Chapter 77
Rainy Kasei
Translator : PolterGlast
It never rains in
Soleil.
Unlike Cloudy, it
doesn't have many bodies of water. So where does it get its water? It's a land
where slimes have disappeared, so they can't get slime water, and there's no
way they could secure it from the distant sea.
It never rains.
Actually, that's not entirely accurate. It would be better to say it hardly
ever rains. Only occasionally, in the Soleil Kingdom, which is like the middle
of summer all the time, there are short bursts of heavy rain. In other words,
it's like a flash flood. The water sphere membrane that covers the entire city
absorbs the rain, making the membrane thicker, and the accumulated water is
used little by little until the next rain.
The water sphere
membrane only exists in large cities like Kasei, so villages that don't have
one have water storage tanks set up everywhere in preparation for sudden rain.
Even so, you can never have too much water, and there's always a shortage, so
everyone in the village carries buckets back and forth between their houses and
outside many times. The weather conditions were random in the game, but I
sometimes saw NPCs running in the pouring rain.
And so, Lotus and I
watched the drizzling rain from the window of the Magic Tower. Most of it was
absorbed by the membrane, but even so, some of it fell into the city. It was
usually so dry, but now it was a little humid. Only Ichi and the others were
high-spirited. Come to think of it, they were also dancing "hohohoi,
hoihoi" in Leyshan. They were slimes who loved water.
--It's a race from one
end of the hallway to the other~~~!!
--Yeeeeeey!!
--I'm not gonna
lose~~~!!
Tein-tein-tein... I
watched Ichi and the others disappear as they rolled around. So that's what
they were doing. I thought they would zoom past, but they disappeared more
peacefully than I imagined. The hallway of the Magic Tower was long and
winding, circling the central part of the World Tree chamber, so I wondered
when they would return.
Since it was a tall
tower, Ichi and the others' illusion skill wouldn't run out at this distance. I
waved goodbye as they cheerfully rolled off, and then Lotus said, "Hey,
El." "...Yeah?" "What's 'oshi'?" Various things almost
flew out of my mouth.
I knew the reason.
Ever since then, Yuko,
having nothing better to do, appeared, appeared, and appeared around Lotus. I
watched the situation while cleaning around them, and I was actually creeped
out by Lotus's ignoring skills. Seriously? Even though she was circling him and
doing save poses frequently, he didn't even call her out on it...?
Those around him must
have been the ones suffering. There was some mysterious girl around the
instructor. She was always "hei-hei"-ing. She repeated some
incomprehensible words like "Fall to the dark side" and danced as if
casting a curse. And the target himself probably didn't care at all. Lo...
Lotus...
The complaint that the
students were too concerned about her and it was hindering their training
reached Veda, the Vice-Tower Master, in an instant, and from there it was
passed on to his attendant, Nabari-san. The handsome man with dark circles
under his eyes pleaded with Yuko with all his skill, begging her to at least
stop during training, and apparently, he got her agreement. You could feel his
hardship. So, having laid out all that context, the one who was honestly the
scariest in all this was Lotus, who apparently didn't care about anything at
all. Wasn't his mental fortitude too strong?? Me and Ichi and the others were
holding our breath and panicking.
Originally, this time
should have been training time, and a class to build up the stamina of many
students should have been held in the plaza specifically made for the Magic
Tower, but alas, it was raining. Because of the important task of adjusting the
water sphere membrane to secure water, all the students and craftsmen rushed
out, and the inside of the tower was empty, giving us a moment of relaxation.
For Ichi and the others, it meant they could have a good race in the empty
hallway.
And then there was the
"oshi" remark.
Even if he didn't care
about Yuko's actions, he must have always been curious about the mysterious
repeated word. How should I answer? "Oshi," this term. It was
something that overflowed from the heart, so it was difficult to put into
words, so I thought about it slowly.
"It's like... it
means someone you like. Um, more like someone you support... wait, let me think
about it simply. In Yuko's case, it probably means Lotus is the character she
likes the most out of everyone who appeared in the game."
"Ah..."
That "ah"
probably had the nuance of "I heard you, and I still don't really care,
but I understand the meaning, so okay." I felt embarrassed that I had
given such a strange explanation. Was it the difference in enthusiasm between
someone who liked games and someone who didn't? I was probably the only one who
felt awkward, and even though I hadn't been asked any further, I kept rambling
about irrelevant things, trying to somehow cover up my feelings.
"You know, there
are probably people who don't have one. But you know how there are favorite
characters, no, I don't think of Lotus as just a character anymore, it's just a
word. My oshi in the game wasn't Lotus. Lotus's vibe is completely different
from the game. But what if he was the same as the current Lotus!?"
I felt like the more I
talked, the deeper the hole I was digging.
I should have just
answered what I was asked. The deep furrow in Lotus's brow was scary.
"...You had an oshi too?" I didn't want him to dig any deeper, but I
was the one who brought it up. "Yeah..." I sometimes felt an
unbridgeable wall between Lotus and me, thinking, "Sorry for being an
otaku." He turned away.
Just as I was
trembling and biting my lip, feeling the difference between an otaku and
someone who wasn't, San returned alone to the middle of the hallway. I thought
they were having a leisurely race, but perhaps his beat-loving soul had
throbbed intensely. He looked happily pleased with his top arrival and was
dancing sharply to the side, jaka-jaka. Then, San suddenly looked up at Lotus,
and his eyeballs popped out. Of course, they didn't have eyes, so please take
that as a nuance.
--Lotus looks glum!
He's depressed!
Silence.
"What's
wrong?" I tried to peek at Lotus's face, but it was his usual expression.
Was it just an imagination? Just as I thought that, --"He instantly went
back to normal!!" San added.
"Lo...
Lotus..."
"It's just your
imagination."
"Wha!? Was it
because I said Lotus wasn't my oshi!? No, that's about the game! Right now, I
love Lotus with all my heart!?"
"I said it's just
your imagination."
Hey, San-san, aren't
you a little too fast? Ichi and Nii, who had returned leisurely, looked at each
other, seeing the strange interaction between me, Lotus, and San, and then
charged towards us, saying, "Us too, us too!" While everyone was
making a fuss, a light rain was falling outside the window. This would probably
stop soon too.
Before it rained, I
had visited Veda. There was something I needed to tell him. In the World Tree
chamber, he was clutching a letter, looking very troubled, but he listened to
what I had to say. I couldn't equate this world with the game with absolute
certainty. Even so.
I told him that I
wanted him to be prepared.
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