5 - Episode 1: And So the Three Idiots Met
The main story begins. Unlike Kakuyomu, emoticons don't go into the ruby text...! I thought about rewriting it, but I'll leave it as is.
The Leonesta Empire, and its capital, the Imperial Capital of Leonesta, naturally has a pleasure district.
After all, it is the capital of the nation. The flow of people is extraordinary, and many people make their living there. For this very reason, capitals everywhere function as centers of economy. And because it is a place where people gather, a place to release one's desires is necessary. If it were banned everywhere, people seeking opportunities to release their desires would explode, and public order would become terribly bad.
The pleasure district is, so to speak, a necessary evil.
Now, right next to such a pleasure district was the Adventurer's Guild. The reason was simple, adventurers, who could be called day laborers, do not keep money overnight... or rather, they spend quite lavishly. It is no longer clear which came first, but the adjacency of these facilities was calculated and created.
The time was evening, around the time the sun was about to set. There was one boy watching the wave of adventurers who had finished their work for the day and were about to head out into the pleasure district.
Golden hair and blue eyes. He was a boy with an expression tinged with a somewhat sleepy melancholy. Leaning his back against the outer wall of the Adventurer's Guild building, watching the crowd with his arms crossed, his figure, combined with his straight bridge of the nose, was very conspicuous. Enough to make the women passing by skip a beat.
Still, the reason they could not easily call out to him was likely his clothing. A top and bottom of black with gold thread that looked obviously well-tailored, and a blue robe. And since that robe even had a family crest, there was no doubt he was a relative of a noble house. If there were a crest appraiser in this place, they would have noticed it was the crest of House Triad.
While not going as far as saying he was a high court noble, nobles have the legal power to exercise the crime of insult based on their own judgment. Thinking that it is better to leave well enough alone, it is only natural to pretend not to see.
(---This is bad. The date and place should be today and here... but I just realized now that it would be embarrassing to say the password and have someone make a weird face.)
But the boy, Geoglyph, actually wanted someone to talk to him. He was not shy, and he had a decent amount of communication skills, but that said, he had not thought at all about how to interact if he threw a password at a stranger and it was not returned.
Yes, upon their encounter with God Refill, they had made a kind of arrangement or promise. To meet at the Adventurer's Guild in the capital of the Leonesta Empire on their respective 15th birthdays. Therefore, they had requested God Refill that all three of them be born in the Leonesta Empire.
They had also decided on a password at that time, but because they decided it based on the tension of the moment, it was a bit embarrassing. He was now regretting that he should have made it something simple, like Mountain! River!
(What should I do. I've already been waiting for half a day, should I make it tomorrow again...)
While Geoglyph was worrying like that.
"Finally arrived. So this is the Imperial Capital's Adventurer's Guild."
A boy around the same age appeared at the entrance of the guild. Red hair and hawk-colored eyes. His build was larger than his own, but judging by the youthfulness of his face, their ages were close. What he wore was the travel gear of a commoner, and the only thing that stood out was a dull-colored bangle on his right arm.
A traveler boy who looked like he could be anywhere. But Geoglyph felt something. So, he made up his mind and tried calling out.
"Hey."
"Oh? What is it?"
"Um..."
To the boy who replied bluntly, Geoglyph was slightly intimidated but made up his mind. His face was red with embarrassment, but he opened his mouth, and thinking "whatever," he started the chant in rhythm.
"B-Burn it, burn it, burn the anger...!"
Then, the boy looked blank for a moment, and then grinned.
"Run, run, run toward tomorrow!"
The song of the Beast God, which they had used as a password, came back.
Hearing that, Geoglyph collapsed from sheer relief.
"T-Thank goodness...! If I had gotten it wrong, it would have definitely been a dark history...!"
"What's with you, you were totally into it too, weren't you?"
"The tension was weird when we decided it..."
The red-haired boy, Later, who laughed loudly, slapped Geoglyph's shoulder, who looked exhausted.
"Even so, why Ra-ger? I must say, I also wondered."
A voice like a bell called out to the two of them. When the two turned around, there was one girl. Long silver hair and green eyes that looked strong-willed. Her body, wrapped in a white one-piece dress, did not have a rich sexiness, but had a charm reminiscent of blue fruit. Later turned his gaze toward her and snorted.
"He likes pro wrestling. ---And, the fact that you know that means,"
"Yes. It is 'Boku'."
The girl, Marianne, nodded.
"He really became a woman..."
"I knew he asked God Refill for that, but seriously..."
To the two who were speechless, she made a proud pose with a hmph.
"You mustn't fall in love, okay?"
'No way. A beautiful girl who is an old man on the inside and a yuri pig, no way.'
He waved one hand with a momentum that seemed like he could envision a (ヾノ・∀・`) emoticon. Dissatisfied with that reaction, Marianne pouted her lips.
"Recently, there is even a genre called Ba-biniku, you know."
"In my generation, it was probably just nekama or otokonoko at most."
"I think so too. Maybe Otome-kei?"
"That is discrimination!"
"Don't do the annoying guy move."
"I mean, just when were you here?"
"Actually, I have been here for quite a while."
To Marianne, who announced this nonchalantly, Geoglyph was speechless.
"Talk to me! I've been here for half a day!?"
"I know. I was watching you as you wandered around the cafe diagonally opposite."
"You should have talked to him..."
To Later's accusation, however, Marianne frowned.
"But when you think about that password calmly, what is it? If I had gotten it wrong, I would have died of embarrassment, wouldn't I?"
"Ah, well, that's true... that's why I was hesitating too."
"Come on~. It's fine, Rai-ger. If you sing it at a year-end party, it's a hit with the older generation, you know?"
"Ah, well, it is a mandatory skill for drinking parties, but..."
"It is true that everyone has a few songs, nostalgic hits for entertaining guests."
Do not despise old songs.
For the old man generation, old pop songs and old anime songs are abnormally well-received. If they have been tossed around as working adults to some extent, they probably have one or two such songs in their repertoire. Conversely, if it is a trendy new song, it invites frowns. If anything, they make ridiculous complaints that recent songs are too fast and hard to hear, or the lyrics are dark, or "who do you think you are."
Old men who have power in the miniature garden called a company are very troublesome creatures. The wisdom, or the art of survival, to deflect them at a drinking party is old pop songs and old anime songs.
Digression aside.
"Well, anyway. We were able to reunite as planned."
"That's true. Well, there are various things I want to talk about, but..."
"---First is the coming-of-age ceremony! Let's go drinking!!"
And so the three idiots reunited on their 15th birthday in this world, which is to say, the day of adulthood.
Next time is tomorrow.