kscans

Chapter 138 - Reunion and the Silent Summer Bird

How much time had passed since we entered this room? The door was opened, and a knight entered. It wasn't Yanan.

"Your companions are here."

Cecily and I were escorted to the room where we had eaten. There, we found Famu, Mizuki, Myra, Aira, and the cat-eared man. Everyone's faces lit up with relief upon seeing us. Cecily, who was next to me, silently sat down beside Aira.

"Master!"

Famu started to run towards me, but I held up a hand to stop her and grabbed Aira's arm.

"Hey, come with me for a second. I want to talk to you alone."

"?"

Aira glanced at Cecily for a moment, but stood up without a word. I took her hand and led her out into the corridor. There was a conveniently placed stone pillar. I took her to a spot behind it and pressed her back against the wall. Then, I told her everything that had happened up until we were reunited.

"Are you an idiot?"

Aira asked after she finished hearing my explanation. I didn't know how much time had passed, but after my encounter with Cecily, I had slept for a while, though I wasn't sure for how long.

"Why did you stop halfway through?"

"I-I couldn't help it. After seeing Cecily's crying face and hearing her resolve..."

My member had gone soft. I tried. But the more I panicked, the more impossible it became.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you that once you're in, you finish, no matter what?"

"No parents teach their kids that!"

Aira let out a heavy sigh.

"So that's why Cecily was mad. And here I thought that was your only redeeming quality, Mash..."

Aira was incredible. She hadn't exchanged a single word with Cecily, yet she had already sensed her anger.

"That's a harsh thing to say, but I never thought that would happen either. I was surprised myself."

She reached for my crotch and started stroking me over my clothes.

"...It's getting hard just fine now, though."

"But at that time..."

Aira let go.

"At that time, I felt like I had to give her some kind of answer. But I didn't know what to say."

"In your case, I think you should just finish first and think later. That's what you've always done, right?"

"Now that you mention it, I guess so, but was it really? Also, aren't you being a little crude? I'm a delicate person, you know?"

"Haaah... I hope you get dumped, Mash,"

Aira replied, and sighed again.

"Mash, what do you want from Cecily?"

"I want her to stay with me even after we reach Miglutt. I don't want her to leave. But at the same time, I think she should go to the magic academy."

When we lost the duel in Richel, she probably had a vague yearning for the magic academy, but I didn't think she had thought about it deeply. But after traveling with us this far and gaining experience, and especially after meeting Mo, her desire to go to the magic academy must have solidified into a strong resolve. Was it right for me to hold her back from that resolve? She was a mage. Not everyone could become one. She had the potential to develop her talent.

"At the end of your journey lies the Demon King. There lie the remnants of a battle from the age of myths. I believe it is something that will bring about a change in this world."

"Do you really think the Demon King exists, Aira?"

At my question, she looked up, her eyes wandering as if she were deep in thought.

"Lady Laciel told you to defeat the Demon King. Therefore, you must defeat the Demon King. Even if you meet the same end as Akitsuki Uta. Of course, we will never let you walk the same path as her. But right now, neither I nor Cecily have the wisdom or the power for that."

"Aira..."

"Mash, you called us your comrades. To us, you are also an irreplaceable comrade."

I never imagined she held such thoughts. And I had forgotten that she was a priestess. A believer in the goddess. To her, the word of a god was absolute. No, I was the one underestimating Laciel. She was a being deeply revered by the inhabitants of this world. If that was the case, Cecily's values were likely similar to hers.

"Big sis—... Ahem, I'm not Myra, so I don't want to say this. But you and Mizuki were sent by Lady Laciel, so you must think and decide for yourselves. Cecily's feelings are irrelevant."

"...Even if you say that, I don't get it!"

I couldn't help but whine. There was no point in saying it to Aira. She smiled at my words. Then, she wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me. Her soft breasts pressed against me.

"Don't overthink it. To put it another way, whatever you decide is also the will of the goddess. You have time to think until we reach Miglutt. Also, when you're with her, try to act as normal as possible. I'll help you two make up too."

"Alright. Thanks."

As I answered, she let go.

"Anyway, don't do it with anyone else until you've finished with Cecily! And when the time comes, call me! If you fail again, I'll be happy to take care of it for you."

"..."

Leaving me with words I couldn't tell if were serious or a joke, Aira slipped past me and headed back to the dining hall. In the end, what was I supposed to do? I turned to go back to the dining hall myself, and was startled to find Famu, Mizuki, and Myra standing there.

"You guys... do I have no privacy?!"

Why did they always come to listen in on my secret conversations?

"Why do you have secret conversations without us, Mash? Weren't we comrades?"

Myra pressed, her large breasts bouncing.

"Hey, you guys have things you don't want people to know too, right? Even I have a sense of shame. It was a topic I didn't want everyone to hear about..."

"You didn't forgive me even when I cried!"

Mizuki said reproachfully. She was right about that. But at that time, I was able to achieve an intense sense of satisfaction.

"...Sorry."

"Don't just apologize normally! I don't know how to react to that!"

Then what kind of reaction did she want? I studied Mizuki's expression.

"W-What?"

she said, taking a step back as if flinching. I really didn't understand what she was thinking.

"You have everything I don't have. You could at least give me one thing, right?"

"Not just one! You took two!"

I shifted my gaze from Mizuki to Famu.

"Famu, is there anything you want to say?"

"Yes. There are many things, but first, let's eat."

She didn't say breakfast or dinner either. Her sense of time must be off too. I felt hungry, but at the same time, not hungry. Come to think of it, I could use my storage here. I checked the time; it was 4 AM. Famu and the others must have been trying to rescue us all night.

"Did you sleep after you got here?"

I asked Famu.

"Yes. They prepared a bedroom for us. But I'm not sure how long I slept."

I nodded at her and was about to put my phone back in my storage when I realized something I hadn't thought of before. Things in my storage were supposed to be preserved in the state they were in when I put them in. But my phone was charged, and time had passed. I decided not to think about it too deeply for now. I'd ask Laciel about it later. We headed to the dining hall.


On the dining table, in place of the pile of worms, there was a bowl of potato salad.

"Oh, so they have potatoes in this world too."

They might have been here all along, but some past transmigrator must have brought them. I put some on my own plate, and was about to serve some for Famu.

"M-Master! Are you actually going to eat that?!"

Her voice was clearly laced with fear.

"...You're not eating it?"

Mizuki, like me, looked at Famu's reaction with a puzzled expression. Reluctantly, I gave the potato salad I had served for Famu to Mizuki. I looked around and saw that everyone except Mizuki and, I now noticed, the prime minister Kurya, who had joined us at some point, was shrinking away from it. The cat-eared man who had been here earlier was also among them. A closer look revealed that he was Cyril, the man the Chairman had entrusted with the farm management. Had he come with Famu and the others? Why was he even here?

"You're Cyril, right?"

"Yeah."

He nodded.

"The ones ravaging the farm were the Earth Dragon Race. But they had their reasons. I'm currently discussing a solution with Kurya here."

"Yeah, I've already been briefed on the situation. You can leave this matter to us now. We'll take it from here."

"So the request is complete?"

Cyril nodded. He sipped his soup.

"After you fell into the hole, a messenger from the Chairman arrived. He said he'll hand over Shizuka to you, even if you don't complete the request. He also said that if there are any other girls you like, you can take a few of them too."

"What did you say?"

What could have changed the Chairman's mind? I looked at Myra, but she shook her head. It wasn't the church's doing. Had he heard about Mo from Shizuka and thought she was a cash cow? Or had he heard that I had summoned a goddess during the pirate extermination?

"Anyway, he wants you to come back right away."

As I listened to Cyril, I was about to eat the potato salad, but I noticed my plate was gone. I checked the table and saw that my potato salad had been taken by Famu. She was trembling, trying to eat it.

"Hey, if you don't like it, you don't have to force yourself to eat it."

"No, if you're going to eat it, Master, then I will!"

I stopped her as she was about to force it into her mouth. Something was definitely wrong with her. She looked distraught. Myra and the others also looked pale.

"Hey, what's wrong with this potato salad?"

"Mash, potatoes are the source of all diseases. It's better not to eat them..."

Myra warned me. I seemed to recall that in my original world, the potato was slow to catch on in some parts of Europe. It was due to a superstition that if you got sick, you could be cured by eating something that resembled the shape of the afflicted area. And because of the potato's ugly shape, it was associated with the symptoms of a certain disease and detested. Then, a religious organization in that region declared that it didn't exist in their scriptures and forbade its consumption. A similar superstition must have taken root in this world. That's why there were no potatoes in the cities. But seeing their fear, there was a possibility that the potatoes in this world really did cause illness. I looked at Kurya, who was calmly eating the potato salad.

"Do potatoes make you sick?"

"Not at all. That is a rumor spread by the surface dwellers. The sprouts are poisonous, but we have removed them. It seemed our previous dishes were not to the surface dwellers' liking, so we changed it to potato salad this time..."

He had a troubled expression on his face. I took the potato salad from Famu and tried it. It was normal potato salad. Mizuki was eating it too.

"It seems a bit sour, but this is mayonnaise..."

She was surprised by something else entirely. I wondered if there was a way to make it popular among the surface dwellers. First, I wanted Famu and the others to try it, but judging by their reactions, that seemed impossible.

"Famu, you mentioned before that the prime minister of the Dog-eared Emperor was a transmigrator who called himself Richelieu, right?"

"Yes."

"In my world, Richelieu is known as the person who popularized mayonnaise, which is used in potato salad."

There was also a cardinal who appeared in stories about three musketeers and a young man from the countryside, but I kept that to myself.

"Is that so?!"

She stared at the potato salad, but she didn't reach for it.

"So, what happened with the Earth Dragon King?"

I asked Kurya. He stopped eating.

"Yes, Yanan is leading an advance party to intercept the Earth Dragon King in this city."

"What?"

"After hearing that you possess a Divine Grace, and also hearing from those who arrived later that you might be able to defeat the Earth Dragon King, we cannot afford to let you leave."

My words weren't just being taken out of context; they were running rampant.

"You said in this city?"

"Yes. This city is the only space we can think of where you can fight the Earth Dragon King. Besides, our true home is beneath the great plain. Until we reclaim that place, we have no future,"

Kurya said quietly.

"What are you going to do about the residents?"

"In any case, the Earth Dragon King will eventually come to this place."