Chapter 56 - The Dinner Party and an Inherited Mission
"It really is curry. Just like what I had at that Indian place."
Mizuki was saying as she put curry and other ingredients from the table onto a piece of naan and ate.
"You know, about those curry places in our country, apparently most of them aren't run by Indian people."
"Really? Then what are they?"
"Mostly people from Nepal, I hear. Didn't you taste that Himalayan mountain flavor?"
I followed Mizuki's lead, putting some meat on a piece of naan and topping it with curry. This was, without a doubt, the curry of an Indian person.
"I couldn't tell at all... Can you, Mash?"
"Not in the slightest. And it's Mish. Don't you start getting it wrong, too."
"Jeez!"
Mizuki fell silent. Maira, Cecily, and Aira were eating in the same way. Maira was trying to feed Aira a piece of naan piled high with toppings, but Aira seemed reluctant.
"Mish-sama, are you enjoying yourself?"
Karpana's voice cut in. Fam shot me a look, as if to say, are you using a fake name again? I started to feel uncomfortable.
"...Ah, yes. I'm grateful for such a warm welcome. But I'm also confused."
"I understand. Perhaps it would be best if you heard the story of our Wandering People."
Karpana nodded.
"My name is Mish. You've got the wrong person, you know? Are you sure about this?"
"Yes. Why don't we continue while we eat?"
It seemed there was no escape. Fam was happily tearing off pieces of naan next to me. Maira, her interest piqued by the Wandering People, seemed to be waiting for me to agree. She was looking at me with an expectant gaze. Cecily and Aira continued eating in silence, gauging the flow of the conversation.
"Is that alright with you, Muzuki-san?"
"Huh? Me? What should I do...?"
Mizuki, caught off guard, looked at me in confusion. I don't know how they got their information, but it seemed they were specifically targeting transmigrators.
"I suppose so. If you brought out some chai, I might be able to relax and listen."
"As you wish. I will have it prepared immediately."
One of Karpana's attendants left the tent.
"Our ancestors, the first of the Wandering People, are said to have been soldiers who fought in service to Racshell-sama."
More about Racshell? Had they heard the rumors from Richelle about the summoning and headed this way? But how did they know for certain that Mizuki and I were transmigrators?
"Is that so? And these descendants were punished by the gods, lost their homes, and are now forced to wander?"
"...You know of us?"
For some reason, she looked pleased.
"No, just a wild guess."
Since I didn't know the truth, I glanced at Maira.
"Such legends are preserved in the church as well."
Maira nodded. So just as Racshell was imprisoned, the soldiers who fought with her had also been punished. I didn't know when the war of the gods took place, but it must have been thousands of years ago. Did they have wagons back then? Their culture and customs must have changed. It was beyond my imagination.
"When did the war of the gods happen?"
It seemed Mizuki was thinking the same thing.
"I do not know, but enough time has passed for it to become a legend even among the elven race."
As Karpana answered, a servant entered with chai. It was served to everyone. I took a sip and found the flavors of milk and cinnamon to be quite strong.
"I wonder what the difference is between this and black tea..."
"Wait, you asked for chai without knowing what it was?"
Mizuki's sharp ears had picked up my muttering.
"Well, you kept going on about 'Indian people, Indian people' so..."
"With black tea, you steep the leaves in boiling water. With chai, you boil the leaves in water from the start."
"I see."
I understood the difference in preparation, but I couldn't really tell the difference in taste. Maybe just the cinnamon flavor.
"Can you tell, Faem?"
"It feels like the flavor is stronger than the black tea we got from the Mateo Trading Company before."
I wonder if that was true. Was she just making it up?
"Hmph. Master, you're doubting me, aren't you?"
How was it that she could read my mind so easily?
"Um... may I continue?"
Karpana said.
"Ah, yeah. You said you were punished, but couldn't you just stay in one place? Who would know?"
"Everyone in our clan is marked with a contract crest on their arm. From our perspective, it is a curse that prevents us from staying in one place."
Karpana showed us her arm. A crest similar to a slave mark was etched on it. Another curse. My eyes met Fam's.
"Mummy, is there no way to break this curse?"
"Could you at least try to say my name in a way that sounds like a name! If you won't, then I'm going back to my coffin to sulk for a thousand years!" Maira retorted. How did she even know what I was going to ask?
"This has been discussed within the church before. However, no method has been found to break the contract crest. It is of a completely different nature than the one placed on Faem-san."
"What about cutting off the arm?"
"The contract itself is engraved upon the soul. The crest on the arm is merely a manifestation of it."
"I see, so that's how it is."
I nodded at Maira.
"We do not mind being wanderers. We take pride in it. We came to this place to meet Racshell-sama."
Karpana guided the conversation back to its main course.
"You can meet Racshell if you come here?"
"Yes. My grandmother possesses a Divine Blessing that allows her to receive divine oracles. That is how we know which land to travel to. This time, the oracle stated that if we visited this land, we would meet a god. We have never received such an oracle before."
"A special skill like that exists?"
"Yes. I believe it is a special case. This Divine Blessing is passed down through the female line. My grandmother has it now, and when she dies, it will be passed to my mother or myself."
So they hadn't learned about us through rumors or some human information network, but by a method that transcended it. I didn't know the extent or accuracy of the information an oracle could provide, but she was at least convinced I could summon Racshell, and she also knew that Mizuki was a transmigrator. I wondered which god was giving the oracle. Considering her clan, which served Racshell, had continued its bloodline and wandered for thousands of years, it had to be one of the Five Goddesses.
"Which god provides the oracles?"
"We do not know."
Karpana shook her head.
"It may not be one of the gods from the myths," Maira added. It might actually be Racshell herself. She seemed to have a lot of free time.
Still, the idea that there were special skills not directly related to combat was unsettling. A transmigrator could appear before us out of nowhere and launch a surprise attack if they had a special skill that revealed someone's location. As I was pondering this, Karpana straightened her posture and sat formally on her knees. Then she bowed her head deeply, pressing it to the ground. A full-on `dogeza`.
"I beg of you. Please, allow us to meet Racshell-sama."
This was uncomfortable. I wish she had just asked normally. If she had emphasized her cleavage and cooed, "Oh, pretty pleeease?" in a sweet voice, I would have summoned the likes of Racshell a hundred times over. But I was the one who used a fake name and rejected her first. Still, does `dogeza` exist in this world, too? No, it must be the worst custom brought over by a transmigrator.
"...Please raise your head. I'm Mish. I'm just listening to your story."
But Karpana didn't raise her head.
"What will you do if you meet her?"
"We wish to serve Racshell-sama once more. We wish to fulfill our clan's long-cherished desire."
"...The ones who served Racshell were your ancestors, not you, Karpana. It was a long time ago. You talk about fulfilling your clan's desire, but what about all those children? Are you going to drag them into this?"
The children must have the contract crests as well. It's not like they could leave them with someone else.
"That is not for you to worry about, Mish-sama. We have preserved our bloodline and lived for this very day."
"...Alright. I'll summon the godd—" Mizuki clamped her hand over my mouth.
"Wh-What are you thinking? Don't just summon her so casually! Get a hold of yourself, Mish!"
Mizuki said. Did she think summoning her here was a bad idea?
"I'm tired of dealing with this. The Racshell that people in this world imagine and the Racshell we've seen are just too different. So let's just let everyone see her and close the gap. They can do what they want and be disappointed if they want. I don't give a damn."
"F-For now, just drink some chai and calm down."
Mizuki made me drink some chai. I found myself calming down just from that little act.
"I want some kebab, too."
When I whined like a child, Fam got a skewer for me. It was a little cold, but still delicious.
"Let's take a vote. I think we should summon her."
"I agree. I want you to do what you want to do, Master," Fam replied. She held roasted corn in one hand and her glass of Ayran in the other. A white mustache of foam from the Ayran was on her upper lip. She was in complete spectator mode. I wiped the foam off with my finger.
"I'm against it. For the exact reason Mash was saying before he got fed up. Racshell is absolutely not the goddess they think she is. What Karpana and the others are trying to do seems like they're inviting disaster."
Mizuki said. It seemed she was voicing her opinion out of concern for Karpana's people. And it looked like she'd given up on the fake names. It was true; they had information about us through literally divine means. There was no point in hiding it anymore. And she was right that we didn't know if Racshell giving them some kind of revelation would be good or bad for this world. We didn't know what kind of impact our actions would have on this world. We should be the ones to make the call first. Mizuki was right. But this explanation would be lost on Karpana, who was still prostrated on the ground.
"Mizuki and Fam, you're being unfair. I want to know what Racshell-sama herself thinks," Maira chimed in. It seemed she was desperate to meet Racshell. Her eyes were sparkling. She believed in Racshell's goodness. Maybe it was because she was raised by the church.
"I'm against it. Don't forget we're in the middle of a caravan escort quest. We don't know what might happen tomorrow." Cecily's opinion was sound, but it felt a little cold. So that made it three in favor, two against.
"I'm against it, too. Cecily and Mizuki are right."
Aira answered. The pile of toppings on her naan looked like it was about to spill over. I hadn't noticed until now, but was she a big eater? She'd been eating similar piles this whole time, polishing each one off with ease.
"Hm? Want some?" she asked, noticing I'd been staring at the naan in her hand for too long.
"Just a little."
I answered and opened my mouth, only to have it stuffed completely full.
"Fugoh... mmph... mmph..."
It took me a while to chew, but I managed to finish it. My mouth became a world of spicy, ethnic flavor.
"So it's three to three."
"What are you talking about? It's two to three. The opposition wins," Cecily said.
"What, my vote doesn't count?!"
"It usually doesn't. But, for today only, if you really want to summon her, Mash, then you can. You are the hero who was called by Racshell-sama, after all."
What was the point of the vote, then?
"...In that case, I'm summoning her."
Everyone nodded. Mizuki maintained her opposition until the end, but she seemed to give up when she saw the other members agree. Maira's eyes were shining brightly.
"Karpana, please raise your head. I'm going to summon Racshell now."
"Truly?!"
Karpana finally lifted her head.
"Yeah, but I'd appreciate it if you stopped asking like that. Next time, try using some sex appeal. If you let me touch your chest just a little, I'll summon someone like Racshell for you in a heartbeat."
"...And yet you never listen to my requests..." Maira muttered. Next time. In the city of Flucht. You'd better be ready to have those breasts jiggled. Since I couldn't say it out loud, I said it in my mind.
"I understand. In that case, please visit this tent alone in the middle of the night."
Karpana replied.
"...Huh?"
I was just joking. And my attention had been on Maira, so her reply took me by surprise.
"I will be waiting for you."
I was being glared at by every single one of my party members.
Thank you for reading. To everyone who has liked, bookmarked, or rated this story, thank you very much. It encourages me to keep going. I'll do my best.