by Akira Kareno
He motioned for the girls to enter his room.
There was no time for him to casually consider the lack of chairs. When the girls entered, they cornered Willem.
“Hey, hey, where are you from?! What are you?!”
“Why do you know Nygglatho? The stuff you were talking about sounded really important!”
“Do you have a girlfriend?! What’s your type?!”
“Um, what’s your favorite kind of food? And what don’t you like?”
“Of all the questions we just asked, which are you gonna answer first?”
They showered him with questions, like a forceful rain of arrows.
Willem raised his hand lightly to stop any further interrogation.
“The first question I’m going to answer is yours. I don’t have a girlfriend, and my type is kind, dependable older women. My absolute favorite food is any kind of spicy meat dish. There’s nothing I don’t like—well, that’s what I thought for a while, but the other day I saw a lizardfolk’s lunch, and yeah, I don’t think I’d enjoy that. My relationship with Nygglatho is like a farmer and a runaway sheep. This morning I was on Island No. 28. I’m a lot of races mixed together, so even I’m not really sure what I am.” He pointed to each one who’d asked as he doled out his replies.
“Oohhh.” Wonder spilled from the girls’ mouths. He’d impressed them and displayed a fearless smile.
That was a trick he’d learned dealing with small children at the orphanage. Incidentally, whenever his daughter, whom he’d grown up alongside, saw him acting like that, she would only mutter, “Ew.”
—Man, kids are great.
Unlike adults, and especially those wicked trolls, children didn’t act with ulterior motives in an attempt to deceive him. He didn’t have to question what was behind the friendliness or malice they exhibited toward him. What excellent creatures they were.
“My name’s Willem. I’ll be here for a while.”
“You’re gonna live here?”
“That’s my job.”
“Oohhh,” the girls once again murmured in wonder. From what he could tell from all the whispering, it sounded like it was incredibly unexpected for someone to come and stay here.
He could see that because this was Island No. 68, just as he had experienced earlier in the day, it was not somewhere was easy to come and go. So when someone was around who typically wasn’t, that individual would be treated like an attraction.
As he thought about that, he heard a slightly reproachful voice coming from the open door.
“Hey. What are you guys doing?”
The little ones froze.
It—wasn’t Nygglatho. The girl with the sky-blue hair was standing there.
“Didn’t Nygglatho tell you that he’s tired after traveling such a long way?”
“Um, um, she, um…,” said peach.
“My curiosity never dies!” said purple.
“Yeah, that! This is ear-re-sistable!” said pink.
There was a chorus of excuses.
“Didn’t she?”
“Yeeeessss!!”
Once more, the girls executed a fantastic exit.
He could hear their voices growing more distant down the hall—“Byeee, Williieeee, see you tomorroooowww!”
“I swear, they never listen.”
She sniffed lightly, as though expressing her stress.
She then noticed his gaze and looked up.
“I’m sorry the little ones are so loud,” she said coolly.
“I don’t mind. I’m used to dealing with kids… I mean, I was, at least.”
“I appreciate you saying that, but don’t be too easy on them. They’ll carry on like that forever if you leave them be.”
“Ha-ha, okay. I’ll be more careful,” he laughed, and for some reason, the girl gulped.
A short silence fell between them.
He thought she would leave soon after, but she didn’t move.
“And…I’m sorry about earlier, too—about Pannibal. She has a lot of energy, but she didn’t do that out of spite,” she said, as though having just remembered.
“I’m not mad. My bath was nice and hot, so I’m not gonna get sick or anything.”
“R-really? Um, then, well…” And again, she fell silent.
She didn’t seem able to articulate herself well.
“…Chtholly.”
“Hmm?”
“That’s…my name. I mean, it feels a little late for that, and it’s hard to say after telling you to forget about me, and really I don’t care if you did forget, but it’s all ended up like this, so I thought I should at least tell you my name…”
“…Okay.”
Now that she mentioned it, she was right. They didn’t know each other’s names.
“I’m Willem. Nice to meet you, Chtholly.”
For a second, her breath caught in her throat.
“Then, um, well…” She searched for her words. “…Never mind. Sorry for bothering you. Have a good rest.”
She went to take her leave.
The second he saw her turn away, Willem remembered something.
He’d forgotten about it since he’d been so flustered after his unexpected reunion with Nygglatho, but there had been a question hiding in the back of his mind ever since he arrived.
“Hold on a second. I remembered there’s something I want to ask.”
“Huh?”
Just as the door was about to close, it slowly opened again.
“I came here as manager of the Alliance’s weaponry.”
“Right.” The girl nodded casually.
“And this is the warehouse designated for storing those weapons.”
“Right.” She nodded again.
“…But no matter how much I look around, this doesn’t come off like a warehouse. Where are these supposed weapons?”
He glanced around the room.
He also peered out the window.
No matter how he looked at it, these were normal living quarters. He couldn’t see anything exaggerated that resembled a warehouse.
When he’d first heard that these weapons would be used in battle against the Seventeen Beasts, he’d vaguely imagined something like a giant golem, but there probably wasn’t anything that big stored around here. Of course, it was possible they were all stuffed in a room or closet somewhere in this dorm-like complex.
But no, even then, another mystery remained.
“And…I don’t think I should be asking you personally, but what are all of you? Why are you in a military facility?”
After a few beats of silence, she looked at Willem with expressionless eyes.
“…You came here without knowing even that much?” she muttered, her eyes narrowing. “And you spoke with those children without knowing? Don’t tell me you’re the kind of person who just goes with the flow without giving any deep thought to anything?”
“Ngh—” It wasn’t that he himself wasn’t aware. He couldn’t find the words to respond.
“Well, whatever. It’s not something to hide, so I’ll tell you. The answer to your first question is your second question. The answer to your second question is your first.”
“Huh?”
It was a puzzling answer.
“What is that supposed to mean?
“You don’t need to think too hard about it. It’s just as I said. We are the supposed weapons, as you call them.”
—What?
It took time for the meaning of those words to travel from his ears to his brain.
Chtholly waved her hand slightly.
“—Well then, I’ll see you around, Mr. Manager,” she said, and this time, she closed the door behind her.
In the Forest in the Sky
-late autumn night’s dream-
1. Papier-Mâché Manager
What am I?
A long, long time ago, Willem lived in an orphanage.
He met his master there. His master raised him, taught him everything he needed to li
ve.
His master was also a terrible adult.
Typically, someone in the position of managing an orphanage would act like a parent to the children gathered there, but his master tossed that responsibility away. And so Willem took on the role himself, along with everything that came with being called Dad by those who were children, just like himself.
His master had a terrible drinking habit, and Willem wished he would stop telling ridiculous stories like, “I used to be the Legal Brave, y’know!” with a reddened face at every opportunity. The old man was certainly stronger than other adults, handled the sword better, and was strangely knowledgeable about a lot of things, but the orphans at the time all agreed that “He’s not the type to be a Brave,” “He looks like a villain’s lackey.”
He was guilty of many, many crimes. So many, they couldn’t all be counted. Vulgar whistling at girls in town, reading inappropriate books to small children, not shaving his lazy stubble despite numerous lectures about it, and—
—being absent from home at the most vital moments.
As a result, Willem resolved in his young heart that he would never, ever grow up to be an adult like that.
At any rate, of the many proclamations made by his master, the old man also said:
“Cherish your women. Men can’t ever run from them.
“Treasure your children, too. Adults can’t ever win against them.
“Steel yourself before young girls. No matter what happens, you and I won’t ever be a match for them.”
Willem thought he’d been taught something worrisome. He wanted to avoid it if he could.
But even worse, like everything else his master said to him, those words from long ago had become his flesh and blood now.
No thanks to that, he’d been suspected of pedophilia once, but—well, he wanted to forget that incident if he could.
Not having to do anything was much more comfortable than he thought it would be, and also much more painful.
Now that he thought about it, he had been living constantly feeling like time was chasing him down this past year and a half. That was because jobs that accepted featureless workers all had terrible pay, and he took on as many as he could. He worked from the early morning until late at night, sometimes even into the next day. Regardless of day or night, he slept in short bursts whenever he had the time.
And so just sleeping soundly in a soft bed, then waking up bathed in the morning light was indescribably pleasant.
But at the same time—unlike all his time up until the day before, where a list of tasks was always looming over him, his current situation of “just stay here” was trying. In a single moment of idleness, his mind would stumble across things his heart didn’t want to remember. It was trying remembering things he didn’t want to think about.
Being in the warehouse itself felt a bit odd.
Altogether, there were nearly thirty children here. All of them girls.
Their ages varied, but they were mostly between seven and fifteen.
And without a single exception, they all had brightly colored hair.
The colors were unrealistic, almost like they had leaped out of an abstract painting, but it was almost jarring how natural it seemed. That was probably because they weren’t dyed or bleached.
It also seemed like the children weren’t used to being around adults or men, so they were very cautious around Willem and didn’t show their faces much.
Well, there’s not much I can do about that, Willem thought. That’s typical behavior for little children, and the ones who cornered him in his room that first day were an exception. A large anomaly had suddenly broken into their small, closed world. Of course not everyone would calmly accept him.
Willem would feel a presence as he walked down the hall and would turn around. There, he would see the back of a small, frightened child, running away at full speed. As that repeated over and over, he started to feel guilty for even strolling around outside his room.
Needless to say, though, there was nothing for him to do locked up in his quarters.
He hadn’t brought anything especially like a hobby, and there was no reason for him to temper his body anymore.
He sat on the windowsill and passed the time staring out the window. It seemed like a wonderful thing to do, but there was no way he could spend the next months doing just that.
He changed into casual clothes and took a walk to the town center.
There were hundreds of stone-made buildings lined up along a slight slope. It was a given, but it was a different sort of charm than the decadence of Island No. 28; it was somewhat idyllic.
What surprised him the most was that he walked down the streets without wearing a robe or hood, clearly displaying that he was featureless, but the people who passed by him didn’t seem to care at all.
He went into a nearby snack bar for lunch and raised the topic with the shopkeeper.
“Well, that kinda talk won’t get you nowhere round here.”
The young lycanthrope, chestnut fur on his canine face, answered over his shoulder as he shook a frying pan.
“You’ll never stop if you start pointin’ your finger at every guy who resembles some ancient baddies. If you wanna be pointin’ fingers, you’re better off giving a long, hard look at people doin’ bad things right now. Well, not much someone can do if they live in a place with too many baddies and too many awful things. I’m sure it’s too much for them to count all the things they wanna be pointin’ at, so maybe they just picked the historical bad people who stood out above the rest. Then the whole town does it; it becomes tradition. I’d say you’re someone who’s been through a lot—we take it easy around here.”
I see, so that’s how it is.
“And since you’re an outsider, you might not know, but they live near here. Terrifying featureless, even more than those old emnetwiht. You see ’em smile once, and you’ll forget everything about what happened long ago. You’ll be too busy thanking your stars you live in this day and age.”
…I see, so that’s how it is.
As he waited for his food, he sat idly at the table, paying no attention, when a familiar face drew near.
“Oh? It’s you…”
There was the girl with the clear sky-blue hair.
“Hey, Chtholly… Um…”
Behind her, there were two girls about her age.
They were the three oldest among all the girls who lived in the warehouse. Well, they were more like midteens trying to grow up as fast as they could.
“Hey, if it isn’t the handsome man everyone’s been talking about.” A girl with faded golden hair rushed over and leaned in close. “And what is this? Greeting only Chtholly by name—when did your relationship get so deep? Can I ask more about you two?”
“Stop.”
“Okay, stopping.”
The girl immediately pulled back in response to Chtholly’s icy tone.
“There’s nothing to tease about here. It’s just… How do I say this…? We just happened to meet earlier than everybody else, and by coincidence, we had the chance to exchange names. That’s all.”
“Hmm. If you say so, then, well, I’ll leave it at that.”
“Please do.”
“Okay, leaving it. All right, Second Enchantments Officer Willem, I’d appreciate it if you learned our names while you’re at it. I’m the loud one, Ithea, and over there”—she turned around, pointing to the third of their troupe who was sitting at the corner table, pretending like none of this had anything to do with her—“acting like she’s going her own way is Nephren. Nice to meet you.”
“…That’s a creative way of introducing yourselves, huh? I don’t have to say my name, do I?”
“Well, we’ve got the gist of it. You like spicy meat dishes, don’t dislike anything in particular but can’t stand lizardfolk lunch boxes, like women who are patient and older…right?”
I see those kids spread the information around.
“…Wait a second, I
thea. I haven’t heard any of that before.”
“Heh-heh-heh. The one who controls information controls the island. Persistent espionage today is delicious food tomorrow!”
“Hey, come on, tell me!”
As they happily chatted between themselves, the two moved back to the third girl—Nephren.
They were a noisy bunch.
“What, you know the girls at the warehouse?”
The canine lycanthrope approached and placed the lunch set on the table. Fried potatoes, vegetable scraps, thick fried bacon, a small bread roll, and soup in a cup.
“Yeah. I started living there yesterday for work.”
“Huh, living in the ware…house…uh…”
He knew why he saw the blood drain from the young man’s chestnut fur–covered face.
“Eeeeehhhhhh?!”
His host pulled back with astonishing speed.
Plastering himself against the wall, his feet and hands floundered for something to hold onto.
“I-I-I’m sorry please don’t kill me please don’t eat me I have five hungry mothers and an aging grandchild—”
…It was an unexpected response.
But Willem could easily imagine the root of the misunderstanding.
“I’m not a troll.”
“There’s still money in the register, and I swear my meat is hard and not very— Huh? What did you say?”
He stopped, blinking his bewildered eyes.
“I said, I’m not a troll. I know it’s hard to tell featureless apart, but I’m not gonna eat you.”
“W-well…but…there’s no way you could live under the same roof as that ravenous monster unless you’re the same race as her, though.”
“—Don’t tell me she’s eaten people here in town?”
A possibility he didn’t want to consider popped into his mind as he watched how frightened the young man got.
If it was true, that would not be good for him. Regule Aire fostered all sorts of different cultures, but they all shared the same laws—a fantastic union.
Those laws dictated it was a felony to kill any intelligent being, regardless of race.
It didn’t matter if someone was a troll—rather, especially if they were a troll… It was forbidden for them to eat however they pleased.