Chapter 7: The Second Encounter

Chapter 7:
The Second Encounter

“ALL RIGHT, GOLTAROU. ‘Hurray!’ Raise your arms. ‘Hurray!’”

Underneath the clear blue sky, I polished Goltarou’s pristine white body with a rag. Goltarou obediently raised his arms.

Good boy. I’ll polish your underarms until they shine… Yup, I think I understand how those hot-blooded bikers feel when they care for their vehicles.

It had been three days since I tested Create Golem at the back of the house. Then again, I wasn’t sure of the exact time. I couldn’t say exactly how long I had been unconscious. But I was bedridden for a whole two days, so I assumed it had to have been at least three.

I had spent all that time in bed, but I wasn’t the least bit bored since I just kept telling Goltarou about Japan. I was glad for this part of the ordeal. Though for some reason, whenever he listened to my stories, his face would draw awfully close…too close for comfort. What an incredibly focused guy.

Goltarou even went out to harvest fruit in my stead. His dexterity didn’t match his huge body at all. Even though his arms worked like an android’s and looked like they could serve a mean punch, he moved with extreme delicacy. He could even have sewed if his fingers were thinner. I’m sorry for my complete lack of crafting skills…

Also, because I wanted to eat some glorious cranberry-apples, Goltarou had quickly begun to master a method of picking the most delicious ones.

H-he’s too clever…

Well, in any case, stepping away from his general awesomeness, let’s talk about my…not-awesomeness.

I had turned the Grand Stone Gate into an unforgivable mess when I opened it and triggered a Mentos Geyser explosion when I removed the binding on the stone book. Continuing that streak, I committed a catastrophic crime against nature with Create Pebble.

Lastly, Create Golem had been especially awful. After losing consciousness, I was bedridden for two days from the aftereffects, leaving me in the pitiful state of needing to be nursed back to health by my own golem.

I had no choice but to admit that I had no aptitude for casting spells. In any case, I didn’t think I would cast Create Golem again for the rest of my life.

Thankfully, my physical condition had practically recovered. The fatigue was almost gone as well.

Incidentally, during my recovery I looked pretty “wild child” on account of wearing just a pair of underwear. I had been stuck in bed until the third morning, after all. The first thing I was doing now that I was recovered was wiping down my whole body in the back garden. That meant polishing Goltarou had to come next.

“All right! Lower your head, Goltarou.”

Goltarou curled his back and bowed. Yup, what a good boy. With the rag, I rubbed the back of Goltarou’s head squeaky clean before giving it a smack. Then I patted him.

“Great. All done! Your head is really smooth!”

Now then, let’s get down to the real business at hand today.

Hmm…? Wait. I felt something off about that thought just now.

However, I didn’t think too much about it in the end. Why? Well, because I had noticed something even more out of place.

At that moment, since we were cleaning ourselves, the two of us were by the fountain at the back of the house. But there was a small hole in the ground near the trees a little ahead of us.

Was that hole there before? After wracking my brain for a bit, I remembered. Right. That was the location of the white pillar I used to create Goltarou’s base. From where I had just been standing, it would have been in my blind spot.

Still, to think that such a weird hole got left behind by that white pillar. Just what kind of hole was it? At first glance, it looked like a well.

I approached it in hopes of checking it out. However, Goltarou didn’t move from his spot by the fountain.

“What’s wrong, Goltarou…?”

How strange. He usually stuck behind me like a baby chick wherever I went. He even tried to follow me to the bathroom, but as you might’ve guessed, I stopped him by the door.

“Wait. Now that I think about it, you…”

For the past two days, Goltarou had been trying to keep me away from the fountain.

The fountain was the only source of water, so I usually needed to go there several times a day. However, since I had created him, Goltarou had gone to fetch the water, ensuring that our supply in the house never dropped below a certain level, so I hadn’t needed to go near it myself. Additionally, right before coming out to bathe, he had lightly pulled my sleeve, showing a faint resistance. But because I had been trapped in bed for two entire days, my entire body felt gross, so I ignored him and forced my way out.

Actually, I thought the act of pulling on my sleeve was a sign that he wanted to play. You know, the thing dogs always do that I so often ignored.

Even though I was still confused by Goltarou’s behavior, I nonchalantly peeked inside the hole. I felt a slight flash of regret.

Ah, Goltarou, you were right.

At the bottom of this dark hole was the figure of a person lying on the ground.

***

I hurried back inside the house, where I shrugged on some clothes and grabbed some equipment. After throwing on a random robe, I rushed back to the garden. There was no way I was going to enter a hole wearing just a pair of underwear. Besides, this getup was the minimum requirement for a gentleman about to show himself to other people.

Eh, what about Goltarou, you ask? He didn’t count. Because he was family, I could even hug him in my underwear.

“Hey, you in the hole! You okay?” I stood at the edge of the hole and called out several times to the person inside.

Just as I expected, there was no response. To tell you the truth, the probability that the person in there was still alive was practically zero. But it wasn’t absolute zero… And it was against my code as a gentleman to ignore that possibility, however faint it might be.

From what I could tell, the hole was over five meters deep. The inside was dim, so I wasn’t sure, but I think the interior was wider than the entrance. At the very least, I no longer thought this was merely an old well. Furthermore, as the hole had originally housed the stone pillar, the entrance was also over one meter in diameter.

That should be enough space for me to enter. I took out the long rope I grabbed from the closet in the house. I would have Goltarou hold the rope for me at the top while I descended.

Although Goltarou was hesitant to approach the hole before, when he saw how resolute I was to enter, he accompanied me all the way to the edge. Seriously, what a good guy.

You got guts, Goltarou!

I wrapped one end of the rope around Goltarou’s waist and grabbed the other. The rope was quite old, but it would hold, right? W-well, if the rope snapped and I fell, I probably wouldn’t die. Though I might break some bones.

M-maybe I won’t go down…

Troubled, I looked up at Goltarou’s face. Right. Why was I getting cold feet all of a sudden? For the sake of Goltarou’s education and my duty as a cultured man, I had to see things through.

Practically speaking, as long as there was even the slightest possibility that the person lying inside the hole still had life in them, I had to do something. The only person here who could do anything was me.

I steeled my nerves and resumed my descent. It was a surprisingly smooth journey. Or it was if you left out every time the rope creaked and I shook in terror.

On my way, I strove to avoid looking down in more ways than one.

“My feet should’ve reached the bottom by now…”

From the state of the inner walls, the structure of the underground space resembled a decrepit pit of several meters extending in all directions. It wasn’t particularly wide.

Finally, my feet touched the ground. By then, my eyes had become accustomed to the darkness.

I should be right next to the person now.

Just as I readied myself to look in their direction, I heard a sound from above. I looked up to see Goltarou attempting to enter the circular opening directly above me.

With your size, isn’t that impossible? Oh…? Looks like there’s enough room. No, wait, wait, wait, wait! If you come down, then who’s going to pull me up?! W-wait, Gol! No!

“Gol! Stay!”

I was a second too late. Goltarou placed his hands on the edge of the hole and pushed off, jumping down. Then he lightly kicked the inner wall, did a quick flip in the air, and landed right beside me.

I was speechless. He didn’t make a single sound when he landed.

“What kind of motor skills do you possess…?”

Well, whatever. Given his dexterity, I was sure Goltarou could easily get us out of here. I no longer had to fear being trapped. For the time being, I should be happy with that.

I pulled myself together and took a quick breath. Newly resolved, I turned my gaze toward the person lying at my feet, and my eyes opened wide.

Would you imagine? It was a skeleton.

……

Damn it! Another skeleton! I expected this, but…! And given the circumstances, I did see it coming, but come on! So far, all the humans I’ve encountered in this world have been one hundred percent skeletons!

Sorry, I lost my composure.

“Hm?” I suddenly felt a powerful gaze being sent in my direction.

The owner was Goltarou. Of course, Goltarou didn’t actually have eyes. He only faced me. But it still felt like Goltarou was staring at me, trying to gauge my reaction. For the first time, I sensed an unusually strong fluctuation in his emotions.

Was this fear…or extreme unease? Either way, Goltarou regarded me with apprehension. He scrunched his shoulders, shrinking his body. It seemed that the object of Goltarou’s anxiety wasn’t the body at my feet, but me.

Why was he more concerned about me than a corpse? I could clearly see that he was afraid of me, but there was definitely something else…

Goltarou’s current appearance was that of a child curled up, about to cry, expecting to be scolded by their parent. Did he think I would be angry with him for preventing me from coming here these past few days? Did he join me down here, at the bottom of the hole that he so badly didn’t want to approach, just to confirm my displeasure?

No, that didn’t feel true.

Then why are you scared of me?

My train of thought hit the brakes. Well, duh! Anyone would be scared at their first encounter with a skeleton. Apparently even golems could feel uneasy. The temporal reality of it had slipped my mind, but technically this guy was a baby.

For my part, I had run into that bastard Zairein’s skeleton right after being summoned and had then spent hours in the same room as him. Frankly, I think I might have become a little desensitized. However, if I continued to carelessly show indifference to this kind of thing, it might lead to misunderstandings later on.

Therefore, as a senpai in encountering skeletons, I had to alleviate my kouhai Goltarou’s unease. I lightly placed my hand on Goltarou’s shoulder and gave it a few soft taps. Then I showed him a bright grin. Hey, don’t worry. I, the skeleton veteran (by comparison), am here with you.

The moment he saw my smiling face, the air around Goltarou softened and relaxed. At the same time, his anxious gaze vanished. It was gone so quickly that I had to wonder if all I’d witnessed was just my own imagination.

In any case, it seemed Goltarou was fine now. I returned my attention to the corpse on the floor.

The corpse, as I already described, was bones. As such, I couldn’t tell its age or gender. Unlike Luvel Zairein’s remains, the clothes covering this body were damaged beyond recognition. It was difficult to make any judgments based on outward appearance.

My gaze fixed on a certain point on the body. Its hands and feet were each restrained by shackles: strange hand and ankle cuffs. They appeared to be metal—no, possibly stone or resin. There also appeared to be some kind of pattern carved into their surface, but I couldn’t make it out because the main part was too corroded.

At a quick glance, the cuffs were similar to accessories, like bracelets or anklets, but there was a reason I was able to immediately identify them as restraints. Chains extended from the shackles and bound the corpse’s limbs to the ground.

This imprisoned corpse made me recall the stone book testament left by Luvel Zairein’s skeleton. Zairein wrote that in preparation for the summoning ritual, he required not only his own life but the use of a “galvanizing sacrifice” who possessed the “primordial ancestor’s blood.”

Could that sacrifice be this person in front of me…? My eyes were now glued to the body, unable to look away. If I had slipped up anywhere, I could have ended up this miserably used—say, a me in another timeline who decided to go through the tunnel that day.

“Let’s get those chains off you and make you a more decent resting place outside. Somewhere in the light…”

The chains connected to the shackles were short. The person must have spent their last moments lying on the cold, hard stone floor, unable to lift their body. I wasn’t expecting any agreement from Goltarou when I muttered those words in that silent underground space. I was only talking to myself.

“I don’t want to leave you in this dark and lonely place…”

I took off my robe and wrapped the body in it. Goltarou silently helped me. His nimble fingers were as delicate as usual.

When I slowly lifted the bundle, which felt much lighter than expected, something small tumbled out of one of the tears in the ruined clothes. I caught sight of it and regret washed through me, fresh and awful. It was a barrette with a floral decoration attached, just like the ones young girls wear.

***

In the end, there was nothing else of importance in the hole other than the victim’s body.

I had no more doubts that the whole wretched setup was connected to the summoning ritual. I had discovered a small spell circle on the ground where the body had been restrained. It was similar to the other two spell circles I had found related to the summoning. However, there wasn’t much else I could say with my current knowledge.

When I was about to leave the hole, I finally noticed at my feet—in other words, directly under the opening—a shallow, one-meter-wide circular groove in the ground.

“Ah. Could this be where the base of the white pillar was planted…?” In that case, did that mean that the stone pillar hadn’t sat on top of the ground but actually penetrated deeper under the earth to touch the corpse? However, if that was true, then the amount of material I used to create Goltarou was much greater than I had anticipated…

As I considered all these factors, Goltarou carefully pulled the rope in my hand, lifting me out of the hole. That act interrupted my thoughts, pushing them aside for the time being.

After we left the hole, we buried the skeleton. I pondered for a bit and decided the grave would be at the site of the Create Pebble disaster.

The location was bright and had good air circulation. Above all, it was the place where I carefully planted the seeds from the glorious cranberry-apples I ate every day. I chose it because in the future, the land would become an orchard filled with the glorious cranberry-apples.

When that happens, I’m sure the body won’t feel lonely anymore.