Chapter 103
Chapter 49 - (Chapter 103): TearsYear 7443, Month 3, Day 10
Even if I"ve determined their destination if they end up moving in the time I"m requesting reinforcements then it"s the end.
I guess I should make contact with them even if it"s alone here. I quickly left the restaurant and started following the carriage.
It seems that the carriage is empty and it"s going at a decent speed but there"s no way it could go at full-speed in the middle of Rombertia. Since it"s at best going the speed a child runs as long as I don"t lose sight of it I should be able to quickly catch up. I wave the left hand that was holding my inverness while following after them.
"Can you wait for just a moment?"
There"s no response. I"m sure they don"t think they"re the ones being called out to. The two of them sitting in the coachman"s seat are talking about something and not turning around here.
"Hey, wait just a minute."
After talking in j.a.panese and they reacted for the first time. They turned around startled. I breathe a bit heavily while running to the side of the coachman"s seat and continue to talking.
"That"s great. You"re j.a.panese right? If it"s alright with you I want to talk for a bit though."
I smiled while saying that.
"So you"re j.a.panese as well! Wakana-chan, it was just as you said coming to Rombertia was the correct answer."
The elf man said to the dwarf woman sitting next to him with a voice that had a mix of surprise and joy. I guess Wakana is the original name of the woman?
"Ye, Yeah. I"m surprised as well.."
The dwarf woman called Wakana looked at me with her eyes wide open while saying that. Well it"s just the reaction I expected from my end and not particularly anything to be surprised about at this point. I a.s.sumed it would end up like this when I started forming the net and killing time. It might be possible we could end up meeting one more reincarnated person as well.
"Since it"s a bit unusual standing around talking in a place like this. For a long-awaited occasion like this I want to talk in some place we can relax but...Do you have item after this? Do you have any business to take care of?"
I returned to the {Common Language} while saying it. It could be possible that they"re from outside of the country or the s.h.i.tty countryside even further out than Bakuddo so they might not have understood my first words as well.
"Yeah, but I want to return to my house once first. I need to take care of my carriage and horses as after all.."
The dwarf woman responded. It was clearly p.r.o.nounced in the {Common Language}. I guess they just couldn"t hear me calling out to them from behind because the surroundings were noisy.
"Ah, I guess that"s true. You, is it fine to talk tonight? We"ll come back tonight, let"s talk in some kind of restaurant."
The elf man has a bit of an accent to it but he started talking in the {Common Language} as well. By the way, it seems that we"re an obstruction to traffic. It seems it would be best to quickly setup an appointment and finish things there.
"I understand. I"ll reserve a restaurant. I"ll make the reservation under the name Greed. The place is..I guess so, is "Rokidd" fine? Do you know of it?"
Rokidd is the high-cla.s.s restaurant my sister used once when they celebrated her pa.s.sing. It seems it"s quite famous.
"Eh? "Rokidd"? At an expensive place like that.."
"It seems you know about it. Plea
se relax, the one invited you was me. I"ll take care of the bill."
I smile while saying in order to try and relax the two of them. If it"s money than I have it, if it"s money. If it"s the first time then I"ll at least treat you.
"Is that so? Then we"ll rely on your words. Is around 7 fine?"
"7 it is. I understand. I"ll be waiting for you. Greed is my name. I"m Alan Greed. In j.a.pan I was called Kawasaki Takeo."
"I"m Gulinel Akdam. In j.a.pan my name was Nishioka Wakana."
"I"m Tolkelis Kalstalan. Just the same I was Sema Yousuke."
My right eyebrow raised up. So this good looking guy is Sema Yousuke? For an elf he looks pretty human but he"s extraordinarily {handsome}. Rather you could even say he"s more charming than a normal thin and beautiful elf. Since he"s with a woman right now it might be a good idea to keep quiet about Bel. If these two are mutually in love then..I"ll be troubled. Since Bel is a splendid adult who can make judgements on her own so in the worst case she might pull back herself. However, I"m sure something like romantic feelings can"t be explained away so easily like that. Even more so since I"ve seen Bel"s course of continuing to feel for Sema Yousuke from nearby her.
It"s been 15 years since then. Even though it was forcibly done through an accident it"s plenty of time for a couple that was split up to find a new partner and have a change of feelings and then some. Rather you could even say Bel is abnormal for being able to continue to feel that way for 15 years already. But, she"s my..important..import ally. In my heart I want cheer for Bel. However...
In a haste I was able to confirm their names. I should leave things at this for now. After stepping back to the side of the road I saw them off. And I Identify them from behind.
Wh, {Mapping}!?
【Unique Ability: Geographical Memory {Mapping}; The details of all terrain seen while using this ability can be stored in memory. Also, during use of this ability you can understand when you"ve entered a terrain that you"ve previously stored in memory. The duration of this ability is extended in relation to it"s level. The duration of the effect is the level of the ability to the power of 2 multiplied by 1 minute. It"s impossible to use the ability again during the duration of the effect. In the case the terrain stored in memory is referenced, you can select from one of following three methods. 1. Referencing a first-person point-of-view as if the user was in that location. 2. A bird"s eye view from above. 3. Just the same as two a view from above but all unnecessary factors can be removed leaving a simple map. It"s possible to select one of those three methods for browsing. No mana is used while browsing. However, in any of those cases any place that hasn"t been seen directly (for example the rooftop of a building or in the shadow of something) will be a blank s.p.a.ce. Bear in mind that only visual information is capable of being stored in memory. If through some cause visual information is falsified, the falsified information will be stored in memory.】
The other one is "Scale" huh? I"ve heard the name of this one from Bel.
【Unique Ability: Scale; After using this ability, for the level of the ability multiplied by one minute(ability level 0 will be treated as level 1) the user can consciously make a comparison of two selected objects. The comparison allows the user to understand how high (many) the weight, volume, hardness, viscosity, and temperature is as a fraction. In relation to the level the number of items that can be selected for comparison increase. Also, by limiting the selected object to a single item the division point of that object can be precisely comprehended, and if it is desires that division point can be split. However, a tool or container with a hardness capable of damaging the object is needed separately. The ability of the separation increases in relation to the ability level. Furthermore, in any of the cases under the consciousness of the user the object can be thought of as "one" but in relation to the level the condition of the object (the state of solid, liquid, gas) is increased as an option. When making a comparison the duration of the effect is an instant and the division can be maintained perpetually so long as concentration is maintained and no other intrusions enter the operation.】
Fuffu. I"ve found it. I"ve finally found it. It"s a bit different than I expected but both of them are extremely, exmtremlllyyy~ useful Unique Abilities. And both of their Unique Abilities are at a high level.
Max and level 8. It"s nice that both of them have MP that"s exceed double digits as well. If they learn magic then we can raise it a bit further as well. Since their body levels aren"t that high as well if they remain conscious of their MP then we might be able to stretch it out like that as well.
Even in the worst case I don"t want to let them get away. At the very minimum it"s necessary to grasp the location of their house I"m sure. Making reservations at "Rokiddo"? Since it"s still 4 pm, I can do anything about that. For Bel"s sake as well it would be best to get a good grip on their whereabouts.
I put the inverness I was holding in my left hand on and I started tailing them with a distance of about 50 m between us. There"s a lot of pedestrian traffic and it seems they couldn"t even imagine they were being followed. They"re pleasantly talking about something. While looking at Kalstalan"s face smiling at Akdam I bite my lip and paint out my feelings with something while focusing on tailing them. There"s no way I have any sort of special tailing technique but something like that, it doesn"t matter as long as they"re not being care of being followed. After about 20 minutes I confirmed their house. It"s a normal house with nothing out of the ordinary. It seems it has a warehouse and stable as well so it appears to be a small merchant house with no shop. The roof isn"t tile but shingles, and there"s some small damage that can be seen here and there.
I watched as they opened the gate and Kalstalan follows Akdam"s instructions as she guides it inside from a distance while worrying about how to tell Bel about this.
............
As expected I"m not such an idiot to suddenly head straight to Bel"s position. Or rather, I wanted to discuss it with Ralpha first. On my way to Ralpha"s position I made reservations at "Rokidd". Five people at 7 pm. A course meal in a private room. It was an advance payment of 150,000 Z (15 silver coins). Expensive~ It"s 30,000 per person. However, there"s no choice other than to separate it as a necessary expense.
Something like money is fine. If I can make connections with some reincarnated people who would definitely be of use then it"s a cheap price to pay. The problem is Bel. Always talking politely, without making fun of me like Ralpha, she"s always supported me like a shadow in the sun*. I don"t want to see her crying face.
Just judging off the appearance of Kalstalan and Akdam they didn"t seem like they were in love with each other but there"s no way I could figure it out in just that amount of time. If Kalstalan were to return to Bel, I wonder if Akdam would cry? There"s no way for me to know how deep of a relationship they have. However, they said they were returning to their "house". I"m sure they"re living there together.
In which case, it"s very possible that their relationship is reasonably deep. Their races are different but they"re the same j.a.panese. I"m sure their conversations match up and just talking in j.a.panese is mentally relaxing. For example, if even I were to be living in the same house as Bel or Ralapha with just the two of us I"m sure sooner or later feelings would grow.
I still have some doubts and it"s difficult just to organization my feelings but there"s no choice than to do something about it.
I found Ralpha. She"s standing at the corner of an intersection with the m.u.f.fler she got from Bel around her neck and wearing the gloves I gave her. She"s watching the people pa.s.s by while s.p.a.cing out.
"Ralpha. I found them."
"Al! Don"t suddenly surprise me like that, really~"
Since I suddenly started talking to her from the side, she was surprised and started complaining to me but quickly jumped at what I said.
"Eeh!!? you found them? Alright! And how did it go?"
"It"s a group of a guy and a girl. I made a promise to talk at a restaurant. Just in case I tailed them and found out their address as well."
"He~ so there was even two of them. Isn"t that great!"
Without knowing anything Ralpha joyfully says that. I"m sure I would as well if I was in Ralpha"s position.
"What is it..that face, you don"t seem very energetic. You finally found them right? A..Are you depressed because there was a man? You"re such an idiot."
Even though I went to the trouble of spending time finding the reincarnated person since my face didn"t look very cheerful I guess. I responded with a flat voice to the words Ralpha said next.
"No. It might be an even bigger problem. I couldn"t tell Bel about it right away. I want Ralpha to listen first."
"Eh? What is it?"
"It"s fine so listen. First, the man. He"s an elf. His name is Kalstalan and his previous name is..Sema Yousuke."
"Eeh..Seriously!?"
It feels like it"s been a while since I last heard seriously said in j.a.panese.
"Just a minute, there"s a continuation. It seems he"s living together with another reincarnated woman. They entered the same house. Since I started talking to them in the middle of the road I couldn"t keep talking to them forever, since there was a woman with him I didn"t tell Yousuke-san about Bel."
"Eh...Well. It"s been 15 years after all..I guess things like that..might happen..But"
"Ah, I"m sure things like that happen. That"s why I tried talking with you first. And, the other woman, she"s a dwarf named Akdam. It seems her previous name was Nishioka Wakana."
"Eeh..Seriously!?"
Why again. What would I do lying about it? Seriously.
"Wakana, so you were still alive.."
Tears appeared in Ralpha"s eyes.
"Eh? Is she an acquaintance?"
"Yeah, my friend. We were riding on the bus together.."
"I see.."
This is bad, I wasn"t expecting this.
"I don"t know how close the two of them are. I was only talking to them face to face for about a minute after all. It could be that one of them is just being hired and they"re not dating but it"s true they entered the same house together. Probably one of them is a merchant. It was a merchant house with a warehouse. When I found them the two of them were getting along well together on the carriage. If Akdam is your friend then..then one of your friends might end up with painful feelings."
"Yeah.."
"And, since I wasn"t sure what to tell to Bel I came to you first but if it comes to this then it"s that. It might be best to just say everything I saw.."
"Yeah..that"s, right."
Ralpha whispered with a discouraged expression.
"Ralpha, I understand your feelings but it can"t be helped for you to worry over it. There"s no choice than for these sorts of things to end up the way they do.."
"Yeah..I know. But.."
"Yeah, that"s right. However, you really shouldn"t worry about it. Since you can finally meet your friend again. Even Bel can meet with her boyfriend. If you"re going to make that sort of face I"ll leave you behind. I make reservations for a course as a s.h.i.tty expensive restaurant today. Become more cheerful."
"Yeah, I guess that"s true. I"ll do that. I can"t do anything but watch over. Sorry, I, don"t think I"m going to be of any use.."
"Ke..I didn"t expect anything like that from the start. Eat something delicious and enjoy it the best you can. That"s about your only good point, after all."
I could only say that to comfort her.
...............
The two of us went to the position Bel was in charge of at 5:30 pm and we invited her into a random restaurant for some tea while she seemed suspicious. And I start saying the difficult things.
"Bel, I have some good news, and some news I"m not too sure on. First, let"s start from the good news. I found the j.a.panese. It"s a group of tea. One of them is a male elf named Kalstalan."
I started talking while trying to remain business-like.
Bel"s face sparkles with cheer.
"Isn"t that great! Can we meet them today?"
"Yeah, of course. I"ve made reservations for a high cla.s.s restaurant. It"s at 7 tonight. After that, calm down and list but it might be a bit complicated."
"Ha~"
"That man, Kalstalan"s previous name, he said was Sema Yousuke."
"Where is he!? Let"s go right away. Where is You-chan!?"
Just as expected, she"s drawing near me with quite a bit of force. Well I was prepared for it.
"I said it might be complicated right. It"s fine so listen. Since you"re definitely going to meet him."
"But, but, what if he goes somewhere again.."
There"s tears appearing in Bel"s eyes. Either tears from hearing Sema Yousuke is safe or tears of resentment towards me for not letting her meet him right away.
"It"s fine, I"ve already determined their house. In the first place don"t you find it strange? In a normal situation don"t you think I"d tell Yousuke-san about Bel?"
Bel came to her senses while looking at me.
"And, I said it was a group of two j.a.panese....There was one another a dwarf woman. Her name is Akdam and her previous name is Nishoka Wakana, she"s supposedly Ralpha"s friend.."
"Eeh!!? Ral, isn"t that great!"
The tears that had been building up in Bel"s eyes overflowed and this time she smiled at Ralpha as if it was from the bottom of her heart.
"Yeah..but.."
Ralpha made a painful express while looking away from Bel"s face.
"Bel, the story hasn"t ended yet. Listen, and try to remain calm. The two of them..entered the same house. While intimately talking with each other.."
I couldn"t even describe the pain I felt while saying that. But Bel just made the same expression as if saying, "what about that?"
"Ah..So that"s what this is about...It seems I"ve caused you to worry. But, it"s fine. I told you about it previously but all of the reincarnated people are born with a reasonable amount of distance between them. I"m sure that there"s no mistake You-chan probably just came across that person while searching for me. If you were to say that then I"m eating together with Al-san everyday and even staying at the same inn? But, if You-chan were to know about that he won"t say anything and I don"t think he would be bothered by it. Of course I"ll properly explain the details to him but it"s the same for me."
Gu..Mu..if she says it like that then I can"t retort right away.
"Mu..That"s certainly..true but...Bel sure is strong.."
"Yeah, she"s strong.."
Ralpha and I are left speechless by Bel"s words and couldn"t say anything but common words.
"Strong? I am?"
Bel erases her expression like Noh mask while saying.
"I"m not strong at all. It"s strange saying this but it"s fine for the sensations of a j.a.panese to remain while a child but it"s about time we must become adults. After being reborn we"re in this world after all. Since it seems Al-san and Ral already have experience I"ll say it but after leaving my house on my way to Baldukk I"ve killed several people who tried to get close to me.
This isn"t because I"m strong. It"s because I"m weak. A really strong person wouldn"t pick the method of killing someone who"s committed or about to commit a since but rather select the route of reforming them. I"m no longer a j.a.panese person. I"m an Orth person. It doesn"t matter if I"m strong or weak. I"ve decided to continue living using the methods of Orth.
That"s why even if You-chan became a criminal or sullied his hands it doesn"t matter.
It doesn"t matter even if he loves someone else. As long as I can be by his side in the end I"m satisfied.
Above all else I believe in him. It"s no problem even if he"s been dyed the color of society on Orth. That"s a side of him as well. It"s only obvious for adventurers of Orth to do some jobs, receive money, and use that money to drink alcohol or buy women.
Even if You-chan were to do something like that I wouldn"t be upset with him. I mean, on Orth that"s normal after all. It seems that there aren"t many of them but there are n.o.ble families where a female is the family head and they have multiple husbands as well.
Aha..I wonder what I"m saying.
The thing"s I"m saying are a mess right.
...
.....
But, but, I"m grateful that I can meet the living You-chan once again.
I"m grateful to Al-san for giving me that chance.
I respect Al-san, who turned over the person that attacked me to the knight group without killing him, as strong.
Anything is fine! As long as I can meet him, can meet You-chan, anything is fine!!
Let me meet..with him...
Please..once more...
Please...
I"m begging you.."
Even though she started talking quietly, by the end she was excited as she grabbed on to the two of us while crying and it was difficult calming her down.
The time has almost reached 6 pm. I quickly explained the plan to Ralpha. We"ll head to the restaurant first and wait for Akdam and Kalstalan to arrive. When the two of them get to the restaurant, I"ll invite Kalstalan to take a p.i.s.s or something and after becoming alone with him, ask about Bel, or about his relationship with Akdam. After that I"ll pretend to be making orders and explain the situation to Bel and Ralpha standing by in a different place from the private room.
In any case, I thought I should prevent the situation from turning into chaos with Bel suddenly jumping at Kalstalan without thinking about anything. Since Ralpha agreed as well I decided to leave Bel to Ralpha while waiting.
As Bel was saying if there"s no problem then the two of us will disappear right away somewhere tonight so it took quite a bit of time to convince her. Just in case even if Bel and Kalstalan leave their seats along the way, I said we would continue eating at "Rokidd" until 9 pm and putting aside what happens with Akdam in the end, that Bel should return to the inn sometime tonight together with him.
...............
It"s almost 7 pm. In the high cla.s.s restaurant "Rokidd" I"m waiting for Kalstalan and Akdam to arrive with my arms crossed in the private room. I already told the restaurant not to prepare the tableware until all five of us have entered the private room. I got them to allow Ralpha and Bel to wait in a different room as well. Also, to prevent an occurrence like what happened before, I made sure to tell them to ignore the appearance of the elf and dwarf that were coming later (though still on time), and handed the waiter of the restaurant some bribes. My preparations are perfect.
I wonder in the world the relationship of the two of them is?
A romantic relationship, business relationship, or just friends?
Honestly speaking as long as it"s not a romantic relationship there"s no problem at all.
In that case then we can just conclude it with laughing at me for being too concerned and jumping to conclusions(though I think you can"t say I went this far). It"ll be fine as long as I scratch my head and smile bitterly.
Even if it comes to a romantic relationship, if it"s a one-sided thing then that"s still better.
For example even if Kalstalan was in love with Akdam, as far as I could tell in terms of the sensitivity of a j.a.panese person Bel is an overwhelming beauty and cute. Even in terms of body Bel is..No, I"ll stop there. But, I"m sure it"s a problem of tastes as well and he might have fallen for Akdam"s personality.
In the case that Akdam has fallen for Kalstalan, then Kalstalan and Bel will be in mutual love, then Akdam would become an existence trying to enter a one-sided illicit love. In that case, I"ll leave Akdam to Ralpha since she"s her friend.
The most troublesome would be if Akdam and Kalstalan are mutually in love. I don"t know about Ralpha but honestly I would put priority on Bel, and it"s weird saying this but my influence is big I"m sure. Though I haven"t had any interaction with Kalstalan or Akdam until now they"re both j.a.panese as well. I"m sure there"s at least some feelings of familiarity. Even more so since Bel and Ralpha had a relationship with each of them in their past lives, so I"m sure it would be difficult to ignore them. In some ways since I hold the power of life-and-death over Ralpha and Bel, they obviously can"t ignore me as well.
There"s a saying of, people who interfere with stranger"s romance should be kicked by a horse, so just as that I have no intention of interfering in their romance but I can"t help but feel like it will enter my words a bit. I guess I should restrain myself. No matter how I think about it, it"s better for me to remain neutral.
While I was thinking about things like that there was a knock on the door.
Now then, time to switch over my feelings.