42 - Stories from Another World
"These boxes, these boxes, and these boxes,"
I said, pointing to the boxes carried out from the room I was planning to use as my own. Hearing this, the men in white glanced at Leonardo's expression, then began sliding open the lids of each box to check the contents.
"And also, those books are on this desk,"
When I pointed to the books and notes that had been tied together with the book I had given to Leonardo, the faces of the men in white changed. They stopped their hands rummaging through the wooden boxes and crowded around the desk.
...Such a straightforward reaction.
Since they came looking for companion materials to that book, they must be strongly interested in the things tied together with it. I would think they should also check the box contents if they wondered whether there was more, but seeing how they swarmed the notes and books on the desk, their interest in the boxes seemed to have vanished.
...Can I go back now? The tour seems over.
I slipped between the legs of the men crowding around the desk and returned to Leonardo. As I let out a sigh of relief and looked up, I saw one man still checking inside the wooden boxes. All the men in white were absorbed in the notes and books, but only Jasper was silently examining the box contents.
...He is more composed than the men in white, Jasper-san.
The earnest searching in his eyes made me start to care about the box contents I had been indifferent to until then. I thought I would take a little peek and stepped closer, but Leonardo scooped me up by slipping his hands under my arms.
...Is that telling me not to interfere?
Looking up at Leonardo's face, I saw him watching Jasper with a complicated expression. It was a face I had not seen much before. Somewhere between conflicted, I suppose. Completely different from the blank expression he had turned toward the group of men in white who had shouted at me.
"...Found them,"
Jasper took several thin books from the wooden box and laid them out on the floor. I could not read them, but one of the men in white who saw the titles came back from the desk.
"These are the original hobby books made by Galileo Roccho."
"Ah, the ones said to be overflowing with mistranslations..."
"In recent research they have been considered mistranslations, but at the time they were thought to be translation texts as close to correct as possible. Even now they are treated as introductory texts for those beginning Japanese language research."
"Once you can understand a little, you notice they are full of errors, though,"
They flipped through the pages, carrying out a conversation I could not really follow. I tried to peek from within Leonardo's arms, but the books were closed quickly, so I could not tell whether the found books contained Japanese.
"...Want to take a look?"
"Can I?"
Jasper noticed I was making a dissatisfied face, unable to understand the conversation, and handed me one of the books. I figured these were important books he had searched for, but was it really okay to hand one to a little girl like me? I thought that, but I had not understood the men in white's conversation at all and I was curious, so I accepted the book without hesitation.
...The first thing I thought when I saw it was, it is a thin book.
It was not the thinness of a so-called doujinshi, but it was thin for a book. The title, of course, I could not read. There was something that seemed to be an author's name, but I could not read that either.
...There is no Japanese at all, is there?
When I tilted my head and opened the cover, all the characters inside were written in Japanese.
...Huh? Why Japanese?
I could not read the title on the cover, but I could understand the title written inside. It was "The Tale of Hara" (with a reading dot marker). It politely said "Original Author, Murasaki Shikibu" and for some reason it also had "Japanese Translation, Gari Reo-Rokko." (T/N: The kanji rendering of Galileo Roccho's name)
...Wait, is it read as Ga-Ri-Reo-Rokko? What nonsense.
The title did not make sense to begin with, but the contents were even more mysterious. The content was 'probably' The Tale of Genji. The words were strange here and there, as if someone had machine-translated The Tale of Genji into English, then machine-translated that English back into Japanese, and this was the result.
...This really is overflowing with mistranslations, huh. Even the title is wrong.
Reading the error-ridden Japanese properly tired my eyes. I gave up reading it quickly, closed the book, and pressed my fingers to my eyes.
...My head started hurting a little.
While massaging my eyes, I asked Jasper. If anyone would know what kind of book this was, it would be him, who had immediately recognized it from the cover.
"What's this?"
"It is a hobby book written by Galileo Roccho, the former leading figure in Japanese language research."
"A hobby book?"
"A book he made for his own hobby. It is also a phantom book that only exists in the number of copies Galileo himself distributed to researchers of the time."
...So basically, a self-published work.
That was close enough as a general understanding. Summarizing what Jasper had briefly explained to me, it went like this. A long time ago, there was a Japanese language researcher named Galileo Roccho. Japanese language research was his hobby, and as the culmination of that work, he created Japanese translation books.
...It is like, you know, middle school students who have just started learning English wanting to use English words all over the place, or people who get hooked on translated foreign original works going out of their way to order the original and challenge themselves to translate it with an English dictionary in hand. That kind of thing.
It seems there are people who do similar things even in different worlds. By the way, apparently The Tale of Genji existed in this world because another reincarnated person had brought it. It seems a book-loving reincarnated person transcribed the world's masterpieces from their past life and spread them in this world.
...I think that is questionable from a copyright perspective, you know.
I wondered about the ethics of a different person spreading an author's created story, even in another world. I ended up making a displeased face without meaning to, though I could not tell if he noticed, but Jasper added more explanation. Apparently the reincarnated person who spread stories from another world had some awareness of copyright. Since they could not receive profits themselves, they apparently established a rule to donate all profits gained from stories from another world to the Menhishumi Church. Thanks to those profits, even children from poor families could learn reading and writing if they went to the Menhishumi Church.
...Both the Sedovara Church and the Menhishumi Church have connections to reincarnators from the past, huh.
While we were talking, the men in white seemed to have finished most of their checking. Carrying several books and bundles of notes in both arms, they looked at Leonardo with sparkling eyes.
"Leonardo-dono, we would very much like to have these wonderful research materials donated to the Sedovara Church."
...Huh? Aren't they full of mistranslations?
That is what I thought, but of course I did not stick my nose in. While being held by Leonardo, I looked back and forth between Leonardo and the men in white.
"Reviving Saint Yuuta Hiraga's secret arts is something I desire both personally and for the Ivizia Kingdom. If those materials will be of use, please take them."
...This country is called the Ivizia Kingdom, huh. First time I have heard that.
The exchange was carried out in a formal tone, but essentially it was "I want these materials" and "Sure, take them." While I was half-zoning out, Leonardo's conversation ended.
"...Ah,"
I remembered as I saw the group in white off and closed the gate. I had forgotten to return the error-riddled "The Tale of Hara" that Jasper had handed me.
"What should I do about this?"
I could not run after them to deliver it with my short legs, and I did not know where the Sedovara Church was supposedly located in the city. The book had originally been in the mansion, and since it was full of mistranslations, it might not be useful for Japanese language research anyway, so maybe there was no need to go out of my way to deliver it. Still, I thought it might be wrong to just leave it based on my own judgment, so I showed the book in my hand to Leonardo. Even if the book was full of mistranslations from Leonardo's perspective, he could not understand its importance to begin with. So apparently he decided to have it delivered to the Sedovara Church even if it ended up being useless. He took the book from me and entrusted it to Bart.
The noisy sudden visitors left, and Leonardo also returned to the fortress. The gatekeeper finally went back to their original duties. I watched Bart leave as a messenger to the Sedovara Church, then peeked in on Tabitha as she was preparing dinner. I was allowed to help with jobs that could not really be called help, like stirring the soup pot, but it seemed I would not be allowed to do prep work using knives for a while.
...I can at least peel potatoes, though.
I stuffed potatoes and paprika into the belly of the fish Tabitha had cleaned. This was today's help. It was such a trivial level of help that it could not really be called help, and it was embarrassing.
...But, even including my past life, I have never eaten a dish like this before. I wonder what it tastes like?
In my past life, if it was food you could eat at a restaurant, I had eaten foreign cuisine too. In the village of Meyu where I was born in this life, it was basically just cooking what we got from the village with simple seasonings. At Aurelia's house, I had made and eaten pseudo-stews and fresh pasta myself based on my past life experiences. As for dishes made by a cook's hand in this other world, Tabitha's cooking was the first. It was fun just watching the preparation process, but it was also fun in the sense that I could not imagine the flavor.
When Bart returned from the Sedovara Church, it was dinner time. As usual, on days when Leonardo was not around, I ate alone, but lately they had started chatting with me at least during meals. Tabitha and the others must have their own thoughts about Leonardo's treatment of me, since I spent most of my time alone. Apparently Leonardo had told them to let me adjust to life here for now, even though it was unthinkable in a normal master-servant relationship.
...But the condition was that someday I would have to properly observe master-servant boundaries.
I put a bite-sized piece of fish topped with potato and paprika into my mouth. Before I thought about whether it was delicious, my first thought was, so this is what it tastes like. Since this was a dish I was eating for the first time, I could not really judge whether it was good or bad. It was a flavor I could never taste in Japanese cuisine.
"...So, who were those people, anyway?"
"Those people... you mean the pharmacists of the Sedovara Church from this afternoon?"
"Pharmacists?"
"The people from the Sedovara Church wearing white are pharmacists, and the person in gray clothes who was speaking with you, young lady, is a scholar."
I had noticed the difference in their clothes, but it seems Jasper and the men in white, though both from the Sedovara Church, had different roles. The pharmacists were essentially doctors, and the scholar apparently spent his days and nights researching to decode the Japanese language research materials left by Yuuta Hiraga.
...Well, Japanese is complicated, is it not?
For example, take the kanji for 'pharmacist'. It can be read as 'yakushi' or 'kusushi.' And there are other readings too, which is why Japanese is difficult even for Japanese people.
...But then, it is a little strange that the men in white were more excited than Jasper, who should be the one researching this stuff.
Maybe the men in white got so excited that Jasper, who should have been the one getting excited, ended up staying calm instead. I have heard that when the person you are facing is in an excited state, you tend to become calm yourself.
"...I hope that book turns out to be useful,"
I murmured and brought the second bite of fish to my mouth. The fish dish, which I was eating again after learning its taste, felt very delicious.