Chapter 4: Birthday and Departure

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/5/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

—Specified date has been exceeded.
—Playing message.

—Happy Birthday, Dear Ouka.
—Blessing To Your Life.

—Sakura-Drive. Download.
—Ready: OK?

“…So loud… Do what you want… mngh.”

—Verified.
—Sakura-Drive. Downloading_Now…

—Installation Is Complete.

∞∞∞∞

I feel like I had a weird dream. I can’t remember it, though.
Something like a bard’s hero tale. A grand adventure.
…No idea. Anyway, get dressed.

A little earlier than usual.
The sun isn’t up yet. Even the chickens are still asleep, and here I am swinging a pot.
Heave, heave.

If you dry-roast grains like wheat and drive the moisture out, they keep.
But they’re heavy. Relentlessly heavy. I rest between swings.
Trying to do it all at once was a mistake.
Heave, heave.

At the same time I smoke dried sweet potato in my homemade smoker.
This is a lot too. Smoking dried sweet potato makes it keep even longer, and it tastes better.
It’s just incredibly billowy. Smoky, but kind of fun.

I’ve also made pickled vegetables, salt-cured fish, all sorts of things.
With this much, we should be fine for a while. I want to think so.

Morning prep will be hard until they get used to it, whatever else you say, and having things they can eat right away should make it easier on everyone.
I made my own travel share at the same time, so it came out to quite a volume, but…
Well, fine. It’s a pretty spectacular sight. I’m satisfied.

…Ah. I haven’t made this morning’s. Need to add soup. Continue reading →

Chapter 3: The Red-and-White Handguns

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/4/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

What I’ve figured out so far: apparently no one but me can hear Ring’s voice.
I tried hanging it from a chain around my neck, and at breakfast and during laundry, nobody reacted to it at all.

Is this thing really not a ghost. It’s pretty suspicious.
Well, for now, I should probably leave that part out when I explain to Sister Naria.

“So anyway, there was a ring and two handguns in it.”
“…I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
“Yeah, I don’t either.
And apparently there’s someone at the Adventurer’s Guild in the capital who might know what’s going on.”

According to Ring, the sender, Glad, is there.
I’d like to ask for the details, but it isn’t a distance you just pop over.

“Ah, the sender.”
“I’d like to hear the story from that person, but it’s the capital. So I’m stuck on what to do.”
“…Hmm. What did the letter say?”
“‘I hereby return your fate to you,’ I think.”
“…Fate, is it.”

She looks like she has no idea.
Well, of course. I don’t either.

“Hmm. All right—why not go?”
“Eh. To the capital?”
“Yes. You might learn something about your parents.”
“Hmm. I don’t really care about that, though.”

Frankly, I have no interest in the people who abandoned me.
Besides, my mother is Sister Naria.
The person who raised a heretic with black hair and black eyes this far. My benefactor.
I’ll never say that out loud. Too embarrassing.

“I mean, the capital’s like a week round trip? You’ll be in trouble if I’m not here, right?”
“We’ll manage among ourselves for a while. And it’s a chance for the other children to learn to do more.”
“Unnyu. I see…”

I’m glad she’s saying that. But. Hmm.
Those who-knows-what ring and handguns are my fate, huh.
Sounds like nonsense to me.

“And, Ouka. You said ‘handguns’ just now, didn’t you?”
“Eh, yeah. I did.”

“Ouka. What is a handgun?”

Eh, what is… wait?

What is a handgun?
I don’t know any such thing.

“Eh, wait? Why…”

Why do I know the name of something I’ve never seen? Continue reading →

Chapter 2: The Mysterious Ring and Breakfast

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/3/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

What was that.
The ring glowed, and then it talked.

“Eh, what, a ghost?”

I would really rather not have ghosts in the church.
Ugh, my heart is hammering.

“…What even was that, seriously.”
“—Confirm. By ‘what,’ do you mean me?”
“It talked agaaaaain!?”

I scramble back.
Window behind me. Worst case, I go out that way.
Then around to the front and get the little ones out. Yeah. That’s the plan.

Ah, have Sister Naria exorcise it, or…
No, ghosts are probably too much even for her?

“—I am not a ghost: I am an interface for interpersonal communication.”
“…Ha? What?”
“—I am an interface for interpersonal communication.”
“Interpersonal commu… uh, so you’re not a ghost?”
“—Negative: I am an interface for interpersonal communication.”
“You’re not a ghost, then?”
“—Affirmative: I am an interperson—”
“No, that’s enough of that.”

An interface for interpersonal communication, huh.
You’ve said it enough times. I remember.

Anyway, I don’t really get what it’s saying, but… we can talk, apparently.
Also, apparently not a ghost.

“…Uh. Do you do bad things?”
“—Negative.”
“Are you on my side?”
“—Affirmative.”
“…Got it. Then I’ll hear the rest later. Can you wait?”
“—Affirmative.”
“All right… hup!”

I pick the ring up, gingerly. No problem.
It isn’t glowing anymore. Just an ordinary ring.
…Looking closer, what’s this even made of?
If it’s silver, maybe it would sell for a lot.

I set it on the parcel for now. No change. Hmm.
Well, for the moment it doesn’t seem to be a bad one.
I can’t imagine a ring could do much mischief anyway. First things first: do what I have to do. Continue reading →

Chapter 1: The Usual Morning

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/2/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

My day starts before dawn.

I get out of bed, change into my usual plain white blouse and faded brown shorts, and head for the washbasin.
I wash my face, brush my teeth, and check that there’s no bed-head in the bangs trimmed above my black eyes, or in the long black hair I wear down my back.

That’s me, ready.

Same as always, I head for the kitchen and make breakfast for twenty.
Today it’s red-bean soup and black bread.
Plain, but the soup shouldn’t taste bad.
I simmered in the vegetable scraps I was given yesterday, so even with not much in it, you get a lot of flavors.
I taste it just in case. Yep. Pretty good today too.

∞∞∞∞

On the way to the dining hall with the pot, the little ones start getting up.

“Morning. Go wash your faces, hurry up.”
“Okaaay!”

They answer in chorus and clatter off.
Energetic first thing in the morning—can’t ask for more.
All right. I brace myself and totter along with the heavy pot.

I’m setting the soup pot on the hall table and laying out dishes when Sister Naria comes out of the chapel.
I pause and greet her with a smile.

“Good morning, Ouka.”
“Morning, Sister Naria.”

Against the pitch-black habit, the silver hair spilling from her hood catches the sun and sparkles.
She’s beautiful today too. I don’t know why, but it makes me a little happy.

“It smells good again. You’re a lifesaver, every day.”
“You say that every day.”
“Hee hee. I suppose I do. You, on the other hand, still won’t call me Mother.”
“Guh… Ah, look, breakfast’s ready.”
“Ufufu. Yes, yes.”

Once everyone is there, we put our hands together and say “Itadakimasu” in unison.
Apparently they don’t do this elsewhere, but this church has always done it before meals.
It means we receive life, I’m told.
I don’t know who started it, but it feels kind of nice, and it looks well-mannered, so everyone copies it.

Today, too: Itadakimasu. Continue reading →