Chapter 8: Breakfast and Gol Army

Chapter 8:
Breakfast and Gol Army

 

“HEH. This is quite delicious,” I said. I was crunching on a perfectly toasted round bun for breakfast.

“You can buy it at this one back-alley bakery. Many travelers completely pass it by, but everything they make is cheap and extraordinarily delicious,” Mr. Chotos said.

“Hmph.” I dignified him with an offhanded response as I dipped my spoon into the warm soup.

The breakfast menu at Mr. Chotos’s house was impressively balanced. Lined up on the dining table before me were smoked meat, fried till crispy; scrambled eggs; warm bread; brightly colored bean soup; a salad of fresh vegetables; and goat’s milk.

In fact, this was quite the civilized spread. He really put thought into proper nutrition. Also, little details like the salad being a mixture of unrecognizable vegetables and the mysterious yellow beans in the soup once more brought home that this was another world.

Mr. Chotos and his daughter sat opposite Gol and me. This gang of an old man, a young girl, a beautiful elf goddess statue, and some guy from another world crowded around a living room table made for a truly bizarre tableau.

I had to admit Mr. Chotos was good at cooking. But, well, that was a given. After his wife died, he’d had to raise his daughter as a single parent. Moreover, he was so deeply in debt that punks were hassling him at his shop. He surely didn’t have the means to hire a housekeeper.

As I frowned at his bald head, I couldn’t help thinking about how his wife had died despite his desperate ploy to get medicine that ultimately did nothing for her…and about how he’d had no time to mourn her, because he’d needed to care for his sickly daughter while paying back that massive debt.

That kind of stress and trauma would make anyone go bald. I definitely would have.

Mr. Chotos had matured, gone bald, and improved his cooking. He’d had no choice. But he probably still worked hard to do it.

……

Well, even if that was true, I still wouldn’t forgive him for his awful money-grubbing tricks, never, not for the rest of my life!

Incidentally, as I partook of this breakfast, I wore those lame pajamas. Why the heck was I wearing them in front of other people, you ask? Well, because I forgot I had changed into my sleepwear when I made my way to the living room. I was utterly relaxed, as if I were in my own home.

When Mr. Chotos saw these pajamas, he looked at me with an expression full of endless questions.

Bastard, what’s with that face? You got a problem with my slick duds? Well, this is my formal wear!

In any case, it seemed my pajamas were considered tacky by this world’s standards as well. The lameness of these pajamas transcended dimensions.

But I didn’t mind. After all, the only people who could see me were Gol, an old man, and a young girl. No need for concern.

Notably, Teru loved my pajamas. Just as expected of a reasonable lady. She saw the cat(?) print and gleefully shouted, “It’s Thunder Grizzly!”

If the young lady said so, then no matter what anyone else said, the true identity of the strange animal on my pajamas was forevermore “Thunder Grizzly.”

“Hey, mister,” I said to Mr. Chotos as I chewed my toast.

“Hm?” he answered around a piece of smoked meat.

“Um, is there a library around here?”

“What? Is there a book you want to read?”

“Yeah, kind of. I was thinking about looking up more stuff about golems.”

“Oho, an earnest student, I see.” Mr. Chotos frowned with the following apology. “Unfortunately, Tibar is a rest stop that just so happened to grow into a town. There’s nothing as extravagant as a library in these parts.”

“Oh, is that so? That’s too bad.”

My question had been loaded with an implied sub-question, i.e., “Do you people even have the concept of libraries?” Based on Mr. Chotos’s reply, I could be confident that although this town didn’t have one, libraries did indeed exist.

I had expected as much. There had been plenty of printed books in Zairein’s hideout, so I assumed this world was advanced enough to make ample use of the printing press. As to why I needed books? Obvious! Studying. I knew practically nothing about golems, to the point that messing around with Gol had ended in a tragic malfunction. I needed to read and study in order to circumvent another such inadvertent disaster.

Thus far, the precariousness of my situation had meant I had thought only of survival and monkeys. However, now I had returned to civilization and could go back to thinking like a human. I was no longer among the monkeys; I needed to understand how to live among people. Ergo, I needed books, and plenty of them.

As I moved on to the salad, Mr. Chotos said, “Still, a library, huh? I don’t think you’re going to find an institution with a collection advanced and technical enough to interest a golem wielder at your level out here in Sadie territory.”

“Huh?”

Oh no, Mr. Chotos, you misunderstand—I wouldn’t be able to read such difficult spellcasting material. For, uh, religious reasons.

If possible, I wanted a nice, tame book for young boys like Let’s Move, Automobiles!, but for golems. Yeah, you know, Let’s Move, Golems!

I had suspected this already, but…was this man overestimating my abilities?

Hey, mister, to tell you the truth, your Teru over there—yeah, her, the giggling one with a mess of scrambled eggs and red sauce around her mouth—is far more well-informed than I.

I had taken to likening the body of knowledge I had about this world to that possessed by a child in elementary school. But…but! My run-in with the lighting device had proved I lacked even the level of knowledge commonly available to Teru, who was five years old. In other words, based on this new information, I revised my self-assessment: I was more ignorant than a kindergartener.

At any rate, I needed to express that I was, in truth, an incompetent moocher. If I didn’t, our discussion was bound to go nowhere. “It doesn’t have to be technical, per se,” I said. “I just want something to read.”

“Eh? Well, whatever. If that’s all you’re looking for, we’ve got a bookstore.”

“Oh, really? I’ll go there, then.”

Forget libraries, I was all about bookstores now! For the time being, I would rely on one of those to teach me the golem fundamentals.

Although, one day, if possible, I would indeed need to visit a library or something like it for those technical academic books. I still needed to research Luvel Zairein’s summoning spell. I hoped that studying the spell that had brought me to this world might help me determine a means of returning to my old one. Also, it would be great if I could cure my amnesia.

On the other hand, my present lack of memory and the matter of my return weren’t precisely straightforward problems.

Regarding my amnesia, I was presently able to enjoy my life with Gol in part because I lacked any memories of my loved ones back “home”; in other words, I had no attachments. However, if I were to recall those memories without knowing how to return to my loved ones, I might be racked with the despair of homesickness. I was sure I would miss those people more than I was prepared to.

As for my return, if I did discover how to get home, I absolutely could not go home alone. I needed to bring Gol back with me.

Of course! There’s no way I could leave my adorable, precious Gol alone in such a perilous Jurassic World.

I despised the sort of inhuman trash who acquired pets on a whim and just as frivolously abandoned them at animal shelters. I would never do such a thing, even if my own life were at stake. I would take care of Gol until the very end. That was why, at the very least, I needed to find a method of return that would take both of us. I refused to settle for anything less.

Also, if we could return to my original world, I needed to make sure I got my memory back before we left. I mean, right? There was no telling what kind of problems would arise if I were unable to recall the names and faces of those I knew, let alone my own name. I wouldn’t even know if I had family. So even if I did manage to return to my original world, without my memories, I would be utterly socially inept.

Argh! What a complicated mess of a situation! To begin with, the one person who likely knew the most about my memory loss and a possible method of return—that idiot Zairein—had already killed himself! I couldn’t believe I’d been so carelessly dumped here on hard mode. He was definitely messing with me. I really, really wanted to beat the crap out of that bastard Zairein.

Anyway, given all this, I thought it best to temporarily deprioritize searching for a method of return. There was, after all, one more important thing I needed to investigate: the Sorcerer King of Destruction. It was a rather important topic, as it pertained to my safety. I ran a constant risk of being wrongfully arrested. I hoped to mitigate the danger by acquiring more base knowledge on the topic.

Also, I had a vague, pressing sense that there would be consequences if I failed to learn more about my position in this world. Truthfully, that had been on my mind this whole time. I had avoided the dreadful Soul Transcription and finally reached a human settlement…but was this truly the end of the matter of the Sorcerer King of Destruction? Having circumvented the proper birth of the Sorcerer King of Destruction, had I truly brought peace to this world? Were my troubles over?

Somehow, I got the feeling that wasn’t the case. I also had the sense that I wasn’t working with the whole picture. I couldn’t stop thinking about that black demon creature that had been waiting to ambush me the moment I left the basin. That thing had clearly been different from anything else I had since run into.

In terms of power, the ancient Earth Dragon had no doubt been far stronger than the demon. After all, Goltarou had caught the demon off guard and obliterated it with a deadly first strike, so in the end, nothing actually came of that confrontation. Compared to the events that followed, that initial encounter had been nothing.

But that was only because I had been with Gol. So my actual adventure should’ve definitely ended at that moment, right?

At the time, because I had been so dazed by the abnormality of the situation, I hadn’t really processed what it said. But…hadn’t it known I was the Sorcerer King? We had only just met, yet it had sounded so convinced.

What exactly did this mean? I wasn’t sure if the answer to these questions lay in books. But at the very least, it couldn’t hurt to pore through some arcane library for relevant information.

I also wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to ask other people about this matter. I really should have asked Master Speria more about it when I had the chance, but I hadn’t thought we would part ways so suddenly. After he said his goodbyes and gave me his shoulder bag, there were roughly ten minutes before he actually left. It really happened in the blink of an eye. Of course, I could have pulled myself together and asked something.

The smoked meat on my plate had chilled. Caught in the whirlwind of thoughts, my hand had stopped moving in the middle of my meal. Master Speria had occasionally succumbed to this exact disorder when we journeyed together. But in my case, I appeared to be able to return to reality quickly enough.

Beside me, Gol worriedly peered into my face as I sat frozen with the piece of toast in my hand. Her face was quite close. Ah, my eccentric behavior had yet again caused my kind partner unnecessary concern. “Sorry, I was thinking about some stuff. I’m fine.”

Even Mr. Chotos looked worried about me.

Hey, I don’t need your concern. I’m not asking you to do anything. Wait… Perhaps this man knew something helpful? “Hey, Mister, do you know about the Sorcerer King of Destruction?”

“What? That’s out of the blue. Sorcerer King…of Destruction. You mean the one in folklore?” Mr. Chotos looked bewildered, but when he took in my serious expression, he mumbled, “Right, you’re a bit young. You must not know the tale. It used to be something only old folks talked about.”

Hey, mister, you’re pretty damn old yourself. Think you can pass as young with that ragged face? Whatever! “What did they say?” I asked.

“I believe they said that the Sorcerer King of Destruction was…yes, a man from another world. As his name implied, he had the same unusual ability as a mana beast. Or something like that.”

“I knew that already. It really is a straightforward name.”

“Hmm. Well, even though he’s called the Sorcerer King in a number of tales, I heard that he had other titles as well.”

“Other titles?”

“Yeah, how can I put it? Something like Poison King, or King of Bizarre Eating.”

“What the heck? What worthless names… Why call him that?”

“Who knows? I don’t know that much myself.”

“Jeez, mister. You’re absolutely useless.”

“Shut up. I’ll have you know I’m quite knowledgeable.”

“Huh? You definitely don’t look it.”

Mr. Chotos snorted with a scowl.

Hey, what’s with that face? If a middle-aged man like you pouts like a little girl, it isn’t remotely cute.

“Well, whatever. But about the Sorcerer King… You know, in the stories, he’s supposed to destroy the world, right? Do you know exactly how he does it?” I asked.

I was quite curious about this. To tell you the truth, I didn’t see how my powers had the ability to destroy the world. Even if I released all my power at once, I could only see it causing a small-scale natural disaster on a local level. Maybe I could crush a city or two, but this world was vast, and much larger than a mere city. It was, in other words, utterly impossible for me to destroy the world.

Furthermore, just like in that battle with the ancient Earth Dragon, if I were to do that, I would exhaust my mana in one strike and be left helpless.

Besides, realistically, I was incapable of creating a true natural disaster. The best I could muster were incidental attacks with spears and stuff. A fundamental principle of spells in this world was that: “Even if you pour excess mana into the spell, its effect size will not increase.” As such, I had no way to destroy a large area all at once, even if I was the evil Sorcerer King.

Though perhaps there was another way for me to use my power to destroy the world. Hmm. Like if, perhaps, I were to create an army of Gols.

A hundred Gols…

“Ugh…”

Just thinking about it made me break out in a cold sweat. I suddenly felt that destroying humanity was all too possible.

No, no, no! I definitely can’t do that! And anyway, mass-producing Gol would be impossible. Creating even one nearly killed me. So wouldn’t the statistical lethality of creating two or three exceed 100 percent?

Besides, could I actually reproduce my results? I still felt like Gol had been a complete fluke.

Ugh…an army of cruel and beautiful Gols using their mysterious radar to capture escaping humans and beat them to death, turning the world into a sea of fire. I paled at the thought, but Mr. Chotos didn’t know what I saw in my mind and idly continued.

“I believe it’s said that when the Sorcerer King wins, he casts some kind of large-scale sorcery spell and annihilates all of humanity. That’s why each time the Sorcerer King of Destruction appears, humanity is destroyed, or something like that.”

“Eh?”

Why was he making it sound like the Sorcerer King inevitably triumphed and destroyed humanity? What did that even mean? Hadn’t Sorcerer Kings been defeated and killed numerous times in the past? Zairein had written something to that effect in that stone book, saying prior efforts had been killed before they could destroy jack squat. That was the whole reason Zairein had devised the second step in his summoning process—the one where he chose me based on my aggregate amount of mana and planned to overwrite my personality so he could produce history’s strongest Sorcerer King.

Also, hey, wait a minute… “If humanity was annihilated, how are you and Teru here right now?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a fairy tale to scare children, right?”

Ah, was he trying to avoid explaining? What a useless middle-aged man!

Mr. Chotos looked stumped by my frustration. “Hey, Nemaki. Listen, you can’t go asking about the Sorcerer King in public, you know? I’m only talking about it because we’re inside. If the folks from the Church heard you, I doubt they’d be pleased.”

“Eh? Is this topic a religious taboo?”

“Kind of. Recently, the Church has been tightening their hold even out here.”

Ah, how dangerous. I’m glad I didn’t wander around town asking about the Sorcerer King.

At any rate, between this world’s religion that restricted free speech and my religion that restricted use of any element outside the Earth attribute… What a strict thing religion could be.

“The world of man is defined by eternal suffering, huh?” I murmured.

“What are you talking about with that enlightened face…?”

I ignored Mr. Chotos’s exasperated expression, lamented the absurdity of the world, and let out a deep sigh.

That night, I had a dream where I became a first-rate golem breeder and raised an army of Gols on a farm. All the Gols were very fond of me, and they were kind and lovely children.

However, our peaceful days didn’t last long. A bloody feud broke out among them as they fought to determine the order in which I would wipe them down.

In the end, only the first Gol was left standing.