Chapter 14: Fake Real Name

Chapter 14:
Fake Real Name

“OH MY…! I didn’t think I would meet anyone else in a place like this.” The bespectacled man opened the door wider, a pleasant smile on his face.

He seemed like a good fellow. He wore a large, turquoise crystal earring in his right ear, and his facial features were attractive, going by the structure of his nose bridge, but his hair was disheveled and his clothes wrinkled. It was quite a shame, but I could only describe this middle-aged man as, well, a little pathetic.

He was also clearly not Japanese, but at the same time, he didn’t have elf ears. Just the same regular human ears I did. He regarded me with a serene expression and squinted a bit, but as soon as he shifted his line of sight behind me to Gol, he looked stunned, his eyes wide and mouth agape.

Then he gulped and remained silent for some time. But soon after, he cleared his throat and recovered that gentle smile.

“Well, let’s not stand here talking. Come now. Come in.” The man was about to generously show us around the house when he suddenly let out an embarrassed laugh. “Though I’m only borrowing this space tonight. I’m not the homeowner.”

We followed him through the wooden door and into the open space with a fireplace. Because there was no strange furniture left, it looked like any old simple wooden house. We entered the room and sat down on the floor in front of the fireplace.

The man opened his mouth with an exhausted sigh. “I didn’t think the mutant Earth Goblins had grown so prevalent… I’m in this sorry state because of them, despite my precautions.” His clothes were torn in a number of places. Even his quality glasses were partially cracked.

Hey, hey… Looking closely, I noticed a large bloodstain on his shirt around his abdomen. Y-you all right, mister?

His awful appearance and exhausted face made him look like a battered middle-aged man, but in the firelight, I thought he might actually be a bit younger than I initially took him for.

Hm…? Wait a minute, Earth Goblin? What was that? I’d only seen monkeys along the way. Although my mind was buzzing with questions, something more important was giving me a little panic. I-I should a-also say something…

Incidentally, I had by this time realized that not only could I read this world’s language, I could have a conversation without issue. I figured this out when I listened to myself talking to Gol and noticed that every single word coming out of my mouth was unfamiliar.

Therefore, I didn’t think I’d have any problems with communication. Furthermore, the first person I’d met in this world seemed intelligent and friendly, the type of person I could easily chat with. However, I’d only ever met skeletons so far, so I was unprepared to speak to a living denizen of this world.

I’ll be frank here and say that I was like a youth who had developed a communication disorder and was only able to talk to himself.

I used everything I had to desperately push these words out of my throat: “I see. How lamentable…”

Hey, what do you mean, “lamentable”?! Those are my first words?! I know that I can come up with a more sensible way to express my feelings!

I quickly regretted my statement, but the man grasped my desire to continue the conversation and looked more relaxed. His smile grew even brighter.

What a dazzling smile. If I were a girl who liked older men, this would be the scene when I fell into a forbidden love.

“I apologize for the late introduction,” he said. “My name is Semau Speria. I am, more or less, an assistant professor at the Imperial Spellcaster Academy. Nice to meet you.”

This man’s intellectual appearance hinted at the wisdom he no doubt held in his head. Moreover, he was a noble and sensible gentleman who kindly introduced himself first, despite the difference in our social standings, after seeing how inept I was at communicating.

A cultured aura absolutely rolled off the man named Speria. In that case, I had to show my gratitude as a representative of another culture. “I also apologize for not introducing myself sooner.” I said. “My name is…”

I froze.

I didn’t know my name.

This was the true horror of my memory loss. Unless I was conscious of it, it didn’t bother me. But now, I panicked. I was flustered.

I didn’t have enough knowledge of this world to come up with a fake name. Of the names I knew, Luvel Zairein was the only one confirmed to be male. There were numerous indications as to his gender, but the really definitive one was his attire. All the clothes in my possession—besides my lame pajamas—were originally Zairein’s. His clothes were clearly menswear, and their shape fit me.

But as an author with a prolific career, Zairein was most likely a famous person. Besides, even if I deployed his name as a fake, my pride wouldn’t let me be openly associated with that bastard.

Given all that, what could I do? I didn’t know my own name, or even my surname. I had nothing to provide any hints to my previous existence. My fingers stiffened in panic on my kit bag. The only remnant of my original world were the lame pajamas stowed within.

Those yellow cats…no, they were tanuki, right? Anyway, was there nothing left to prove my past existence besides the irredeemably lame pajamas with those mysterious and perplexing yellow animals printed on them?

What exactly was my identity…?

Tears built in my eyes and my fist trembled.

But at that moment, I flipped my thinking. Quickly switching gears was, after all, my strong suit.

I would approach this from the opposite direction. Instead of thinking that I had nothing left but for my pajamas, I could say that my pajamas remained.

I couldn’t imagine anyone purposefully wearing these insanely lame pajamas. Even I didn’t want to be seen wearing them in front of others. Therefore, I must have bought them in a momentary fit of insanity. As such, couldn’t these lame pajamas be considered indicative of a trait of mine?

Let me be clear. At that moment, I was pretty desperate.

I slowly raised my head. With a straight back and dignity in my voice, I said, “My name is Nemaki Dasai.”

In other words—specifically, in Japanese ones—you could call me Pajamas. Lame Pajamas.

As I introduced myself, I looked the man directly in the face with clear and unwavering eyes. I spoke brazenly and boldly. This was what you would call a bluff.

I felt Gol’s zealous gaze on my back. Ah, yeah, she was a fervent believer in my amazing naming sense.

“Nemaki, is it?” said Mister Speria. “However, ‘Dasai’ is… I haven’t heard of such a name around here.”

What?! “Nemaki” was the safe one?!

At any rate, it appeared that the name order in this world was personal name followed by surname. When I introduced myself, I actually did so in the Japanese order: Dasai Nemaki. It was plausibly a name like Tasai Nemaki, which I knew someone in my world was likely to actually have. However, when the words left my mouth, the order was automatically reversed into this world’s standard.

Mister Speria looked like he was thinking of something as he stared at me. Afterward, he glanced at Gol behind me and gave a quick nod. “I see. You’ve come from the east, right…? Seeing as how you’re accompanied by such a shrine golem, I’m sure your circumstances must be complicated. Let me guess…”

H-he was going to guess…

I’d stirred the hornet’s nest. I had no choice but to try and match his guesses with an appropriate story.

***

From what I gathered from Mister Speria’s extended guess, there had been an ongoing war amongst the smaller nations to the east for quite some time. He believed me to be a member of a spellcaster family who was driven out of their country after losing a battle. Throughout the story, I added little agreements like, “Yes, that’s right.”

I was a bit worried that I was agreeing to unusual details, but Mister Speria didn’t seem suspicious of me. Besides, I think he was only trying to chat. He didn’t try to pry into my personal history.

“Still, how can I put it…? Your golem’s amazing, Nemaki. I’m no expert, but I can tell from a simple glance that it’s not the average sort.”

It seemed he was more interested in Gol than my origins. I supposed that was to be expected. She was clearly the superior specimen.

“Thank you very much,” I said. “She’s my incredible partner. Her name is Goltarou.” I introduced her with her real name. That’s just the basics.

For a moment, Mister Speria looked like he was deep in thought. I understood the man’s confusion. A name like “Goltarou” didn’t seem to have any ready connection to her current form as a beautiful elf-goddess statue.

Or, wait, maybe this reaction wasn’t one of a person caught up in strange naming practices… Then what was it?

Mister Speria’s expression returned to his usual gentle one. “Goretaru, huh…? The name of the war goddess known as the Barbarian Queen. A truly splendid name.”

Eh? No, it’s Goltarou! But I had now realized my error. To the people of this world, when I said “Goltarou,” it probably sounded like “Goretaru.”

It seemed whenever I spoke, my pronunciation was altered to sound more natural in this world. There were even times when my pronunciation of proper nouns, like people’s names, would be changed from my intended accent. In other words, “Momotarou” would be “Momotaru.”

However, I was proud of the name “Goltarou” that I had worked so hard to come up with. From then, I made sure to emphasize and articulate the proper syllables as much as possible.

“Yes, my Goltarou is valiant and reliable. A true war goddess. Without her, I certainly would not have been able to make it this far.”

Mister Speria nodded, agreeing with me. Oh, did it work? “Mana beasts like Earth Goblins are the natural enemies of we spellcasters. You don’t look like that much of a warrior, so I figured there must have been some secret to your Goretaru.”

No good. It didn’t work… But I wasn’t someone who could easily give up. “My Goltarou is truly peerless. A peerless goddess. I can’t even imagine her losing.”

Each time I complimented her, Gol swayed back and forth, sticking closer to me. However, that didn’t matter. I was in the middle of a serious battle, waging my pride as the one who gave her that name.

“Ha ha ha! How impressive! But… Hmph, I see. I’ve heard that among the shrine golems that weren’t created as entertainment for aristocrats, there are some highly capable individuals. Your Goretaru must be one of them.”

Was it no good? Why did he still have to say “Goretaru?” No, not yet. My heart had yet to break. “Heh, it’s more like Goltarou is too strong. In fact, I’m starting to feel like Goltarou’s moocher.”

Gol continued to snuggle her body, which for some reason felt wrapped in warmth as she cuddled closer to my back. But none of that mattered to me now.

“No need to be so modest. The actual strength of an active golem is that of the caster. If Goretaru’s abilities are that amazing, it just proves how skillful you are.”

Why? Why was it…? Was it impossible to share my wonderful naming sense with the people of this world?

“Thank you very much… I’m sure Go…retaru is happy…to receive such praise…”

My heart finally broke.

The warm fire crackled in the fireplace as I shared a meal with Mister Speria. Just like an experienced traveler, he was much better prepared with his equipment and food than I, who just threw preserved rations into a primitive basket for Gol to carry on her back.

Mister Speria shared with me something that resembled pickled cabbage. The taste wasn’t bad. As thanks, I offered some cheese. He was pleased, and said it was delicious.

By the way, Mister Speria easily lit the wood in the fireplace with a Fire spell. It happened in a moment, much faster than Gol could ever make one. As the Earth attribute’s representative, I was laid low by the loss.

However, he stared wide-eyed at how Gol valiantly helped to prepare my meal.

W-we won against the Fire attribute!

Though if this were a battle, it would end in a tie.

I relished this long-awaited opportunity to enjoy a meal with someone to talk to. The two of us sipped on a fruit wine Mister Speria had brought as we conversed. From this exchange, I learned that he had left the imperial capital alone to investigate the Earth miasma spreading throughout the land. However, the situation was much worse than he expected, so he had determined that continuing the investigation would be impossible. He intended to return to the city the next day.

Oho! Wasn’t this some convenient timing?

I asked, “Um, would you mind if I accompanied you on your journey? After all, I’m not familiar with this land. The map in my possession is old.”

Mister Speria agreed to my proposal with an easygoing tone. “Ah, of course, it’s fine. In fact, I’d be honored to have such an outstanding bodyguard who managed to get this far unscathed.”

And just like that, I added a friendly partner to my journey. What’s more, the fruit wine was quite delicious. I wondered what kind of fruit it was made from.

By the time I realized it, it was already late into the night. Murky darkness covered the world outside the small window in the room.

Mister Speria spoke as he put away the wine bottle. “Then, Nemaki-kun, we should go to sleep soon. It’s dangerous around these parts if you don’t wake up before sunrise.”

I think he was talking about the threat of monkeys, since they became active during the day. Oversleeping and getting assaulted by those damn monkeys would be asking for death.

However, I had Gol’s mysterious radar to protect me. During the last few days on the road, I’d been careless and slept in. Would I be able to wake up early enough tomorrow? I was a little uneasy about that.

By then, Mister Speria had prepared his sleeping bag in the corner of the room and fallen asleep. I wrapped myself in a blanket on the other side of the fireplace. Gol sat next to me, ready to hold me in her arms as usual.

“Thanks, Gol. But it’s warm here, so no need.”

All in all, this room was pretty toasty thanks to the fireplace. Since my partner was kind, she was probably still concerned about me catching a cold if I slept on the floor. But I was fine. As long as I was sleeping inside, there was no need to bother her to sleep together.

Rest easy, I thought to her. Tonight, I will not be the feeble spoiled child who can’t sleep unless it’s in the warm embrace of his gentle knight.

Well, if I was speaking truthfully, I was a bit embarrassed to be an adult sleeping like a baby in someone’s arms, at least in front of others. However, Gol froze for a few seconds at my reluctance. Then she shot a killing glare cold enough to freeze the air at the sleeping Speria’s back.

This was bad, though I didn’t know what specifically was bad. Although my thoughtful partner was releasing this inexplicable bloodlust, I didn’t believe my considerate Gol would do anything horrible to someone else. The reason for the fight in the shrine was because my partner mistook my actions as perverted and had a small panic attack from all the stress. It was clear that everything was my fault. Gol would never do such a reckless thing.

But for some reason, I foresaw disaster happening under cover of night if I went to sleep without her. I couldn’t think of what I should do. Because so much had happened that day, I was completely exhausted. So, just like how I would grab a mischievous dog’s scruff, I firmly gripped Gol’s wrist. Gol’s boiling bloodlust slowly dulled.

Relieved, I surrendered to my fatigue, consciousness fading. My hand holding Gol’s wrist relaxed and fell on top of hers. At the same time, Gol began to intertwine her fingers with mine.

I knew this kind of hand-holding had a name, but…when I tried to think of it, my mind faded into sleep.