“So Sierra can understand both English and the other-world language, huh?”
“Other-world language?”
“The words written on the bottle.”
“These, Wulfjira letters”
Well, I guess there’s no such thing as a different world language.
“Tonbo, shall I explain?”
“Eh?”
“The Wurujira letters.”
Sierra pointed at the letters on the bottle with her claw as she said that.
“Well, I’ll pass on learning a different world language…”
“Right, right, Tonbo should learn English instead.”
To be honest, I would like to learn it before the exams.
“Ah, that’s right…speaking of English, why can Sierra speak English?”
“An alchemist implanted it?”
Sierra said so and lazily rolled the bottle onto the desk, took out some peeled sweet chestnuts from a snack basket and tossed them into her mouth.
“The alchemist was an English speaker?”
“The alchemist suddenly became a baby in Wurujira. To not forget the language, he implanted it in Sierra and the others.”
“A baby!? What kind of person was this alchemist?”
“Never spoke to the alchemist, but the implant remains.”
She poked her fluffy fingertip claws lightly against her forehead, then straightened her back and faced forward, beginning to spin words in a clear, eloquent voice.
“…I am Ethan Moore, an American. Born on June 9, 1923 in Whitewood, Illinois, Chicago, a Hawks fan. My wife’s name is Dorothy, my daughter’s name is Susan. For some reason, I have swapped places with an unknown child and am now in a place called Wurujira. If you are a kind American, please let my wife back home know that I will return someday.”
After saying that, she slumped her back again, not saying anything more as she chewed on the sweet chestnuts on the desk. Watching Sierra, Princess rapped her fist against her temple as if pondering something.
“…Ethan Moore, born in Whitewood in 1923, died in a traffic accident in 1958 along with his whole family.”
As if checking some database, Princess said so while wetting her upper lip with her tongue.
“Does this galaxy have a system where you can move on to the next life while retaining your memories? But there are no such examples in the data from Earth.”
Princess continued to mutter to herself, though indeed I had only ever heard of such things in fiction.
“Or rather, in your galaxy, can’t you carry your memories over to the next life?”
“I’ve only ever heard of retaining memories to the next life in fairy tales. Memories belong to the physical brain after all.”
Mars said so while stroking his whiskers, but to be honest, I wondered if some sci-fi power couldn’t make it possible. Well, if anything was truly possible, a warp ship or something would have come from that galaxy to pick him up by now…
“Hmm…since there’s no place called Wurujira on Earth, I guess the reincarnation destination is another world.”
“Sierra, where is this Wurujira place?”
“A nation! A city-state cluster founded by the descendants of Arlmay!”
“A city-state, huh…that really does sound like another world.”
“Come to think of it, what about Leah? Could Leah be in a similar situation as Ethan?”
That’s right, I had forgotten to ask about Leah, who kept trading apple hair tonic with us.
“Sierra, Sierra, the person we’ve been trading with is probably Leah, right? Do you know Leah?”
When I asked, Sierra swallowed the sweet chestnuts she was chewing and answered.
“Leah is the alchemist’s apprentice! She was partially involved in Sierra’s manufacturing!”
“I see, an apprentice…have you met her?”
“No!”
Her firm response was reassuring, but the mystery only deepened.
That said, the realistic existing problem for now is just the piling up of medicine bottles Leah sends us. The junkyard’s capacity is still far from full. In the end, if it’s unusable, it’s unusable, if it’s unknown, it’s unknown – we can just set it aside for now.
Rather than that…I couldn’t remain preoccupied with the mysteries of another world, as a situation was rapidly approaching right before my eyes.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
In the beginning of winter, the 22nd year of the Lost Calendar.
KE-MEX, Yoyogi Metal Corporation, Popinania Industry…these were all dummy companies completely fabricated by Princess, from their company names and business descriptions down to their assets and patents. These ghost companies, along with the Japanese government itself, joined forces to establish a major space development venture as an in-house venture of the famous Kawashima General Trading Company, known for its furikake seasoning products.
Its name: the Kawashima General Trading Asteroid Department. Or should we call it the cooler-sounding Kawashima Asteroid?
This department, aimed at mining resources from the asteroids floating in space, began operations at the same time the company relocated to the remains of a logistics center near Saitama. It was established in an amazingly short period of less than two months from my presentation. Of course, it wasn’t just me, a mere university student, who put in the effort – those involved included members of the Self-Defense Forces, government officials, and Hime – Princess herself.
Just what kind of threats did Princess make to get them to fully cooperate like that…from the various procedures involved in establishing the business, to securing highly specialized personnel, to introducing materials suppliers, the government officials advanced everything with full cooperation. All we did on our end was appoint a manager and sort out the paperwork.
This manager, however, did not turn out to be me as the company president. Instead, the former adventurer Abukuma-san, who had been a section manager at Kawashima General Trading, kindly took on the role.
[Well, it’s great that Kuma-san agreed to be the manager, right?]
[Otherwise, I was supposed to do it?]
[Tonbo really wouldn’t have been suited for it, so I might have brought someone from outside.]
While attending an afternoon university lecture in a classroom warmed by sunlight and heating, I exchanged these messages with Princess on my smartphone placed on the desk.
The fact that I could leisurely attend class here was thanks to Abukuma-san. If I had the asteroid work piled on top of that, there’s no way I could have managed my time to come to university. Though I had expected Abukuma-san to initially refuse, I was a bit surprised when she readily agreed to take on the managerial role.
“With the bonus, and my pay being raised, right? You have to seize these kinds of opportunities when a company is growing, or you’ll be in trouble later on.”
Those were her words, though I did get the sense that former adventurers really do have solid plans. Or rather, since I’m now the president of a company where these former adventurer types work, I should be even more responsible myself.
Speaking of former adventurers…during the establishment of Kawashima Asteroid, a certain individual approached Kawashima General Trading. This person was the very first regular customer who supported me when I began my business in the dungeon.
“Tonbo-kun, I heard you’re starting a space development business. Can’t you let me in on that? No way, right?”
Those were the words lightly tossed our way by the handsome, dual-wielding samurai adventurer Kaneki-san as we were setting up shop dungeon.
“Eh? Why is that?”
“Because it’s space, man! I just love stuff like space, mechs and all that, you know? You’re gonna be catching asteroids, right? Isn’t that just super exciting?”
Clenching his fist tightly as he spoke, clad in his powered suit.
“Eh? Who did you hear that from…?”
“Just a friend working at Kawashima, you know? You’re teaming up with that other world company Popinania, right?”
“Client confidentiality and all that…”
“Gotta do that compliance training, huh?”
Mars said so while gently kicking my feet with his paw as I cradled my head.
“Ah…sorry, I kept prying and prying…”
Kaneki-san brought his powered suit hands together in front of his face and bowed his head with a “Sorry.”
“So, how about it? Look, since I’m a high school graduate, I just can’t get my foot in the door at companies like that…can’t you make it happen? It’s been my dream since I was a kid. Please!”
“But Kaneki-san, you’d definitely earn way more as an adventurer, you know?”
The salary of a regular Kawashima General Trading employee is probably only around 30,000 yen at most, no matter how hard you work. Compared to that, adventurers wealthy enough to buy our powered suits earn unimaginable amounts.
“But earning money doesn’t mean I can go to space, does it?”
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