Chapter 15: Mist and Embrace

Chapter 15:
Mist and Embrace

 

WITH THE DEBT to the Paisley Company repaid, it was time to say goodbye to the city of Zibil. We had our late breakfast before we headed to the plaza by the city’s main gate. The grandpa who’d driven us here would be waiting for us in a corner of the plaza, as we had arranged to hitch a ride on the way back to Tibar as well.

We took a lively street to the plaza, which was lined with a multitude of vendors. Various goods were displayed on carpets spread over the cobblestone.

One of the street vendors called out to me. “You, the handsome spellcaster! Come and take a look at my wares. In fact, I’ve just gotten my hands on a damn amazin’ ancient mana tool.”

“An ancient mana tool, you say?” I couldn’t help but stop when I was called handsome. Also, Chotos had said ancient mana tools were a rare sort.

“Look right here.” The street vendor showed me a wooden carving that resembled a poorly made terracotta figure.

Huh? This was the first time I’d seen a wooden mana tool. All the mana tools in Mr. Chotos’s shop were made of some unknown material that resembled stone or resin. Furthermore, the paint on this doll’s surface seemed kind of cheap. Rather than a mana tool, it looked like a tawdry souvenir.

“What magic does this mana tool possess?”

“What a wonderful question. This fellow here is, could you believe it, a legendary ancient mana tool blessed by the goddess of love and desire, Dalmaty. Just by holdin’ it, all the women of the world will become your captives. A terrible little thing it is.”

“Wha—?” Impossible. There was no way. Rationally thinking, there was absolutely no way.

No, wait. Calm down. Pull yourself together, me. Remember, this is a world where spells and dragons exist. Compared to monsters that ignored the laws of nature like that ancient Earth Dragon, the existence of an item that made you popular was both feasible and, frankly, adorable.

In that case, this street vendor had to be telling the truth! If I got my hand on the goddess of love’s ancient mana tool, would I finally be freed from my life overflowing with old men?

I swallowed. “May I ask…how much this costs?”

“This guy’s so powerful I’d hate to risk it bein’ abused. Normally, I wouldn’t sell ’im to just anyone, but…I trust a man like you, so how ’bout I give you a special limited-time deal of just sixteen gold coins, hm?”

“S-sixteen gold coins!” How could this be? I currently had five gold coins and fourteen silver. The rest were copper. This was not remotely enough. I dropped my shoulders, heartbroken. “Unfortunately, I only have five gold on me right now…”

“Oh! You’re truly a lucky one!”

“Huh?”

“Yes, yes. Honest truth, I’m in the middle of a huge sale, so the price’s been cut in half to just eight gold! Plus, the festival to celebrate that holy Saint of the Stone’s birthday is just next month. Since you have the same lucky black hair as the saint, I’ll deduct another three gold. And that makes it, bang, five gold coins! How ’bout it? Take it, you thief!”

“Wha…?!”

Ridiculous! How could that be? For some wild, unexpected reasons, the price had taken a sudden dive?! A discount of over ten gold coins would make even Old Dancy from the bookstore turn pale.

In other words, was this too good to pass up? As I listened to this street vendor’s pitch, I was overcome with the feeling that if I didn’t buy this tool, I’d miss out on the chance of a lifetime. If I let this opportunity escape me, it might never come again. And when I considered the absolutely dire consequences of being unpopular for the rest of my life…

Wait. If I buy this mana tool, I’ll exhaust my funds. Maybe I need to deliberate more before making a decision… Damn, it was no good! The promise of being popular with all the women in the world was far too tempting. My desire was already as large as Antarctica. I was being crushed by a continent’s worth of pressure, and I couldn’t think! Save me, Gol. What should I do?

At my wits’ end, I turned to Gol behind me. She hadn’t even bothered to look at the street vendor’s wares. Her warm gaze was fixed, as ever, on me. It felt like she was saying: “It’s fine. You can buy whatever you want.”

Right… Gol didn’t pay any real attention to other people. She didn’t even know which of the goods I was so stressed about. In the end, I would have to make the decision myself.

Fine. I could do it.

“All right…”

A mere five gold coins was nothing, if I could be popular with the ladies. I’d lose all my money at once, but I doubted it would kill me. Starting tomorrow, the Sorcerer King would retire and change jobs—I would be a Matagi hunter with Gol.

Committing to my new self-sustaining lifestyle, I rummaged through my black shoulder bag and was about to take out my purse.

“Hey, Nemaki…”

When I turned to the source of the voice, Mr. Chotos firmly gripped my shoulder.

What’s wrong, mister? Making kind of a scary face there…

 

***

 

“Nemaki, you… How can I put this…? You really are a disappointing man.” Mr. Chotos walked next to me, and his pitying expression had made an inglorious comeback.

Just a moment ago, the street vendor had departed as if he were fleeing Mr. Chotos’s scowl, so in the end, I missed my chance to buy the ancient mana tool of the goddess of love. Thus, my plan to live a rose-colored harem life in another world ended in failure. I was full of regret.

Damn, if only this old man hadn’t gotten in the way…

I showered Mr. Chotos with hateful glares, but he only shook his head as he sighed. “It might not be a good idea to let you walk around with too much money.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean. Just hurry up and find a wife who’ll keep a good hold on your purse strings, okay?”

Hey, barcode, what’s with that remark?! You’re the one who stole my opportunity to get a wife!

We passed several streets and met the old wagon driver in front of the city’s main gate. The familiar wagon was waiting for us in a corner of the plaza. Just like us, the grandpa appeared to have finished his business in Zibil.

This grandpa was actually Mr. Chotos’s neighbor and made his living by selling fruits and vegetables. He had retired and left the business to his son and daughter-in-law, but he occasionally helped out with restocking and deliveries.

When we boarded the covered wagon, I noticed the cargo was completely different. Only the thick blanket we sat on remained unchanged. Could it be this grandpa had gone out of his way to prepare a comfortable area for us by packing especially lightly…?

And here I thought he’d maxed out my affection points! If I’d been a widow of many lonely years, I would have fallen for him right there.

At last, we safely departed from the gates of the city of Zibil. I chatted with Mr. Chotos as we ate a citrus fruit, which the driver had shared and Gol had most elegantly cut.

Around forty minutes after we left, I had just begun to doze off when my head suddenly jolted. Immediately afterward, my whole body began to vibrate. I thought this suspicious and raised my head.

“Hey, don’t you think the wagon’s shaking a lot?” I asked.

“We go click and clack. Clickety-clack!” Teru agreed.

How sweet.

Anyway, it seemed the source of these vibrations was the fact that the entire wagon was violently shaking. The wagon’s speed also seemed to have slowed considerably. A malfunction, perhaps? It felt like when a car loses a tire on the highway.

“Ugh… Wh-what?” Mr. Chotos finally opened his eyes.

Mister, you were way too conked out! Then again, that’s probably because you were too nervous to sleep last night, so it can’t be helped.

At that moment, the grandpa’s perplexed voice called to us from the driver’s seat. “Seems like the wagon’s a bit off. Might be hard to go on like this.”

The wagon continued slowly before it stopped on the side of the road.

“I wonder what happened… I’m gonna take a look,” the grandpa said and disembarked.

After a bit, I heard rattling beneath our feet. It appeared he was examining a broken part of the undercarriage.

“Let me have a look. It may be something within my field of expertise.” Mr. Chotos also climbed down.

Left behind, I popped my head through the back opening in the canopy and looked outside. Teru followed me and also stuck her head out like a baby kangaroo.

“A bunch of trees!” Teru said, her eyes sparkling.

“That’s right. There are a lot of trees.”

We had come to a stop in the middle of a forest teeming with evergreens. The north-south road was largely lined with open fields, but we were in a rare stretch. We looked out over a wide meadow surrounded by dense greenery. Luckily, from this meadow, we still had an open view of the sky.

“Mmhm, mmhm. The cries of the mana beasts echo in the forest…” Teru began to sing in high spirits, though slightly out of tune.

“Amazing. You’re even good at singing.”

The lyrics were a bit disturbing, but I could put that aside. As I’ve said, it’s critical to praise a child to promote their growth.

Delighted by the compliment, Teru rocked while getting close to my face. The little girl seemed to be truly enjoying herself. While we might have gone on this trip to repay her father’s debt, it had been a fun vacation for her. One day, when this child grew older, I hoped this wonderful journey with Gol and I would endure as one of her precious memories.

“Teru, has this trip been fun?”

“Yeah!”

“I see. That’s—whoa!”

While Teru and I were laughing together, Gol suddenly pushed her face between us. Because of that, the narrow opening in the canopy was now jam-packed with three heads.

“Hey, it’s kinda tight now, Gol.”

Gol just began to rub her cheek against mine. Her face felt squishy and tickled. She was always tender and hesitant when she touched me, but for some reason, this cheek-rubbing felt somewhat desperate.

While I wore a confused face, baptized by my partner’s cheek rubs, Mr. Chotos and the grandpa came out from beneath the wagon. The two old men brushed the dust from their clothes and spoke to each other in solemn tones.

“To think the Wind flotation box would break down like that… I just sent it in for maintenance.”

“It’s a little baffling, yeah. In any case, if it’s what I think it is, I should be able to do some temporary repairs.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, it might take some time, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“Much appreciated. I’m glad you’re riding with me, Mr. Chotos. If you weren’t here, I’d have been stuck in this awful place with no help in sight…”

I listened to this while Gol continued to rub her cheek against mine. This “Wind flotation box” had to be that strange, box-looking apparatus on the bottom of the wagon. If Mr. Chotos could repair it, it was certainly another mana tool. Also, the way Mr. Chotos talked made it sound like he was going to fix a home appliance. Did that mean a mana tool shop was like an electronics store?

Mr. Chotos took a small tool from inside of his bag and started fiddling underneath the wagon. You brought the tools of your trade on a trip? Quite the professional mindset, mister.

I watched Mr. Chotos work for a bit, but it seemed the repairs would take a while. As such, I decided to disembark as well. I slipped through the canopy opening and jumped down. “Gol, come here.”

When I called her name, Gol delightedly perked up her long ears and dropped down beside me. As usual, her landing made practically no sound. With all the adults out of the wagon, Teru looked lonely being left all alone.

Please don’t do that. I can’t resist such a face. Indeed, I couldn’t. I lifted her from the wagon and carried her.

“Now then. We should patrol the area for a bit, I guess.”

The reason I disembarked was, of course, not because I was thinking about helping Mr. Chotos with his repairs. Rather, I had come to stand on the ground because I knew Gol would follow me there. You see, that strange monkey-capturing radar all golems come equipped with—the “Surface Detection” ability—requires them to have direct bodily contact with the ground.

I had learned this quite recently in conversation with Mr. Chotos. It was still somewhat mortifying to admit, but this mana tool merchant was far more knowledgeable about golems than I. According to him, this Surface Detection was similar to a submarine’s sonar device, only it sensed enemies by their vibrations on the ground. It seemed Gol could observe her surroundings by sending out a wave of mana.

As you might guess, Surface Detection wasn’t exactly flawless. Firstly, it couldn’t function without ground contact, and secondly, it was practically useless against anything that could fly. However, shrine golems that had crystalline photoreceptors could compensate for the missing information with additional visual analysis.

Anyway, the wagon was currently parked in a forest, far from anyone who might see us if we ran into trouble. With the rumors of mana beast victims on my mind, I thought it best to utilize Gol’s Surface Detection.

I wanted to experiment with whether Gol could use her Surface Detection on, for example, a wood-paneled floor. Frankly, she might even have been able to use it in the wagon. However, now wasn’t the time for scientific pursuits. I was not a careless man, and I needed to be absolutely sure of our results.

Also, I…have a confession. I was completely terrified by that rumor of the crazy pyromaniac Flame Bicorn.

I crouched beside Mr. Chotos as he repaired the Wind flotation box. I wasn’t really thinking about helping him out or anything. “How does it look? Think you can fix it?”

When I asked, Mr. Chotos popped his dirt-covered, sweat-stained face out from underneath the wagon. “Yeah, I think I can make it work. However, it looks like some parts might have been damaged by human hands…”

“Huh? Sabotage?”

“I’m afraid so. By the look of things, it was probably done in Zibil.”

What? How horrible. Was this the otherworld equivalent of slashing someone’s tires?

“How could they…? Maybe when I stopped for a delivery, someone did this as a prank?” the grandpa said. He was dispirited, hurt, and otherwise at a loss for words.

That damn criminal! How dare they steal my grandpa’s smile?! Absolutely unforgivable.

“Whatever the cause, let’s finish the repairs and head off as quickly as possible. We can’t exactly stay here,” Mr. Chotos said as he crawled back under the wagon.

Mr. Chotos looked like he was having a hard time working between the wagon and ground. His face was red and slick with sweat.

I called out to him again, “Hey, mister?”

“What’s up, Nemaki?”

“Um, well…is there anything I can do to help?”

“What? You don’t know anything about mana tools, right? I don’t think there’s anything you can do. I’ll handle this, so why don’t you go play with Teru?”

“Wh-wha?!”

You barcode! Don’t get on your high horse just because someone offered you help! Got it? Hmph!

 

***

 

It had been around thirty minutes since the wagon stopped. Mr. Chotos was still underneath it, doing his best.

Up until this point, the grandpa had been feeding his horses some grass and carefully checking for any problems with their legs and horseshoes. Now he was resting, leaning against the side of the wagon and dozing off.

As for me, I had received a notification of noninclusion from Mr. Chotos, so I was paired with the bored little lady. As a knight, it was an honor.

The two of us chatted as we sat on the grass like it was a plush carpet, and we played around by throwing leaves at each other. Meanwhile, Gol sat next to us and quietly watched. However, when Teru shyly fidgeted and leaned in to whisper a secret in my ear, Gol suddenly came between us and snatched Teru away. Well, this always happened. Teru and I were used to her abductions.

Gol probably loved small children so much that when watching one move as cutely as Teru did, her maternal instincts exploded beyond the point of endurance. She just wanted to monopolize tiny Teru. My partner really does love kids.

This is a bit of a digression, but the secret Little Girl-senpai was shyly trying to share was about how she had wet her bed last month.

“Welp, I’ve been freed once again.” Having been relieved of my job of babysitting knight, I casually took in our surroundings…which was when I noticed they were being swallowed up by a white haze. “Wha…? Mist?”

I hadn’t ever seen mist in this world. We were in the depths of a forest where the sun couldn’t reach, though, so it wasn’t all that strange. When I looked again, everything around us was enveloped by a milk-white curtain so thick that I could barely make out the outline of the trees.

Honestly, it felt ominous, like the kind of setting where a ghost might appear. Still, this was a world with weird monkeys covered in stones, an immortal dinosaur, and a crazy arsonist horse. I couldn’t be surprised by something like a ghost.

I’m sorry; I lied. If a ghost really did appear, my rational mind would give up trying to understand the situation and begin to display a beautiful scene of the Alps backed by classical music.

As I sat on the grass trying to master my agitation, I suddenly felt a soft white embrace. It was Gol. What’s up, partner? Do you want to play? I’m sorry, I’m a bit busy developing a scientific thesis on the existence of ghosts in this world—

Ah. There was nothing to do. I was about to be buried face-deep in the soft valley of Gol’s chest.

At that moment, a blinding scarlet light flooded the meadow and I squinted.

Immediately after, an enormous ball of blazing fire crashed into Gol’s back.