Chapter 17: Girl, Drinks Tea

 

 

 

Chapter 17: Girl, Drinks Tea

 

THE next day they visited Cherry Blossom Kingdom’s finest reference archive.

Staring up at the large, slightly aged building, Oswald mentioned, “I’ve received permission from Princess Yura to access the archives. Cherry Blossom Kingdom is well-versed in new medical treatments, so you might be able to find a treatment method for Fake Lover.”

“Really?! All right, let’s do this!” Nichika cheered.

“You’re so motivated, Nichika,” Wolfie observed, watching her roll up her sleeves.

“Of course I am!”

Contrary to her energy, Oswald yawned listlessly beside her. Then, of all the nerve, he turned on his heel and headed back down the road they came. “Well, good luck with that.”

“Help me out!” Nichika grabbed his sleeve, stopping him. She hadn’t realized he was that opposed to assisting her. Looking up at his sleepy face, she frankly confronted him with something that had been bothering her for a while now, “Let me say this now because it’s relevant… Aren’t you, even just temporarily, my teacher? I think you have the responsibility to teach me things!”

“……” He stared back at her with an arched eyebrow that plainly said he found the idea annoying, but then, as if he were struck by a great idea, his expression changed. “I don’t mind teaching you, but you don’t even know how to read or write the letters of this world. That’s something you need to know before I can start teaching you.”

“Well…yeah, when you put it like that.”

Indeed, Nichika couldn’t read any of the letters belonging to languages in this world. She could, however, understand the general spoken language. Though she sincerely wished whatever made that ability possible would help her with reading and writing too—it didn’t—and she didn’t know who she could file the complaint with.

“This reference room doesn’t serve much purpose for you if you can’t read either. Let Wolfie teach you for a while first.”

“Seriously?!”

***

JUST like that, Nichika ended up taking a seat at a long wooden table situated in the sunniest spot in the reference room and began taking reading lessons from Wolfie.

“Now then, young Nichika, put your listening cap on. You are to call me Professor Wolfie,” he instructed.

“Please teach me your ways, Professor Wolfie…” Nichika entreated.

To think the day would come when I’d be learning my letters from a talking wolf. Nobody knows for sure what life has in store for them.

“Commence copying each letter a thousand times!”

“Bleghhh.”

***

SEVERAL hours passed with Nichika repeating the same process of copying down a huge list of foreign letters—similar, in her mind, to the Japanese syllable table used in primary school—while Wolfie orally explained each letter to her. Her studies went surprisingly well.

“You’re amazing, Nichika! You’re tens of thousands times better at remembering than me!” Wolfie praised, stamping her writing sheet with a paw of approval.

“You think so?” she said humbly, a strange feeling settling over her. English and other foreign language lessons went right through one ear and out the other in her world, but, curiously enough, this world’s language stuck with her right off the bat.

Why does it feel familiar?

It felt more like she was trying to recall knowledge she had forgotten rather than trying to legitimately learn a new language, even though she shouldn’t have ever seen these letters before.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter,” she concluded.

In the end, learning fast was a good thing. It didn’t take too long after that for her to become capable of constructing simple sentences with the letters she was studying.

“Say, Wolfie, what’s this letter—”

SNORE.

“Mmm… Zzzzz.”

“Hey…”

The concentration of Nichika’s great furry teacher appeared to have failed him, because he had dozed off into deep sleep mode while she was working. Exasperated, she glanced at the evening sunlight pouring in through the window and was surprised by how much time had passed since morning.

“Mn! I’ll take a short break too!” she said, stretching to her feet. Wanting something to pass the time with, she walked over to one of the many bookshelves lining the walls. She traced the spines of the different books in search of one at her reading level.

“Oh, this might work.” She pulled a picture book from the shelf that she thought she’d stand a fair chance at reading, since it was meant for children. “Spirit…Goddess….Yuna…” she read aloud, sounding out each letter and syllable.

 

Long, long ago, this continent was engulfed in chaos.

Nothing existed here: neither sound or light, nor the past or present, nor anything living.

One day, God appeared in the pitch-black world and left a single egg there.

After taking what seemed like an eternity, the egg hatched.

The fire bird that hatched from it took flight into the sky, illuminating and heating the land.

A single cry created sound, a flap of its wings moved the atmosphere into place, and time began to flow.

 

“Is this a creation myth?” Nichika sat down on a step leading to the books upstairs and flipped the pages.

Only the sound of turning pages resounded in the still reference room.

 

And then the Fire Bird Phoenix decided to rest on the ground below and laid eggs.

Monsters burst from the eggs in droves.

New life after new life came into existence, eventually ending with humanity, who timidly walked out of the shadow of the egg.

Watching the cycle of births through till the end, Phoenix curled up on the ground and burned away in its own flames.

From those ashes, the Fire Spirit, Water Spirit, Wind Spirit, and Earth Spirit came to be. Aside from the Great Four Spirits, many other lesser spirits were born too.

The world grew in proper order.

Monsters increased in number, and the elemental spirits took on the burden of making sure the world continued smoothly.

Nevertheless, after five hundred years passed, problems arose.

Humans grew too clever for their own good, and from among their ranks, greedy men moved to take over the world as if it belonged to them alone.

They abused the power of magic and began subjugating monsters.

Before long, their power grew beyond that of the spirits, destroying the balance in the world.

In some lands, blizzards capable of freezing the ground ten meters below the surface continued for a year straight, while in others, scorching heat withered the plant life into husks.

The humans didn’t stop their evil deeds, despite all the destruction around them.

That is when a single girl appeared from out of nowhere.

Announcing herself as Yuna, she dished out punishment to the evildoers with her mysterious powers.

No matter how evil the person, they were unable to oppose Yuna when she stared them down with her upright and honest eyes.

The look revived their forgotten pure hearts, which they had imprisoned deep within themselves.

Freeing all the spirits from captivity, Yuna graciously accepted their request to act as the ruler over all spirits.

Thus, having become the ruler of the spirits, Goddess Yuna continues to watch over the world to this day.

“Lady Yuna is so cool!” Nichika exclaimed.

She shut the book, ruminating over how heroic the myth was, not even realizing that she had read through it as smoothly as she would a Japanese book.

“Okay, time to get back to the inn! Wolfie, wake up.”

“Awoo?” Wolfie moaned sleepily.

***

SEVERAL days since they had begun their stay in Cherry Blossom Kingdom, Nichika was running down the road with her hands full of the books she had borrowed from the reference archives. Upon hearing the sound of her name, she skidded to a halt, catching the tower of books under her chin before it nearly toppled over.

“Oh my, Nichika, that’s quite the pile of books. I see you are still hard at work.”

“Princess Yura!”

Sitting on a red terrace sipping tea in a beautiful kimono, Princess Yura looked like she was modeling for a photo-shoot. Her ankle-length hair had been charred so badly that she had to cut it to shoulder-length, but the new look did nothing to dampen the brilliance of her beauty.

Nichika ran over to the terrace and energetically greeted her, “Hi! Err, I mean, how do you do, fair lady? My lady? Your Highness? Uh…”

“Hahaha,” Princess Yura giggled behind her free hand. “You needn’t be so formal with me. Today is my day off, so please behave as is natural to you.”

Princesses have days off too?

Nichika’s question must’ve shown on her face, because Princess Yura supplied the answer between sips of tea. “In Cherry Blossom Kingdom, ‘Princess’ is a title given to the person serving as the leader of the military. On my days off, I’m a normal citizen, no different from a dango seller’s daughter.”

“Nah, I think I’d need to get my eyes checked if I saw someone like you acting like one of those pretty girls trying to get customers to come inside her father’s shop.”

Actually, now I kinda want to see what that’d look like. What would she look like dressed as a waitress? I’m sure she’d look so stunning that male customers would line up outside the shop just for a peek.

Princess Yura interrupted her thoughts by patting the seat beside her in invitation. “Do you prefer yomogi dango? Mushroom? My recommendation is mitarashi dango.”

“Oh, I love mitarashi dango!”

“Ma’am, bring out two sticks of mitarashi dango—wait, add my share to that too.”

“You’ve got it, Yura!” the spry hostess called back in a plummy voice, returning inside the shop to fetch their order.

Glancing at Nichika’s pile of books placed on the chair beside her, Princess Yura softly commented, “I really owe you for what you did for me at the temple. Is your research coming along all right?”

“Yes, as much as it could be. Oh, yeah! Thank you so much for giving me permission to enter the archives!”

Princess Yura was so astonished by Nichika’s honesty—she was used to having to bargain and haggle with people who owed her or she owed—that a quiet laugh slipped out. “I’m quite embarrassed to have you see it. Our nation hasn’t been around for long, so I fear I may have disappointed you with the dearth of technical and specialized books.”

“I’m not disappointed at all! Oz—er, I mean, my master praised your collection. He said Cherry Blossom Kingdom’s medical and herbal knowledge is second to none.”

Princess Yura gently smiled and gazed up at the sky. Nichika followed suit, lifting her eyes to the heavens where the vibrant contrast of the deep-blue sky framed by blooming cherry trees etched a lasting impression. She often saw this scenery in Japan, but rarely had she ever taken the time to appreciate the simple everyday sights. In retrospect, the blue of this world’s sky was a much deeper shade than any she saw on Earth.

“Nichika, do you know how this country was established?”

“Umm…nope.”

“Cherry Blossom Kingdom was originally a place where prostitutes who escaped from other cities gathered. Prostitutes have to take care of their own health, which inevitably left many of them with at least a basic understanding of medicine. Our nation may very well have that to thank for our medical knowledge.”

“That’s interesting.” Nichika’s eyes rounded at the unexpected topic.

Seeing her reaction, Princess Yura knitted her brows and apologized, “I’m sorry. I suddenly brought up an uncomfortable topic.”

“That’s not true! Because that means this city is like a refuge for prostitutes, right? I believe just having the hope of escape must’ve been a huge emotional support for many woman across the world!” Nichika insisted with clenched fists.

Nichika might have found herself in a similar position if she hadn’t succeeded in getting Oswald to take her under his wing as an apprentice. She viewed it much more personally than Princess Yura could ever know.

But, realizing how what she said may have come across wrong, Nichika froze. Ashamed, she shrunk down in her chair. “…I’m sorry. I have no right to talk when I don’t know much about what they’ve been through.”

“Haha,” Yura chuckled. “You truly are an intriguing person. I can understand why the great witch would want to keep you with him.”

“He does?”

“Here you go, girlies!” the hostess interjected, cutting their conversation short as she carried the dango over to their table, “Thanks for waiting for your mitarashi dango!”

Nichika was pondering about what Princess Yura’s words meant, but her thoughts were disrupted by what was set in front of her.

“Please dig in. The dango here are the best in the kingdom,” Princess Yura encouraged.

“……”

The warm, soft, grilled mochi balls were glazed with a glossy, sweet soy sauce. By all accounts, they looked like absolutely scrumptious dango. They really did, but…the problem was their sheer quantity. One quick look and Nichika was sure there were more than fifty skewers piled directly on top of the tray.

Princess Yura dug in without reserve. “Heavenly! These truly are a treat. I just can’t get enough of this flavor!” she exclaimed.

“P-Princess Yura? Hello? Princess Yura?”

“Mmph?” Princess Yura turned to her, with three skewers in her right hand and five in her left. “What?” She looked like she was having the time of her life with glossy sauce smeared across her lips.

“Are we really going to eat these?” Nichika asked in disbelief, “All of them?”

“Dango are a blessing. They come in handy during mock battles and training, because they keep you full.”

“I’m sure they do, but…”

Aren’t you eating too many? Nichika left the rest of her question unsaid. Watching the dango disappear down the princess’ throat like they were being sucked into a black hole, she hesitantly picked up a skewer from the ever-decreasing pile on the tray.

Princess Yura repeated the process of stuffing her cheeks with dango like a chipmunk, swallowing them, and following it up with more, all the while complaining resentfully between bites, “That’s why…mph…I’m trying to…endorse…mmph…using them as emergency rations…mm…during away missions…mmh…but the statesmen keep shooting me down!”

I get why they would. Dango don’t keep fresh for a long time. Nichika smiled dryly as she sympathized with the senior statesmen’s plight.

***

“WHAT? This is where you’ve been?”

A familiar voice echoed down the street after Nichika had been chatting idly with Princess Yura for a good while. Nichika took a look and found her master shooting her an incredulous stare, holding some sort of object under his arm.

“Allow me to apologize to you, Princess Yura. Has this rare animal offended you in any way?”

“Who’re you calling a rare animal?!”

“Haha. I had her accompany me for a spot of tea. I enjoyed our time together.”

Nichika was in the midst of huffily standing from her chair, when she caught sight of something behind Oswald and stopped. Something was crushed under a mountain of bags.

“Wolfie?!”

Her four-legged friend slowly raised his head under the heavy load, his eyes spinning. His eyes weren’t focusing, but he weakly sniffed the air. “Sniff, sniff sniff. Nichika? You smell good.”

Nichika furiously glared at Oswald and yelled, “Hey, why are you putting so much strain on him! He’s being crushed under the weight of all your junk!”

Oswald scowled at her deafening shout, plucked a dango skewer from her hand, and held it out before his wolf’s nose. “Here.”

“Dango!” Wolfie tugged a dango off the skewer with his teeth and rapidly regained his lively energy with every passing bite. When he was finished, he easily hopped to his feet with a big, satisfied sigh. “Yummy! …Weird? Why did all my strength come back?”

“Because you darted out of the inn without breakfast, stupid dog.”

His weakness was just from hunger?

Having finished all the dango on the skewer, he jumped up and down with the heavy bag bouncing on his back. “Master! What else do we have left to buy? I can carry more! We’re leaving in the afternoon, right? Right?”

“We are? I didn’t hear about that.” Nichika looked at Oswald. He shrugged.

“I’ve gone through and memorized most of their books and documents. Unfortunately, it seems like we won’t be able to find any leads from the books of this country.”

“That’s a shame…” Nichika had hoped they’d be able to grasp some sort of helpful clue on the Fake Lover parasite. She hung her head dejectedly, until something clicked and made her look up with a start. “You looked into it for me?”

“We’d be ten years older before leaving this country if I left all the work to you.”

“Haha,” she laughed dryly. He had phrased that horribly, but she didn’t have it in her to tell him off for it, since it was the truth, and he had helped her out in the end. Instead, she huffily turned her head away from him.

Princess Yura giggled at her. “You will be warmly welcomed should you ever drop by our humble kingdom again. I shall be praying that your travels are safe. Oh, and I’ll be sure to have some dango boxed up for you to take. Will fifty skewers do?”

“N-No, thanks! We’ll be fine without it!”

***

WITHOUT much fanfare, they left Cherry Blossom Kingdom behind them a little past noon. Snacking on the ten skewers of mitarashi dango Nichika had unbelievably persuaded Princess Yura to agree to after much effort, they walked to the northeast.

“Cherry Blossom Kingdom was a great country for how small it is!” Nichika cheerfully brought up, “They even had hot springs.”

“You fit in frighteningly well,” Oswald remarked.

“Yeah, because its culture was just like where I’m from.”

Casually conversing, they hiked on. As they progressed, the trail grew steeper until they came across a moderately deep ravine, where a clear river was rushing along below them.

Giving that scenery a good sidelong glance as she walked, Nichika questioned Oswald about their destination, “Where are we headed next?”

“I don’t have a specific place in mind, but we can’t go anywhere unless we cross this mountain.”

Oh yeah, Cherry Blossom Kingdom is protected by a range of mountains. Conjuring up the image of the world map she had seen in the archives, her shoulders sagged at the prospect of the tiring journey ahead.

“Blegh. I hate hiking mountains. I hope I don’t lose steam halfway up.”

“Don’t fall off the ledge. I’m not going down there to pick you up if you do.”

“No, you should save me if I fall!”

She wanted to believe Oswald was just kidding, but her past interactions with him only made her afraid that he might actually leave her to die. She was staring suspiciously at his back, when Wolfie, who was trotting beside her, glanced up and started to beg.

“Hey! Hey! Let me see the magic ball again! It’s all sparkly and shiny.”

Nichika smiled at him and brought the orb out from her pocket. When she held it up to the sun, the light shined through the glass, drawing a red circle on the ground. Wolfie playfully hopped around and skidded along the mountain edge, chasing after the red light.

I’m so glad I asked the Fire Spirit to lend me his power. I just need to keep up this pace, Nichika thought. Mana in the shape of butterflies fluttered over to the magic orb in her hand and disappeared inside.

“It’s neat that mana takes on the form of a butterfly. It’s so strange that I can see them if I try to now,” she marveled aloud.

Ever since the Fire Spirit had opened up the world to her, she’d become acutely aware of the mana that existed everywhere around her. Though they weren’t normally visible, she could spot them here and there when she strained her eyes.

Unsettled by her casual remark, Oswald looked over his shoulder and abruptly asked, “Butterflies? Is that how you see it?”

“Yeah, you don’t?”

“Apparently, mana takes on different forms depending on the viewer. I see it as a bird.”

“Birds, huh? What about you, Wolfie?”

Wolfie quit chasing the red light and cocked his head. “I’m not that strong when it comes to magic, so at most I can only see faint lights sometimes.”

“Huh.”

Nichika carefully studied Wolfie’s big, furry body. There were dim brown lights gathering around him. When she examined Oswald in the same fashion, she got the impression there were little blue birds flying in his vicinity.

Do different types of mana like different people? She surveyed the area around her body, but the only mana she saw were the red butterflies flocking to the magic orb.

Suddenly, a golden butterfly cut across in front of her. Curious what element that mana corresponded to, she thoughtlessly followed without watching her surroundings. It led her to the ledge.

“Ah!” The ground suddenly gave out under her feet.

“Wha—you idiot!”

“Nichika!”

Oswald and Wolfie’s horrified expressions vanished from view. She desperately tried to grab hold of the cliff terrain zooming by as she fell, but every time she managed to catch something with her hands, it fruitlessly crumbled away.

“WAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

Her ears filled with the sound of her scream rebounding off the ravine walls above. With a shocking shift in temperature, she splashed into the rushing current of the river that should’ve been far below her.