Volume 1 Chapter 3 Part 1
Chapter 3: Liberty and Equality and Fraternity and...
I am Kanou Shinichi.
I am the first ever General Manager of the General Entertainment Company AmuTec in this parallel world.
............Well, even if I act cool and introduce myself in such a self-important manner, I can’t change reality.
The truth is, I’m here as a subst.i.tute for those oh-so-great government officials who went “we don’t really know what would sell~” and had given up. In short, I was brought here to wipe their a.s.ses.
But let’s leave the detailed story of how things became this way for another time.
In short, my job is to, for starters, bring in a variety of things that might cause the residents of the Holy Eldant Empire to think “oh, this might seem interesting.” Instead of aiming for a sudden big hit, what I’m doing is tilling the soil in order for a big hit to happen in the future.
To that end, research is essential.
Therefore......
“Let’s start close by.”
Muttering to myself, I circle around the office on the first floor.
This place has already been transformed to the point where the name “reading room” would be a more accurate moniker.
I had compiled a very long list of otaku goods, then given it to Matoba-san. Therefore, manga tanks, anime DVDs and Blu-rays, game discs, and all other manners of things now filled the bookshelves to the brim. Of course, in regards to the printed material, I did not order only the manga and light novels themselves, but also included the reference materials and doc.u.ment collections. I had also ordered a large number of posters.
(T/N: A brief note about manga. Since the word ‘manga’ usually refers to the magazine form, the author adds the word ‘book’ behind to specify that he’s talking about manga in their compiled volume form, which are called ‘tankoubon’ in j.a.panese. Thus, ‘tank’ for short.)
Thanks to that, the office now gives off an impression similar to that of an ota-style bookstore or DVD shop in Akiba. Whatever the contents are, when everything is gathered and lined up this way, the scenery is spectacular, to say the least.
“In a way, this is my dream room.”
In a slightly ecstatic trance, I spoke to myself.
After all, all of these purchases are considered as “necessary expenses.” Instead of only being tax-free, the entire bill is being shouldered by the Far East Cultural Exchange Promotion Bureau. Matoba-san’s eyes did widen when he saw the list, but apparently the most annoying part is the inter-world transportation, so as long as everything is within budget, then all’s good.
Incidentally......due to some strange magnetism or some such occurring within the hyper dimension pa.s.sageway, wireless connection is completely impossible, and even a wired connection would be tainted by a large amount of noise. As such, my request of “please give me internet connection” was turned down.
Well, this is something that can’t be helped, so I made a list of “Information Websites That MUST Be Visited” and am having people on the other side periodically recording all new content and sending it to me through hard drives. Although this method makes me not so up-to-date, this is something that can’t be helped.
As such——
“This is the thing called『otaku culture』, Danna-sama?”
Standing next to me and looking around the room in surprise is the lizardman Blük. As always, his face is completely covered with scales and his physique is different from that of a human, which makes it hard for me to read his expressions, but——I am starting to be capable of getting a general read of him through his tone and bearing.
He was the one who had been tasked with bringing the boxes and containers from the outside of the mansion to this room. Therefore, only after everything has settled down is he finally getting a proper look at the contents of what he had brought in.
By the way, the work of placing the books and DVDs onto the shelves had been undertaken by Miusel and myself.
Despite having started early in the morning and devoting an entire day, the current progress is still only around sixty percent.
“Indeed. Well, nothing would start if you don’t actually take them into your hands and look at the contents, so Blük-san, if anything catches your eye, please do feel free.”
“Are you sure? Is it fine for a manservant like myself to touch these?”
Blük tilted his head.
“Fine or not, you being a manservant is unrelated. These are things that I had brought over in the hopes of reaching as many people as possible. As reference, I also do want to hear your impressions and thoughts about them.”
When I said so in a laughing manner, Blük stared at me unblinkingly with his gla.s.s-like eyes.
It seems like he’s a bit surprised, but——
“If you still have qualms about it, then let’s do this. ‘Take anything you wish into your hands.’ This is an order.”
“Yes sir......”
Drawing in his shoulders and scratching the back of his head with a finger, Blük heads toward the display cases with a “If you say so......”. To be honest, I had already gone through a similar conversation with Miusel earlier, who had then taken several manga tanks off the shelves and is now engrossed in flipping through them.
It is about ten days after the day when I’d given her the hiragana table.
She has already completely memorized all hiragana, and can also read katakana. Furthermore, as a result of me helping her to study every night, now she also knows one or two hundred everyday kanji. It turns out that she’s actually really smart......as such, despite the language being from a different world, she seems to be really delighted at “being able to read and write,” and is learning j.a.panese at an astonishing rate.
Perhaps the fact that she’s living together with us is also playing a part in her growth.
As mentioned before, the function of the magical rings is “simultaneous interpretation,” so she’s hearing our actual words too. Just like watching a movie with subt.i.tles, after hearing something over and over again, perhaps it’s helping her with learning j.a.panese itself.
Of course——with just that alone, she still can’t read kanji, but a lot of manga have rubi added next to the kanji, and the art in manga also conveys a large portion of the content, so if it’s something simple, then even she can get the general gist from reading.
(T/N: Rubi is the small hiragana or katakana written right next to a kanji to inform the reader of how to read the word.)
The reason why I ordered Blük to read the books is something similar.
He and Miusel are my most readily-accessible research subjects.
In the midst of such thoughts——
“............! ......!”
I am hearing voices of some sort.
People arguing about something......is the impression that I’m getting from the voices coming from the direction of the hallway. I don’t understand the contents of the conversation, though. The voices are speaking the Eldant language, so it’s only natural that I don’t understand. The interpretation ability of the magical ring is not all-powerful. If the other party is out of sight, or if there is too big of a distance, then there are times when the ring cannot exert its function temporarily.
With that——abruptly.
“Kanou Shinichi!!”
The door is opened with enough force to be described as “having been kicked in.”
My eyes grew round with surprise as I behold the person who had come into the office.
“The Eldant empress?!”
“Umu!”
The Imperial Majesty with the figure of a loli is throwing out her chest in response.
“So this is where you were, Kanou Shinichi. I have come in person to see what your evangelism is about.”
Petrarca is standing there arrogantly, almost as if saying “You should be crying with grat.i.tude” in a really high-handed tone of voice.
Apparently, she had heard about me bringing in a large amount of otaku cultural goods, and thus come to check things out.
Even though this is the town at the foot of the castle, is it fine for the Empress to come here without bringing a single escort?——and other similarly lèse-majesté tsukkomis are running through my mind.
“Your......Your Majesty......!”
Appearing a few seconds behind, with his shoulders painfully heaving up and down while gasping for breath, is an old man who looks like a dried tree——Prime Minister Zahal, namely.
“Your, Your Majesty......the Empress running down the hallway, is something that must not happen......F-Furthermore, the door is not something that should be handled in such a violent manner......!”
In the intervals between gasps of air, Prime Minister Zahal is lecturing in a voice that had gone hoa.r.s.e.
In games and manga and anime and light novels......when one mentions “Prime Minister,” what comes to mind is “someone who’s appropriating the authority of the king to throw his weight around” or “a black-hearted person who’s holding the real reigns of power after turning the king into a puppet” or “someone who is really obsequious to the king but is actually plotting a rebellion and turns out to be the last boss” or other similar characters.
However, it seems that this jii-san is not just pampering the Empress, but is a true retainer who is also trying to give her a proper education.
(T/N: Jii is a general term for old men like ‘grandpa’ where even if the old man is not your own grandfather, you still address him so. It can be used for both strangers and for family members. For strangers, you normally add the -san both to indicate distance and respect.)
But sadly——his loyalty is not properly getting through to Petrarca.
“So noisy, Jii. I wasn’t running, I was just walking quickly.”
“Ahh. Such sophism again......”
Prime Minister Zahal is covering his face with both hands while moaning in a lamenting voice. From that, I can tell that he has always been led around the nose in such a manner. My condolences. He probably also has work from being a Prime Minister to take care of.
“Uumu!”
Her Majesty Petrarca looks around the office which had been turned into a smaller version of Akiba, and raises her voice in excitement.
“How mysterious! So this is the “otaku culture” that you people preach!”
Saying other similar things, her very big eyes are shining with expectation.
Yep yep. This expression fits loli girls well, as expected.
Or not......isn’t this person also 16 years old, the same age as Miusel?
As a conservative, I am someone who has a relatively wide range of tastes, so I’m feeling a different kind of moe from her than I do from Miusel.
“With such vivid colors, and a charm different from paintings and murals, this is all so unusual!”
Unlike Blük, Petrarca heads straight towards the bookshelves without asking for permission, with Prime Minister Zahal accompanying her. As if in a trance, she takes down manga one after another and opens them while making wondering exclamations like “ohh!” and “uumu”. For now, she still can’t read a single j.a.panese character, but——as if that isn’t a problem at all, her general first impression appears to be a rather favorable one.
More like, the figure of her stretching to her limit to reach the books on the higher shelves is almost criminal in its cuteness.
“......Umu?”
While I am gazing at her flipping her way through books, she suddenly moans.
“I can’t understand!”
“......Well, I mean, I’m sure that’s true.”
I can’t help but to smile wryly in response.
Miusel is clearly in entirely different conditions and circ.u.mstances.
In actuality, that thing that Blük seems to be gazing at with such great interest, he most likely doesn’t understand a single bit of its content. Incidentally, right after Petrarca’s entrance, both Miusel and Blük have been pressed against the wall and are currently frozen in that position.
It’s a pretty natural reaction that even I can understand.
Having the Imperial Majesty appear all of a sudden, anyone would be surprised. This is especially true in this Middle Age Europe-like world, where the absolute monarch is an existence considered equivalent to that of a G.o.d. Any careless words uttered in front of the Empress could lead to an immediate end to their lives. As such, anyone who tells them to not be nervous would be the weird one here.
However——
“Umu. Even though all these pictures look so interesting......”
Petrarca moans regretfully.
I feel sorry towards this girl who is sensitive about her childish face and small build, but her current appearance is just so amazingly adorable that I can’t think of her as the ruler of an entire country. Rather, I’m feeling an urge to do whatever I can to help her out.
“......Oi. Kanou Shinichi.”
“What is it, Your Majesty? But first of all, my name is Shinichi. Calling me Kanou Shinichi every single time is like me calling you Your Imperial Majesty Petrarca An Eldant the Third every time.”
“Fumu. So it’s fine if I call you ‘Shinichi’?”
After tilting her head for a moment, that is what she said.
“That is indeed right.”
With a hand on my chest, I make a butler-like bow.
“Fumu. After all, there is the maxim “When in the land of Camara, eat the Camara cuisine.” In order to fully enjoy this otaku culture——I shall abide by your customs.”
Her Majesty Petraraca nods while laughing in a magnanimous manner.
I don’t know anything about Camara and all that, but most likely it’s an aphorism similar to “When you enter a village, you listen to the village.” The English language also has the proverb “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” so this concept is most likely an idea common to all humankind.
“Shinichi.”
The loli-like Empress approaches me with all smiles on her face.
“What may it be, Your Imperial Majesty?”
“I shall make an exception and grant you the privilege of calling me by ‘Petrarca.’”
“Your Majesty, I’m afraid that’s a bit too——”
Prime Minister Zahal’s face is displaying a mult.i.tude of colors.
“In each and every place, there are unique citizens living while embracing unique values. To disregard and override those customs without due consideration would only breed discord, and thus I, as the ruler, must at times take in and emulate the worldviews of my populace. This is something that you yourself has taught me, is it not?”
“T-That’s indeed true, but......”
“Worry not, this privilege is limited to this mansion alone. This mansion is, so to speak, a place that I have given Shinichi the dominion over, see. Shinichi, continue calling me ‘Imperial Majesty’ when outside. It is not hard to imagine that if word gets out that you’re calling me by name, then there will be those who will misunderstand.”
“Misunderstand?”
“Normally——”
Prime Minister Zahal takes a cloth out of his breast pocket to wipe the sweat on his forehead before answering.
“Only royalty may call other royalty by name. They have to be related either by birth or by marriage. As such, the conclusion that people would draw is that you have become her marriage partner.”
“............ Umm.”
I feel cold sweat running down my back uncomfortably.
“Is it fine?”
“Is what fine?”
Petrarca tilts her head.
“Nothing. I guess......it’s fine.”
Since she doesn’t seem bothered by it, then it would strange of me to get hung up over the issue.
It’s that. If only family members are allowed to call Petrarca by name, then doesn’t it mean that I’m now allowed to treat her like family? So even if I start thinking of her as a little sister——
“............”
“Is there a problem, Shinichi?”
Petrarca inquires while looking puzzled.
“No, it’s, nothing at all.”
There’s no way that I can tell her I’m almost about to get a nosebleed from imagining the scene of her calling out to me with “Onii-chan♪.”
To be honest, I do have a little sister in real life, so I don’t fully understand little sister moe, but......if it’s someone like Petrarca, who seems like a “picture perfect cheeky and impertinent little sister” straight out of 2D, then even I would feel something.
“Rather than that, what was that you were saying, Your Majesty——I mean, Petrarca?”
“Mu? Ohhh, right. Shinichi. If things remain this way, then I cannot enjoy all this otaku culture that has been brought over after so much hard work. The magical ring too, is something that can only enable two wearers to understand each other’s intent, and cannot aid us in reading.”
“That is true.”
“Therefore——”
Petrarca is all smiles.
That face is, as I thought, extremely cute, but——why is it that I’m getting a bad sense of foreboding again?
♥♦♣♠
How did things end up like this......?
To be honest, I’m at a complete loss.
To my immediate right is Miusel, sitting with her face in a somewhat frightened expression.
To my immediate left is Petrarca, sitting with her face the very ill.u.s.tration of the word ‘serious.’
Pressed in between two girls, I am frozen stiff with nervousness.
After all, I am in a position where my shoulders are touching their shoulders——to be more blunt, I am almost close enough to smell their personal odors. Furthermore, as if this is still insufficient, both of them are trying to press against me even more.
Stuck in between two girls, I am currently barely keeping my sense of reason in balance.
It feels like if I accidentally say something wrong, something is going to be broken forever.
“............”
Sweat drips off my cheek. My entire body is petrified. I whisper in a trembling voice.
“P-......’Please don’t kill me.’”
“............”
“............”
Miusel and Petrarca both stay silent.
I almost raise a scream under the weight of the silence, but——
“Eei!”
In a very impatient manner, Petrarca murmurs to me in a low voice.
Aaah. Her breath. Her breath. The breath of the loli-like Empress is touching my ear!
Despite me almost going mad with moe in this way, Petrarca continues speaking.
“Won’t you turn the page already! I’m so curious about what’s next!”
Just like before, we are still inside the office in the mansion.
In a s.p.a.ce that seems like an impromptu Akiba branch store, the three of us are sitting in a row on the same sofa.
And opened upon my knees is a manga tank. It is an adventure fantasy packed with action, one that I had picked in the hope that it would be easier for Miusel and Petrarca to understand. Most likely, in their current selves, they wouldn’t understand SF hard-boiled action stories even if I showed them, and this is even more true for slice-of-life 4-koma series.
Therefore, for the sake of these girls who can’t read j.a.panese, I am reading this manga tank out loud.
Incidentally, only Petrarca and Miusel are left inside the room. Blük had left on the pretext of having to tend to the garden or some such, and Prime Minister Zahal had left the house together with Minori-san. Even though I’m the one reading the manga aloud, Petrarca had been the one who’d chased him out, saying that his presence distracted her.
As for why Miusel is also here, it is because I had asked her to stay. After all that stuff with “I permit you to be on a first-name basis with me,” I feel like it wouldn’t be a good idea for Petrarca and me to be alone together. Since Miusel is studying j.a.panese, I told her to follow along the text as I read aloud.
However......
(Normally speaking, this kind of situation is supposed to be a reward, but......!)
While feeling the body heat from the two girls on my right and left, I swallow back a scream that had almost slipped out.
The thing with manga is, most of the situational explanation is carried out in a visual way......as in, with the art.
So, now that all three of us are trying to read the same tankoubon at the same time, both of their foreheads are naturally drawing closer and closer to the book. Indeed, that is what has happened. Consequently, though the two of them do not appear to have realized it yet, we are now glued to each other with abnormal closeness.
Every time I turn the page, my elbow touches Miusel’s soft mounds of you-know-what, while my other hand is pressing down on Petrarca’s modest mounds. Furthermore, the really soft-looking hair from both sides are wafting sweet, flower-like scents that are wrapping around me. As a healthy male in my late teens, I feel like I’m being forced to partic.i.p.ate in an endurance race with no time limit.
What kind of eroge is this?!
I am now thoroughly regretting my decision in choosing a manga.
If I had chosen a light novel, which only uses words to paint its story, then I would have been able to avoid this situation, but......it’s too late. The two of them are now immersed in their first exposure to another world’s stories, so if I now say “alright, let’s turn to a different story,” Miusel aside, I feel like Petrarca would kill me. That’s how engrossed into the work she looks right now.
And then——
“......Ah.”
When I turn the page, Miusel lets out a happy voice from next to me.
“This is about Danna-sama, isn’t it? I can read it.”
So saying, she points at the rubi next to the word『可能』.
『可能』and『加納』.
Well, it’s true that they’re both read the same way.
“Ah......the sound is the same, right. But the meaning is a bit different.”
“Is that so?”
“This kanji has various meanings of its own......we came across this one by chance, but there are many cases where two words have the same reading, but completely different meanings.”
“I see.”
Miusel blinks her eyes in admiration.
“But really, Miusel really is a quick learner.”
Putting together the 50 hiragana and the 50 katakana gives a grand total of slightly under 100 characters, but it is not easy to learn all those just by studying at night after finishing all her duties. As I thought, this girl must be really smart.
(T/N: There are actually only 46 of each, so the total is 92. He’s rounding.)
“That’s not true. All of it is due to Master staying up late with me every night to accompany me in my studies. To think that the day would come when I can read......I had not even dreamed of it.”
Miusel murmurs in a very earnest manner.
Even if the language is one from a different world, the feeling of “the joy of being able to read and write” is what is fueling her incredible learning rate. As for me, seeing a cute girl like her being this happy is making me feel like the time spent teaching her was time well spent——
“What meaning do these notations have?”
“Those are called onomatopoeias, and are a bit more difficult——”
——And thus, because of this, I completely forgot about the presence of the girl on my other side. Though this didn’t go on that long, I had failed to notice the displeased glare that Petrarca was giving me.
“Shinichi!”
Speaking in a tone clearly conveying that she has reached the limits of her patience, Petrarca stands up from the sofa.
“Eh? Ah——Oh right, sorry about that, Your Majesty.”
“Have we not told you to call us Petrarca?!”
“Ah, I’m sorry, Petrarca.”
In a fl.u.s.ter, I responded quickly, but apparently that was not enough to appease her. Wordlessly, Petrarca grasps my shoulder with one hand to pull herself up, after which——of all things, she casually sits in the place where I’d been placing the manga previously.
In other words, on my knees.
Eeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!
“Wait a-............Petrarca?!”
Forcefully, she s.n.a.t.c.hes the manga from the fingers of my fl.u.s.tered self, then brings it around and places it on her own knees.
As a result, Petrarca is know sitting on top of my knees, and both of my hands are extending from behind her back like I’m hugging her. Even though she’s small, our current position is one where if I’m to continue reading the manga, I’d have to do it while placing my chin on her shoulder.
What on earth is this ridiculous situation.
Having the chance to hug a loli-like girl definitely makes me really glad in an embarra.s.sing sort of way, but any third party who sees this would undoubtedly come to various misunderstandings.
“W-W-W-We can’t do this——!”
“Silence! Looking from the side makes my neck tired!”
“Even if that’s so......”
“It’s fine, so continue reading like this! Otherwise——the maid over there!”
She glares at Miusel.
“Pour me a new cup of tea! I don’t need this cooled down stuff, go boil a new pot!”
“Eh? Ah, y-yes, I’ll do it at once!”
Miusel bows so quickly that it seems like something had slapped her back.
“Servants should act like the servants they are and just work.”
Petrarca narrowed her eyes and spoke arrogantly.
Sharp words spoken as if she had just won some sort of compet.i.tion. With a frightened expression and stiffened body, Miusel bows once more, then leaves the room almost as if running away in escape.
“That’s......umm. Your Majesty?”
“Petrarca.”
“Sorry. Petrarca. Are you perhaps.....angry?”
“I am no such thing!”
Said she in a shout.
The word for ‘shout’ has the word ‘angry’ in it, but......no matter how I look at it, you’re angry, aren’t you.
(T/N: The word for ‘shout’ used here is 怒鳴る. The first character, 怒る, means ‘to be angry.’)
......Though she said something like that, I was the one who had forgotten about her in the first place, albeit only for a short while, so I’m not in the position to say anything.
“This beast. Going into heat the moment you see a girl.”
“Wha-......?!”
Heat?! What heat is she talking about?!
For a girl to use such words, it’s going to make Onii-chan cry.
Rather than that, I’m now being treated like a beast, am I. Well, it’s because I’m not being treated as a human that she’s calmly sitting on my knees and letting herself be hugged by me. If it’s an animal, then it doesn’t feel repulsive, right? I understand.
When Petrarca had gotten onto my knee, it had made me strangely excited for a brief moment, but......this is all reality amounts to.
While sighing deep inside my heart, I resume reading aloud.