility has doubled. “But don’t the leaders in Big s.h.i.+maron know that your husband died a long time ago?”
“They have their doubts, but I believe they do not know for sure. They came to me first. The people in s.h.i.+maron thought that since Norman was a pure and n.o.ble man he would never hand over the evil Wincott poison even if it was for the benefit of the young people of Caloria.”
Flynn gave a self-deprecating laugh and turned her gaze toward a nearby store.
So they thought that you would be capable of anything.
They had come to the conclusion that Flynn would dirty her hands to save the young men of her country.
We rushed into the marketplace in a big hurry, but the only things for sale were daily essentials and food. The merchant who handled all-in-one horse and carriage sets had closed shop a long time ago. We ended up just walking along with a sigh in the streets crowded with people buying ingredients for dinner.
“It’s no use. Alright, a pumpkin! We’ll buy a pumpkin and have Muraken turn it into a carriage!”
“That’s impossible. Let’s step up to the challenge of running by ourselves. Go!”
“I have a plan that will make you realize how great I am,” Wolfram says.
“Go ahead!”
The two of us hold up pantomimed mics to Wolfram’s face at the same time.
“There is a military tank onboard the Dugald high-speed s.h.i.+p used for disembarkation.”
“That’s it! But what kind of tank is it? If it’s a heavy tank with a cannon on top I don’t think a horse will be able to pull it.”
In this ecological land without gasoline, electricity or nuclear power, I might have a different idea on what the word ‘tank’ means in this world.
“It is light and maneuverable, but since it is a military tank, the inside is small. The drawback for being small enough to attract the least amount of attention possible is that the soldiers riding inside have to have a lot of endurance.”
“I see. So comfort is sacrificed.” We’re not going to live inside of it so it’s okay if it’s a little cramped! “So it’s got good gas mileage and it’s fast, right? We’ll use that. Besides, we haven’t run across anything faster. This time, a fastball is better than a skilled throw. So now we just need an animal to pull it, a horse.”
“The committee has specified that it has to be less than the power of four horses.”
Okay, so it’s going to be a carriage with four horses. However, when we walked around the marketplace there wasn’t a single merchant selling horses.
Since it’s a popular animal that everyone here loves, it seems that all the rental agreements were made in the early days of the preparation for the tournament. And not just horses. Cows and macho men too.
“Machos!?”
“Um, well if you convert their pulling power into numbers, a group of 12 brawny men roughly adds up to the power of four horses. It doesn’t have to be a horse pulling the vehicle. As long as the numbers don’t exceed the maximum limit.”
“S-so anything goes!? So that means even sand bears and h.e.l.l’s Paradise Goalas? Even that Labakap that I missed out on seeing would be okay?” (2)
“You can’t tame such rare beasts.”
So you’re telling me I missed out on seeing something super rare? Now I wanna see a sand bear go on a rampage and twelve muscle men pulling a carriage. I’ll call it ‘The Rickshaw of Flames.’ That’s a terrific name, right? They’d be shoulder to shoulder and humming a song by The Village People. When they pa.s.sed by, all that would remain would be the bittersweet scent of manly sweat.
For some reason, T-Zou started growling lowly as she walked next to Sizemore who had his hand stuck in her fluffy fur. Maybe she’s sick of chewing her cud.
“What’s the matter? Did the captain try and rip out some of your fur in a fit of jealousy?”
“Y-Your Majesty! I would never do something like that.”
“Nmofuuu!”
In an instant, she crouches down and leaps into a run. Turning a corner at reckless speeds, we immediately lose sight of her. This is bad. When I hurry after her in a panic, I see a group of white ma.s.ses wriggling around together about 300 meters away. They’re sheep.
T-Zou had rushed into the center of the flock and was being given a huge welcome by her sheep friends. They were all delightedly rubbing noses and b.u.mping together and rolling around on the ground.
There was a girl around middle-school age and a woman who looked like her mother standing nearby. Her misshapen and thick braid whips around in slow motion when she turns her head in our direction.
“Ah! Mary!”
I was about to say, ‘Hey Murata. You said it’s been a really long time since you’ve been to this world, but you’ve already found a girlfriend’ when I remembered. Mary’s little lamb!
She had taken thirty sheep while we were in the Plainsmen territory. T-Zou was one of them, but she ended up becoming our travelling companion. We had sold the other 29 to a shepherdess to cover our travelling expenses.
I hadn’t witnessed it, but according to Murata, the girl had been the one to handle the transaction.
Putting aside how they had ended up in Big s.h.i.+maron, that flock had been T-Zou’s from the start. I can understand why she would stop her favorite activity to run off.
“Nmonmonmonmonmoshkashteeee!”
It’s an explosion of an adverbial shout. (3)
“16 sheep equals four horses,” Flynn murmured as she watched over the heart-warming scene.
… Hm? Seriously!?
-------
(1) Just wanted to note that I’m not sure if this should be written Lambert or Rambert. Lambert seems to be the more likely spelling though ^-^ The spellcheck also likes Lambert better XD The ‘t’ is silent, by the way.
(2) These are all animals mentioned in As.h.i.+taMa~
(3) Mos.h.i.+kas.h.i.+te means ‘maybe’ in j.a.panese hence the adverb comment.