30. Painting Over Inhumanity—in Other Words, Soup
Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/32/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA
At a loss for how to spend his time, Saiji left the room at the far end of that floor and walked toward the barracks, intending to go to the dining hall.
Even outside mealtimes, one could at least get juice.
He could have ordered someone to bring the finest drinks to his room, but just then he wanted to be alone and take things slowly.
“Fuaaah…”
Saiji stretched his arms as far as they would go and yawned with his mouth wide open.
Perhaps because about two hours had passed since lunch, a pleasant drowsiness wrapped around him.
He might as well take a nap in the dining hall.
That plush bed in his own room somehow put him on edge, and the pillow was a little too high besides; it made it hard to breathe.
They were supposedly using the finest goods this world had to offer—and that, no doubt, was exactly why a commoner found them suffocating.
“‘Dilson’s Stew,’ huh… Come to think of it, the counter said something about that yesterday. What’s a Dilson, anyway? The name sounds kinda like a cow.”
The signboard in front of the dining hall listed another unfamiliar ingredient again today.
Yesterday’s meat had been good, so today’s would probably taste decent enough too.
Still, two days in a row at the dining hall was starting to feel stale; he might as well head over to the castle and get himself a lavish meal instead—he was thinking as much when he stepped inside and heard two familiar male voices.
He looked toward the speakers and found Taka and Oya there.
Saiji poured a yellow citrus juice from the neighboring pitcher into a waiting cup and carried it over to them.
“Yo. You guys bored too?”
“Oh, Saiji.”
“Nothing else to do… We were just killing time.”
“Then I’ll join you.”
So saying, Saiji sat down beside Taka.
As Oya had said, the conversation was idle—the sort of pointless talk typical of high-school boys, if one were being honest.
But even that kind of time now felt as distant as something he longed for.
No matter how much they could obtain, no matter that they had acquired so-called magic, they would never see their families again, and they would never follow the paths they had hoped for.
Whenever his thoughts turned negative, the fact would suddenly return to him, and a nameless sadness would well up.
“Hey… Think we’re ever gonna get to go home?”
Taka, who was usually so cheerful, spoke with a rare cloud over his face.
“… They’re not planning to send us back. At the very least, this country’s king is counting us as military assets.”
“They were gonna invade other countries or something, right?”
Taka frowned at Oya’s words.
Saiji thought:
Do whatever you want.
From the standpoint of someone who had been dragged into this and stripped of his future, it was utterly unreasonable.
“I just can’t picture it, y’know? Sure, they give us magic lessons now and then, but are we actually that strong?”
“If the king’s relying on us, then me, Taka, and Oya must all be outrageously powerful by this world’s standards.”
“… Talent worth dragging all the way from another world, huh.”
They simply did not yet know how to use it; they harbored a considerable amount of magical power.
In fact Chigusa, having become a half-vampire and absorbed that knowledge, had learned how to wield shadow magic and was already approaching a strength beyond that of any mage in the world.
Miyako and Leia, who had likewise ceased to be human, possessed power on a level with hers.
Of course, there was no way these three would know any of that—
“Well, whatever the circumstances, we’ll do what we want. We don’t owe anyone obedience.”
“Yeah. No matter where Saiji goes, all he does is chase women.”
“Even that’s gotten old. Ahh, isn’t there a decent woman lying around somewhere?”
“… So that’s where it ends up.”
“You never know. Someone out of the ordinary might suit you better. What about Chigusa?”
“She’s dead.” Continue reading →