by Dojyomaru
When they did, Aisha charged them, using the man she had lifted up as a human shield. Seeing the first man groan seemed to make the other two falter, unable to draw their swords.
“Both of you, stop this!” Mutsumi commanded.
With that, the men came to their senses and removed their hands from their hilts.
Oh! That was right. Come to think of it, Ichiha had been saying these men had dropped out of the competition over Mutsumi. In other words, it would be bad for them if Mutsumi came to hate them. They must have been riled up and not noticed Mutsumi’s presence before now.
“Aisha, you too... I think you’ve done enough,” Big Brother Souma said, looking at the two men who were now settled down.
“Yes, sir!” Aisha said promptly.
“Whoa... Ow!”
Suddenly having been released by Aisha, the man with his arm in a sling landed flat on his behind.
While the other two shrank away in front of Mutsumi, the man with his arm in a sling must have still been mad about getting humiliated, because he glared at Big Brother Souma with his anger not going down. “Why, you...! Who do you think you are, butting in like this?!”
“Who do I think I am...? A king, maybe?” Big Brother Souma said as if it were nothing.
He’d only said the truth, but the man apparently thought it was a joke, because his face warped with even more anger.
“You think you can mess with me. I’m gonna kill—”
“Stop it! Do you have any idea who it is you’re picking a fight with?!” Mutsumi said, standing in front of Big Brother. “Who do you think this man is?! This is Sir Souma Kazuya, the king of the great nation of the south, the United Kingdom of Elfrieden and Amidonia, you know?!”
The three men were suddenly in a panic.
“Wha?! Then this man... no, this gentleman... is the King of Friedonia?!” one of them shouted.
Judging by their attitude, these men might have had significant status inside the Union of Eastern Nations. They could have been rulers of their own countries, or entrusted with command of entire armies. But there was an overwhelming difference in power between a country in the Union of Eastern Nations and the Kingdom of Friedonia.
Big Brother was someone these people could not afford to get angry, and now that they realized they had been picking a fight with him, they didn’t know what to do.
As for Big Brother...
“I don’t think I’ve gotten to do this sort of Mito Koumon stuff in a while...”
...he whispered to himself with a wry smile.
What’s a Mito Koumon? I wondered.
Whatever it was, the men were thoroughly deflated as Mutsumi yelled at them.
“Madam Tomoe who you see there is Sir Souma’s little sister! If you have been rude to Madam Tomoe, do you mean to confront the Kingdom of Friedonia?! If you intend to cause a diplomatic incident with the great nation of the south, the other countries of the union won’t keep quiet about it!”
“““N-No, ma’am! We’re truly sorry!””” The men got down on the ground.
Then they bowed their heads repeatedly, not just to Big Brother Souma, but to Ichiha, too.
They clearly thought a diplomatic incident might put their positions at risk. They were desperately begging for forgiveness.
If no one did anything, the way they were going at it, they looked like they might start rubbing their faces on his boots soon enough.
That was apparently a bit much even for Big Brother.
He sighed. “That’s enough. Be off with you.”
The three men left, bobbing their heads desperately as they went.
“Honestly, what a bunch of troublemakers,” Mutsumi said indignantly. “Ichiha, are you okay?”
“Y-Yes, Sister!”
Walking over to Ichiha, Mutsumi put a hand on his head. “It was good that you protected a girl. But it’s not good to be too reckless, okay?”
“...Yes. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not angry. I’m happy you showed your manliness.” With a soft smile, Mutsumi patted Ichiha on the head. “Now then, Sir Souma, it seems we have found your little sister, so I will be on my way now. In regards to those three, I will have my father issue a formal complaint to the countries they belong to.”
“Oh! Sure. Thank you.”
Mutsumi bowed to us before leaving.
While I was feeling relieved to have been saved, suddenly a shadow fell over me.
Hesitantly, I looked with upturned eyes, and there was Big Brother with a serious look on his face that I could read no emotion from. Next to him was Aisha, who looked like she wanted to help me, but was holding it back.
Big Brother crouched down, looking me straight in the eye. “...Tomoe.”
“Y-Yes?”
“You know what I want to say, right?”
“Yes... I’m sorry for running off alone and making you worry about me.”
When I quietly bowed my head, Souma let out a little sigh.
“We’re the ones who forced you into the position of being our little sister. So I won’t tell you to ‘comport yourself in a way that befits your position,’ or anything stuffy like that.”
He wasn’t shouting at me, just speaking calmly. In some ways, that stung worse.
“But as your big brother figure, I’m beside myself with worry whenever I think something bad might happen to you. Aisha’s the same. The reason she got so mad was because it looked like they were frightening you. Well, I guess the reason I didn’t stop her was because I was pissed, too...”
“Everyone was worried, you know? I’m sure Sir Inugami is still running around looking for you.” Aisha’s voice was full of concern, which only made me feel worse.
I wanted to become someone who could help Big Brother and everyone else, but I had ended up causing them trouble instead. This was no good at all.
And yet, even after what I’d done, Big Brother told me, “If anything were to happen to you, it’s not just us: Big Sister Liscia, your mother Tomoko, your little brother Rou, and your adoptive parents Sir Albert and Lady Elisha would all be sad.”
“Yeah...”
“From now on, when you want to do something, bring someone along to protect you, in order to secure your own safety. You can use Inugami for whatever you want, so, please—you’re a child. Rely on others to help you.” Big Brother looked straight at me.
I bowed my head again, swallowing. “Okay... I’m sorry.”
“Watch yourself from now on...” he went on. “Phew. Well, from the look of those drooping ears and tail, I’d say you’re actually reflecting on what you did, so that’s enough lecturing.”
Big Brother stood up, placing a hand on my head.
“Well, when we first met, you were so shy and hesitant about everything. So, as your big brother, seeing you so active does make me happy.”
“Big Brother...” I murmured.
“Is it Big Sister Liscia’s influence? If so, well, I can understand why you’d want to be a little mischievous, but... everything in moderation. Those times when you just have to do it, rely on someone. Okay?”
“Okay!” I said energetically.
Big Brother patted me on the head.
Then he walked over to Ichiha, who had been silently watching how things were unfolding, and knelt down so they were at the same eye-level.
“I’m sorry,” Souma said. “It seems my little sister troubled you. Thank you for protecting her.”
“Oh, no... I was too weak to do anything...”
“But you stood up for her, right? I know how scary it is to stand in front of men with scary faces when you’re weak and unable to do anything. I’m impressed you could do it at your age.”
Having said that, Big Brother stood up and extended a hand to Ichiha.
“I’m Tomoe’s big brother, Souma Kazuya. Nice to meet you.”
“Ah...! I’m Ichiha Chima.”
Ichiha timidly took his hand, and they shook hands.
Big Brother, who was
so good at finding people that he was called a recruitment maniac, was shaking hands with Ichiha, who seemed to have something unique about him that nobody praised him for.
Seeing the two of them shake hands, I felt like something was about to begin to move, and I felt my heart race just a little.
◇ ◇ ◇
The boy was thin, wore glasses, and looked a little on the weak side, but he had the same attractive features as Madam Mutsumi, so he was going to be the kind of beautiful and literate young man that girls would go gaga for.
He was wearing the sort of sleeveless outfit that was typical of this country, but I felt like the lined kimono and hakama of a Meiji Era writer would have suited him. We were from a different country, so I couldn’t make those for him, though.
Maybe because the basic concept of the clothes they wore was the same, when he stood next to Tomoe, they looked like a pair of dolls.
Aisha smiled and said, “They both look so cute.”
“Um, is something the matter?” the boy in question hesitantly asked.
It seemed I’d been staring.
“Ohh, sorry,” I said. “I was lost in thought. Er, Sir Ichiha... Wait, it sounds weird calling someone Tomoe’s age that. Can I just call you Ichiha, like she does?”
“Uh, okay. Whatever you like.”
“Okay, Ichiha. Outside of official venues, you don’t need to call me Sir or Lord, either. You can refer to me the same way you would refer to Aisha.”
“O-Okay... Souma,” he said hesitantly.
I shook Ichiha’s hand again.
Ichiha seemed gobsmacked by everything that had just happened. He looked over at Tomoe, blinking. “You were a princess from Friedonia. Um... I’m sorry. I may have been being rude to you.”
“Princess?! No, no, not at all. I’m no one special, so it would be nice if you could just act the same way as you have been. That’s what I want, actually.”
“S-Sure. Okay...”
The two children were fumbling awkwardly. Aisha and I watched the two of them with fond smiles.
“The way they interact is kind of cute,” I said.
“It is, indeed,” she agreed. “It puts me in a bittersweet sort of mood.”
I placed a hand on Tomoe’s head. “So, Princess Tomoe?”
“Ah! Not you, too, Big Brother!”
“Did your rambunctious little adventure bear any fruit? Did you find anything interesting?”
“Ah! That’s right, Big Brother!” Tomoe shouted as if she’d remembered something. Then, circling around behind Ichiha, she pushed him toward me.
“W-Wait, Tomoe?!” he yelped.
Ichiha dug in his heels to fight being pushed forward, but maybe because Tomoe was a little older, or perhaps because girls were slightly stronger at their age, he was unable to resist as he inched closer and closer to me.
What in the world were these kids doing? Was this some unorthodox form of wrestling?
As I looked at them with my head cocked to the side, Tomoe took on an incredibly serious expression.
“Big Brother, would you look at Ichiha’s pictures?”
“T-Tomoe!” the boy cried.
“Pictures?” I asked.
Now that she mentioned it, Ichiha had a drawing board hanging from his neck, and there were a number of pieces of paper attached to it.
I used paper all the time back at the castle, but in this world, the stuff was pretty expensive. The technology for making it was established, and it wasn’t out of reach for the common people, but it was expensive enough they wouldn’t waste it blowing their noses. If he was being given paper to draw with freely, that really showed he was the son of the head of a country, even if it was a small one.
In order to avoid intimidating Ichiha, I crouched down and matched my eye level to his. “So, uh... Those pictures, can I see them?”
Ichiha may have been embarrassed, because he bobbed his head up and down, his face turned downward. He handed me the drawing board, and Aisha and I took a look at once.
“Is this... a picture of a monster?” I queried.
“Ohh, it’s quite well drawn, isn’t it?”
The drawing was a charcoal sketch of a monster. It was a bat-winged cerberus... no, there were only two heads, so an orthrus. It was drawn in a highly realistic manner. It seemed to capture the different parts of the creature’s body well. It was hard to believe this was the work of a child around the age of ten.
Still, it was only good “for the work of a child.”
I didn’t have much... or any... education in art, but I could tell that while this drawing wasn’t a piece of art, it still was well done.
Despite being drawn in a realistic style, there was no sense of movement, like I was looking at a picture from an encyclopedia. If this was all he was capable of, there were plenty of people in our own country with this level of talent... Wait, what kind of eye was I looking at a child’s drawing with?
It was probably because of my perpetual search for human resources, but I’d developed a tendency to look for any unique gifts people had when first meeting them. That habit was rude to the other party, though, so I really needed to fix it.
Thinking that as I flipped through the pages...
“Huh?”
That was when I noticed something.
There was another picture of a monster under that first picture of a monster; several of them, in fact. But the pictures underneath had a number of square frames drawn into them.
Taking a closer look, it seemed the parts of the monsters’ bodies were surrounded with frames.
Going back to the bat-winged orthrus, there was another picture beneath that was likely a drawing of another individual.
In that picture, there was one frame around the wings, one around the body, and one around each of the two dog heads.
In the picture beneath it, of an ogre with a festering body (a zombie ogre), one frame was around its whole body, with diagonal lines running through it.
The two-headed ogre beneath that had a frame around its whole body, and then one around one of its heads.
Could it be...?
The speed with which I flipped through the pages increased. I went back and forth, comparing drawings. Looking at the drawing of the orthrus with frames from before, on closer inspection, the body was not that of a dog. It had hooves on its feet, so it might have been closer to a serow. The body of the orthrus above was canine, like you’d expect, so that made it clear it was a different individual.
These frames... No doubt about it. There are rules behind them.
I was staring so intently at the drawings, Aisha got worried. “Um, sire? Is something the matter?”
“Ohh, sorry. I was focusing on the pictures.”
“Did something about them catch your attention?”
“Yeah. Hey, Ichiha. Do you have any more drawings of monsters like these?”
Ichiha blinked in surprise and tilted his head to the side. “I have lots in my room. Do you want to come see?”
And so, in the room Ichiha led us to, my eyes went wide with surprise again.
“Whoa...”
The walls were mostly plastered with drawings of monsters.
Intimidated by the sight, Tomoe hugged my leg tight. Fair enough; depending on how you looked at this, it could be an unsettling sight. But for me, right now, I was intrigued by the drawings.
In each of the drawings on the walls, square frames had been drawn in, just like on the ones I had looked at before. In addition, the ones on the walls had been sorted by body part type.
One section focused on monsters with bat-like wings, while another focused just on monsters that were festering like zombies.
Looking at this scene, I became confident. “Ichiha, you weren’t just drawing monsters, you were categorizing them by their body parts and status, weren’t you?”
Ichiha nodded. “Right. This country is close to the Demon Lord’s Domain, so a lot of monsters show up. Watching them from up on the w
alls, I noticed some had similar body parts. That made me think I could sort them by parts, so I drew them.”
I knew it. Those square frames were separating the monsters into parts.
If there was a bat-winged orthrus, it could be separated into four parts. The frames with diagonal lines indicated an individual with festering flesh. The frame inside a frame on the two-headed ogre indicated an unnecessary part stuck onto another individual.
Ichiha had divided the monsters by their unique traits, creating a categorization system from that.
“Tomoe, it was wrong of you to sneak off without saying anything, but... finding Ichiha may have been a major accomplishment,” I said.
“Big Brother?”
I placed a hand on Tomoe’s head. “This picture here is a treasure of mankind.”
“N-No way, you’re exaggerating.” Ichiha was flustered and shook his head, but I fully believed that these categorized pictures had that much value.
By the standards of this world and its people, monsters were aberrant beings. No matter how a monster looked, it was “befitting a monster,” so no one thought deeply about their aberrance. Even I hadn’t. This was a world of magic, so I had complacently accepted that it wasn’t all that weird for there to be monsters.
However, seeing the drawings of monsters hung up in this room had changed my thinking. Even the monsters that looked like random aberrations were, in fact, following a system of rules.
If I studied the pictures in this room, I might be able to learn what monster parts came with which abilities. If we knew the abilities each part had, we might be able to identify which monsters could and couldn’t fly, as well as roughly how agile they were, just by seeing the shape of them.
It wouldn’t just be useful in combat, either.
What we had learned in the Kingdom of Lastania, that monster meat was edible, could be defined more specifically. For instance, if we knew which parts were edible, and which parts were dangerous or toxic, we could make decisions about which monsters could or couldn’t be eaten. That would expand the range of edible monsters beyond the flying tsuchinoko.
Monster parts had uses beyond just eating them, too. Genia the overscientist’s inventions often used monster parts.