Credits

Raws: Celest
Translation: Gsimenas

Distant Journey

1

Seven hundred and fifty kilometres.

That is the distance between Rulid, a village located at the base of the End Mountains at the northern edge of the Norlangarth North Empire, and Central Capital Centoria, located at the centre of the Human Empire.

When I heard that we’d have to cover seven hundred and fifty kilor, as it would be referred to in #this word#(Underworld), I couldn’t actually grasp how far our destination was at first. Only once I brought up a map of Japan in my mind and calculated that it would be the equivalent of travelling from Tokyo all the way to Hokkaido in linear distance, I finally realised, “Man, that’s a long way to go!”.

Since we were going to cover all that distance on foot, I was prepared for it to turn into one heck of a journey, but even then I didn’t imagine that it would actually take us an entire year to finish. Actually, we did spend some of that time living and working on a farm, as well as working as guards in a large town, but that didn’t change the impression that the whole journey felt more like we travelled to the other side of the Earth, rather than to Hokkaido…………

“Ah, Kirito, there’s a stone marker over there!”

Upon hearing Eugeo’s words beside me, I put away the map of the northern empire I had opened up in my mind, and blinked. Just as my partner had proclaimed, there was a pointed, obelisk-like gray stone set up to the right of the road.

“Haven’t we already seen like tens of these stone marker things already……”

When I responded as such with a wry smile, Eugeo puckered his lips in displeasure.

“It’s not just a mere stone marker; it’s one of the big ones!”

“This isn’t our first time seeing one of those either.”

“Sheesh, Kirito, the only thing that gets your interest is edible-looking fruit…… I’m going on ahead!”

My partner broke into a run upon saying that, so I began chasing after him while apologising.

“Sorry sorry, next time we come across some Siral fruit, I’ll be sure to leave some for you too……”

“I wasn’t trying to imply that I was mad about that!”

Continuing our argument, we ran about fifty metres ahead, until we came to a stop in front of an obelisk that was about our size.

Such stone pillars, which, I believe, were officially known as a 《milepost》 or a 《milestone》 in the real world but were called stone markers in the Human Empire, were placed next to all main roads at precisely ten kilometre intervals. I have no idea how someone was able to calculate the distance so precisely in a world where both GPS and laser rangefinders weren’t a thing, but at the very least it was clear that the Axiom Church was responsible for placing them.

The church’s crest, consisting of a circle on top of a cross, gave off a golden shine at the top of the obelisk; the number 《50》 was engraved below it. It was implying, of course, the distance to Central Capital Centoria—— meaning that our journey would end in just fifty more kilometres.

Probably having had the same thought himself, Eugeo squinted as he muttered.

“We only have but fifty kilors left…… So we only need to continue walking for three, make that two days and we’ll reach the central capital……”

So far, we’ve been travelling at a pace of twenty to thirty kilometres per day, so it does indeed add up to two days worth of travel. I subconsciously directed my gaze to the south, but all I could see on the road ahead were gently-sloping hills and the wide sky.

The aforementioned sky was already nearly half dyed in madder red. It’ll probably be getting dark within the next two hours.

“Say, Eugeo. How many kilors till the next town or village?”

When I raised such a question, my flaxen-haired partner took his eyes of the stone marker to look at me, before giving me an exasperated smile.

“You know, Kirito, I’m pretty sure I told you this when we were eating breakfast at Calda Village. We won’t be able to reach the following town of Fouchelle before the end of the day, so we’ll be camping out tonight.”

“E…Eeeh!? Wait, did you?……”

“I did! You still looked half asleep back then, so I even repeated it a second time……”

“Uhhm, I was probably still asleep while eating my morning grub. Though…… till now, there’s always been a town or village, or at least an inn set up close enough that it could be reached within a day on foot.

“Yeah, I also found it odd, so I asked the mistress of that 《Nagabibachi¹》 inn we stayed at last night about it……”

With these words, Eugeo put his hand into the utensil bag on his right waist, taking a rolled up parchment out of it. The parchment with worn out edges, looking like its Life would be fully depleted at any moment, contained a map that we had purchased for a large sum just before leaving the town of Zakkaria. The exceedingly long and narrow parchment noted the seven hundred and fifty kilometre-long Nomain Highway that ran north to south through the Norlangarth North Empire, as well as all the towns, villages, inns, and stone markers along the road, in detail.

Eugeo carefully unfolded about thirty centimetres of the worn-down map. The end of the parchment held up by his left hand depicted half of the circular Central Capital Centoria, with a highway extending towards his right hand. Previously, we had to unroll more than a metre of the map whenever we felt like looking up our current position; the fact that we only needed thirty centimetres of it now was just another sign of the end of our journey being at hand.

Although a parchment map like this had its charm, that aside, I sure wish we had a map window feature, seeing as we already have a status window anyway…… as such thoughts crossed my mind, I pointed at around the middle of the map.

“Ehm, so this is that Calda Village we stayed at last night…… and this is the next town of Fouchelle……?”

As my finger was about to head towards Centoria, it stopped midway.

“Huh, there’s a tiny symbol over here too. Isn’t this… an inn? We’re currently over here…… at the fifty kilor stone marker, so we’re not even three kilors away from this inn.”

“While that is true……”

Eugeo nodded but instantly gave a slight shrug.

“According to the mistress of the Nagabibachi Inn, the 《Bilzen Inn》 noted on this map was apparently closed down over three years ago. That’s why travelers and merchants passing through this region since then have either rented a horse, camped out midway, set out from the previous village in the dark hours of the morning and pushed themselves to reach the next inn on foot, or……”

Seeing as his words cut off, I peered into my partner’s face at this point. However, Eugeo then slightly shook his head, before continuing.

“Scratch that, the fourth option is probably irrelevant to us. Anyway, you have to take one of the aforementioned measures to reach the next stop, as I’ve heard.”

“Hhmmm……”

A moan came from me as I watched Eugeo roll up the map again.

“We are running low on money for our travelling expenses, so renting a horse is surely out of the question. In that case, we should have woken up and set out ear……”

At that point, I noticed my partner’s intense stare. Come to think of it, there have been innumerable cases of me oversleeping and needing Eugeo to wake me up throughout this year, yet I can’t recall even a single case of this happening the other way around.

“Oh, but camping out once in a while does sound nice too, hahaha.”

When I tried to brush it off with a laugh, Eugeo gave a slight sigh, before forming an exasperated smile, as if thinking, ‘what am I going to do with you’.

“It’s become quite warm lately, huh. Though, we only have one blanket, so we’ll have to share it.”

“Sure, no biggie. Now then, let’s cover a bit more ground before it gets dark.”

“Yeah, let’s pick up any sticks that we can use for the fire along the way.”

Upon sharing a nod, we stepped aside from the obelisk and returned to walking through the highway again.

As Underworld is given form through 《Mnemonic Visuals》, everything in it rivals the real world in the sense of reality, though the beauty of the sky might have actually surpassed the real thing…… or so I sometimes find myself thinking. Particularly, even though it’s been a year since I awoke in this world, the sunset on clear days still manages to take my breath away to this day.

Admiring the sky’s magnificent colour gradation as it changed from Rodgersia-blue to light purple and then madder red, before finally becoming a transparent Kerria-golden²…… and hearing complaints like, “Stop staring at the sky all the time and pick up some firewood”, from Eugeo, I continued walking for nearly an hour when it happened.

As a cool breeze suddenly caressed my cheeks, I turned my eyes to the left side of the highway without much thought. Just then, my legs came to a sudden stop. My partner took two more steps before turning around questioningly, so I silently raised my right hand, and pointed at it.

About twenty metres away from the highway, there were two large, broadleaf trees lined up like a gate, beyond which I could see a reddish triangular roof.

“Ah……”

Having muttered this, Eugeo continued with a slightly gloomy expression.

“……That’s probably that closed down inn, I guess. So the building still remains……”

“The Bilzen Inn, was it? Actually, why was it closed down in the first place?”

“Dunno…… Even that mistress didn’t tell me much of anything about it. I guess the proprietor passed away due to some illness or injury, leaving the place with no heirs, or something like that……”

“Hmm……”

In the real world, whenever an inn—— I mean, a hotel or a ryokan³ shuts down, it’s practically always because of a decrease in the number of guests that use them, but this was quite unthinkable in Underworld, where the occupation of its populace, that is, their 《Calling》, was strictly regulated by the Axiom Church, practically stifling any free competition. Actually, Bilzen Inn itself was the sole inn in the area, while Underworlders were forbidden from neglecting their Callings by the Taboo Index, so a drop in service quality couldn’t have brought about a decrease in customer interest. In the end, aside from the lack of heirs, as Eugeo guessed, I couldn’t really think of any other reason for the inn to close down. Even in Japan in the real world, such an issue would result in the talk of the town; to think that such a thing happens even here.

“……Though it is sad matter, there’s nothing we can do about it. Now, let’s go a bit further and look for a place where we could camp out.”

As Eugeo shook his head and was about to begin walking, I pulled on his hair at the back of his neck.

“Youch…… what gives, Kirito?”

“You know, I’ve just come up with a great idea.”

At that very moment, a sceptical expression found its way on my partner’s face.

“That’s what you always say, Kirito, yet I can’t quite remember any instance when it actually turned out to be a great idea.”

“This time’s gonna be fine. You’d prefer to sleep under a roof to camping outside, wouldn’t you?

“Where would you get a roof……”

After a moment of standing there flabbergasted, Eugeo once again gazed to the east side of the road, and then again at me.

“Whoa, Kirito, you’re not telling me you want us to stay over at that building, are you?”

“What else is there to do in this situation. If it was closed down three years ago, there might still be some beds that haven’t crumbled away.”

“Hey now……”

Despite giving a sigh for show, Eugeo didn’t offer any further objections. Thanks to our budget trip that’s lasted for an entire year, we’ve grown to be on the same wavelength… I think. Slapping my partner’s back with great force, I gave a broad grin.

“Alright, now that that’s settled, let’s go over there right away.”

“Yeah yeah. Not like you’re going to listen to me once you’ve made up your mind anyway, sheesh……”

As Eugeo began walking despite his grumbling, the disappearing afterglow momentarily flashed on his wavy hair.

After walking along the highway a bit more, we found a narrow path to the left, along with an iron sign at its corner. Probably because it lacked any maintenance for years, its surface was awfully rusty, but upon closer inspection, I was somehow able to make out the characters 《Bilzen Inn　Starting at a Hundred Shears per Night》.

The narrow path was overgrown with weeds, and while they would end up entirely covering it, given a bit more time, the overgrowth hadn’t yet become so bad as to impede passage. Once we passed by the broadleaf trees that served as the gate and went further inside the area, we finally caught sight of a building with a red roof ahead. It was a grand, two-storey building with a steeply-pitched gable roof and plaster walls, which would probably be referred to as the Tudor architectural style⁴ in the real world, but just as the sign at the highway, the house gave an impression of having lost a substantial amount of Life by now.

The walls were slightly dirty and their plaster had begun peeling off all over the place, while vines had begun creeping up the walls at places. The red roof also had obvious dents, the upper half of its chimney collapsed.

After exchanging a glance with Eugeo, I approached the building, drew an “S” symbol with one of my right hand fingertips, and then tapped on the wall. Looking at the 《Stacia Window》 that appeared at that point, I learnt that the building had only a little under twenty percent of its maximum Life value left. Like in the real world, if you don’t conduct repairs on a building in Underworld, it gradually falls into ruin, so the building would lose all that remains of its Life and collapse in around another year or so if left unattended.

“……Though, well, it doesn’t yet look unliveable at the moment.”

Just as I repositioned the bundle of firewood held by my left arm and was about to head to the entrance, Eugeo pulled on my sleeve.

“Hey, hold on now; while this building was indeed an inn three years ago, it’s no longer in service anymore. If you just waltz in like that, wouldn’t you break the 《Thou shall not enter a building owned by another person without a justifiable reason》 taboo clause?”

Having predicted that he’d point that out, I pointed at the still open Stacia Window.

In the space to the left of the object ID in the upper-left corner of the purple window, there would be a 【Ｐ】 symbol if the object belonged to the person who opened the window, or an 【Ｏ】 symbol if someone, rare as it was, were to open the window for someone else’s possession. However, the inn’s window had neither of the two marks.

“Huh, so this building… doesn’t have an owner? Why……”

“Why you ask… didn’t you say so yourself, Eugeo. If the proprietor of the inn died and he had no heirs, the building’s ownership rights being reset…… I mean, being revoked shouldn’t really come as a surprise, don’t you think so? Actually, why did you even think that this deserted building would have an owner?”

At my question, a somewhat complicated expression found its way on Eugeo’s face.

“Hmm, theoretically, you would be right, Kirito…… But in the case of buildings, it isn’t that simple. While it would take a mere three days for object ownership rights to be revoked once the item leaves your hands, stationary buildings on land require three months for their ownership rights to be invalidated.”

“Heeh……. ——Hmm? Wait, weren’t ownership rights transferred after twenty four hours?”

“That’s for when a person gives an item to another person. The ownership rights for objects left alone outside anyone’s home are maintained for three days, while in the case of buildings, this period is extended to three months.”

“Hmmh…… Meaning, whenever an owner is away from home for three months, their ownership rights for the building will be revoked. So, you can’t just go off on a trip around the world without a care in the world.”

At my comment, Eugeo burst into laughter.

“Ahaha, even the emperor of Norlangarth himself can’t just set off on a grand journey around the Human Empire like that. As always, you sure have some grandiose jokes, Kirito.”

“I-I guess so. So…… in the end, what gave you the idea that this building would have an owner?”

“Oh, that.”

Upon restraining his laughter, Eugeo looked up at the half-decayed inn.

“……Like I said before, the ownership rights for buildings are preserved far longer than for items…… But it’s not really that hard to maintain your ownership of buildings that you don’t even live in. All you have to do is visit them once every three months and your ownership rights won’t be revoked, after all.”

“Hmmhmm.”

“So, there are some who make use of this to take control of vacant buildings. Even in Rulid Village years ago, Balbossa-san caused an uproar by taking control of Ridack-san’s tool shed when the guy carelessly lost his ownership rights of it.”

“Heeeeh……”

Ridack and Balbossa were the names of large-scale farmer families that competed against each other for first and second place in Rulid. I only knew them by name, which I happened to hear of before we set off from the village, though hearing this story now, I couldn’t help but feel glad that I didn’t get involved with them.

“……Meaning that, normally, someone would have long since acquired the ownership rights of the building by now…… is that what you thought would have happened, Eugeo?”

“Yeah. Even if the deceased proprietor had no heirs, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have a single relative, and this place should have had some employees too. The building comes with the surrounding plot of land, so you’d have nothing to lose by keeping it for yourself.”

“I see……”

In Japan in the real world, you would have to deal with maintenance costs and property taxes, so there weren’t all that many people who’d desire to simply own a vacant property with no intention of selling it, but possessing real estate in Underworld wouldn’t incur any expenses on its own. While you would have to visit the place once every three months to refresh your ownership rights, it probably wouldn’t be that big of a hassle if you were living in a nearby town.

Finally, even I understood how unusual it was that the building was left alone, but it didn’t seem to be a problem for us at the moment. Instead, you could even say that it was quite convenient for our situation.

“Well, whatever the reason for this may be, it is clear that this building doesn’t have an owner. In that case, we wouldn’t be breaking the Taboo Index if we were to stay here for a while, right?”

“Well, that’s true……”

Nodding in what appeared to be resignation, Eugeo looked at me with upturned eyes, before saying.

“Though, in that case, you go in first, Kirito.”

“Huh? Why?”

“If, by any chance, we ended up staying inside the building for over twenty four hours, whoever stepped inside first would have their name registered on the Stacia Window, you see. And I have no desire to end up being dragged into some strange mess.”

“I’d rather avoid that too…… Let’s depart early in the morning tomorrow.”

“Says the guy who’s just going to oversleep anyways.”

Brushing off my partner’s persuasive remark with a laugh, I walked up to the inn’s entrance.

Although the massive front door gave a very loud creak, it did not refuse to allow us travellers seeking a night’s stay inside. Naturally, there wasn’t any light on, but the rays from the almost set sun found its way inside through the dirty windows, just barely illuminating the interior. In the spacious lobby, there was a counter in the front, with stairs leading to the second floor to its right, and a large door on the wall to its left.

“H……Hello~”

Although I called out just in case there was anyone around, no one responded. ‘Come on, hurry up and go inside’, said Eugeo behind me as he nudged at my back, thus I timidly stepped inside after repositioning my bundle of firewood.

The inside of the building was in better condition than I had anticipated; it didn’t seem like the wooden floor boards would just collapse on themselves, though three years’ worth of white dust had piled up on the counter, and there were some spider webs dangling from the ceiling. In a regular RPG, this would definitely be a location haunted by an astral-type monster, but this kind of stuff didn’t really come up in the Human Empire…… or at least I hope so. In the unlikely event that a ghost did come out here, the《Blue Rose Sword》 Divine Object hanging at Eugeo’s left hip should be effective against the undead, based on its colour and design… I think.

Said Eugeo finally entered the lobby, before giving a repulsed-sounding shout.

“Uwaah, that’s a whole lot of dust…… Kirito, are you really planning on staying here?”

Hearing that, I had the urge to respond, “You know what, let’s camp outside.”, but I held it in. Being the one who brought up the idea in the first place, I couldn’t just back down now.

“W-why certainly, ehmmm…. So the door on the right leads to the guest room, while the door on the left leads to the cafeteria and the living room. Let’s head to the cafeteria first.”

“Just so you know, I definitely don’t think there’s any food left.”

“You never know; personally, I get the feeling we might find a bottle or two lying around.”

‘If this were a regular RPG, that is’, I held back from saying, before crossing the lobby towards the left door. Gripping the rusty door knob, I gently pulled open the door, when rays from the deep red setting sun shot at my eyes from the broken windows ahead. After blinking several times, I inspected the room.

The cafeteria was as big as a tiny restaurant; it had six tables for four and several counter seats by the eastern wall. Beyond the counter was an arched entrance that probably led to the kitchen. I could see a large fireplace by the northern wall, with a wide sofa in front of it.

“……None of it’s been laid to waste, huh……”

When I muttered this, Eugeo gave me a peculiar look.

“Laid to waste by what, animals? I don’t really think there are any beasts around here capable of entering a building.”

“R-right. By the looks of it, maybe there’s some food left over?”

Once again made aware of the fact that the Human Empire didn’t have any prowlers or burglars, I placed my bundle of firewood and the bag on my back onto a nearby table, before going around the counter to head to the kitchen. I looked inside, but it was quite dark as the light from the setting sun didn’t reach it.

“System call. Generate luminous element.”

After chanting a Sacred Arts rite, I created one light element and had it drift to the air. Illuminated by the pale light, the kitchen looked pretty tidy, making me wonder if the inn was closed down because of some unexpected circumstances, such as its customers running away during the night, or because of some infection. All the better for us, though——

“Looks like we can make use of the pots and the hearth, but……as I thought, no food left behind.”

Having looked through the shelves by the wall, Eugeo gave a shrug.

“Come to think of it, that’s to be expected; left alone in an ownerless house for three years straight, there’s no way for even a bottle sealed firmly with vax to have maintained at least some of its Life.”

“Or they were cleaned out before people abandoned this place. Oh well, what can you do; guess tonight’s grub is dried meat and dried fruit again, Eugeo-kun.”

“When have I ever complained about dried meat!”

As my partner puffed his cheeks in protest, I gave him a push on the back to return to the cafeteria. Having returned to the table where I had left my bag, we carefully sat down on the chairs after Eugeo put away the long sword that had been hanging by his left hip. The chair should have lost some of its Life by now but, probably having been well-made originally, it accepted my weight with just a slight creak. Reclining on the backrest, I gave a deep sigh.

The sky visible through the western window was still dyed red, but Solus would set beyond the forest within a few minutes. After staring at the sunset beyond the dirty glass for a few moments, Eugeo turned around with a smile.

“Now, let’s get to work on the food. I’ll go draw some water at the well outside, so you light a fire at the hearth, Kirito.”

Having returned to the kitchen, I crammed about a third of the firewood I picked up along the way into the brick hearth. To light a fire in the real world, you’d need a lighter or a burner, but you could use a somewhat lazier method here.

“System call. Generate thermal element.”

Generating two heat elements this time, I moved them inside the hearth. ‘Burst element’, is what I’d like to say at this point, but using the releasing rite would cause a small explosion, thus I patiently continued touching the firewood with the elements. Eventually, the dry stick lit up with a crackle. At this point, the heat elements would disappear on their own if I left them be, so I stopped focusing on them and stood up. I then picked up a sooty pot from the shelves by the wall, and looked inside it. While it wasn’t exactly sparkling, the pot didn’t seem to be full of dust, probably due to having been kept on the shelf.

As I wiped the inside of the pot with a piece of cloth I had in my pocket, Eugeo returned in a trot. A leather water sack hung down from his right hand, and a gunny sack from his left.

“Nice work, did you manage to get some water?”

“Yeah, though I had a bit of a hard time with it as the bucket was broken.”

With these words, he lifted the now-full water bag. Once he filled half of my pot with water and placed it over the hearth’s fire, he took out four long and narrow slices of dried meat from the gunny sack and threw it into the pot.

There were many kinds of dried meat for sale at grocery stores in the Human Empire; while the high-grade stuff was moderately tender, quite similar to beef jerky from the real world, all we could afford was the cheap, stiff stuff. It was very great that their Life lasted long, but it wasn’t exactly easy to gnaw at them as is, so when we had a way of getting ample amounts of water, it was much easier to eat them after turning them into soup.

When the water eventually began boiling, Eugeo added some salt and dried herbs into the pot. As he stirred the content with a wooden ladle we found in the kitchen, a pepper or basil-like appetite-arousing scent filled the air.

“Your cooking has totally become better than mine.”

When I expressed my sentiments while staring into the pot, Eugeo gave a wry smile.

“I am just boiling and adding seasoning to dried meat. If I were to actually call that ‘cooking’, I’d only get laughed at by Alice.”

The moment he brought up the name of his childhood friend who was good at cooking, my partner’s forehead clouded over faintly, thus I tapped on his left shoulder after a moment of hesitation.

One year ago, Eugeo and I set out from Rulid Village together in order to enroll at the 《Imperial Swordcraft Academy》 located in Central Capital Centoria. However, our ultimate goals were different. Mine was to reach the headquarters of the Axiom Church, towering at the centre of Centoria——that is, the centre of Underworld, to find a way to establish contact with the real world. Meanwhile, Eugeo’s goal was to save his childhood friend Alice, a girl who had been taken away by one of the Axiom Church’s Integrity Knights seven years ago.

Deep down, Eugeo’s bound to be feeling an urge to continue running through the highway day and night without rest, in order to reach the central capital as soon as possible. That impulse is being kept in check by his sense of reason that he wouldn’t be able to meet with Alice any sooner even if he went through with that.

“……Alice wouldn’t laugh at you. Once you save her from the Axiom Church, be sure to have her eat some of your dried meat soup special. I’m sure she’ll enjoy it.”

When I uttered those words, gripping his shoulder, Eugeo turned to me and gave a small smile.

“You think so…… ——Well, it’s bound to be better than one of those hotchpotches you make, Kirito.”

“Why you!”

After giving a light nudge at his left shoulder, I returned to the shelves behind me. Among the several pieces of tableware remaining there, I found two non-broken bowls that I took back to Eugeo. We did have some tin cups in our luggage, but our meal would definitely feel more delicious eaten from ceramic tableware than from those old things, battered after a year of overuse.

With Eugeo holding the pot and me holding the bowls, we returned to the cafeteria, where we began our modest dinner. While our menu consisted of simple stuff, like dried meat soup and dried fruit, the mere fact that we were getting a piping hot meal after all that camping was enough to make it seem like feast. After spending some time chatting about this and that until we finished our meal, and after offering a prayer to Goddess Terraria for her blessings, we used the remainder of the water to give the pot and tableware a quick wash before returning them to the shelves in the kitchen.

We still had quite a bit of firewood left over, so I lit a fire in the cafeteria’s fireplace; once I sat down on the sofa in front of it, I gave my body a good stretch.

“Mmmmh…… Eugeo, have we already run out of cofil tea leaves?”

“We ran out of them a long time ago. And this is the third time you’re asking me about them.”

“If I continue persistently asking for them, perhaps the god of tea will take pity on me and send us some more leaves.”

At my remark, my partner gave an exaggerated sigh.

“Lately, I’ve finally become able to discern when you’re being serious and when you’re just kidding, Kirito.”

“Ho-hoh. By the way, I was very serious just now.”

“Just so you know, there’s no such thing as the god of tea.”

As his sigh turned into a yawn, Eugeo stretched out his body on the sofa. He blinked repeatedly as he stared at the flickering flame in the fireplace, until his eyelids eventually shut tight.

Having planned to use a bed in one of the guestrooms for sleep, I was about to reach out with my left hand to shake my partner awake, but then I changed my mind. Like other pieces of furniture here, the sofa looked old but high-grade, so it shouldn’t be inferior to the beds in comfort.

Careful not to wake the sound-asleep Eugeo, I quietly stood up and returned to our bags, from which I took out a blanket. After covering Eugeo with one side, I covered myself with it on the opposite side of the sofa. Woven from thick wool, this blanket was given to us as a farewell gift by the head of the Walde Farm, and his wife when we were setting out from the town of Zakkaria; it was the most valuable item——excluding, of course, Eugeo’s Blue Rose Sword and my Gigas Cedar branch——among our possessions. If it weren’t for this blanket, we would have probably caught a cold numerous times during our journey.

I wriggled on the sofa till I found a pleasant position, before giving a sigh. It wasn’t even eight in the evening yet, but perhaps because all that travelling on foot was pretty exhausting on its own, I got sleepy right after dinner. Despite the fact that my real body hasn’t moved the slightest bit during that time, strangely enough.

“……Good night.”

Whispering to my partner, already in sound-asleep mode, I closed my eyelids.

Suddenly, I felt someone pulling on my forelocks.

I slightly opened my right eye. The firewood in the fireplace had already burned out, but it wasn’t entirely dark thanks to the moonlight coming from the windows. When I turned my head to look at the left side of the sofa, I found Eugeo curled up, sound asleep. No sign of anyone else around.

In spite of a year having passed since I became confined in Underworld, I still end up trying to check on the current time by looking at the upper left corner of my view, or by groping for my phone whenever I wake up like this. However, aside from the Stacia Windows, there was no user interface in this world, nor was there even an alarm clock around, let alone a phone. The only way to tell the time was by hearing the town church bells that ring out every hour on the hour, and on the half hour.

Nevertheless, having lived here for an entire year, I have learnt how to approximate the time by how dark it was, and by the angle of the moonlight. Estimating that it was just around midnight sharp, I was about slip back into the depths of sleep again, when…

A pricking sensation struck the roots of my forelocks again, causing me to frown. Somehow managing to raise my heavy eyelids, I once again examined my surroundings. Shrouded in pale blue darkness, the cafeteria did feel a bit eerie, but there was nothing out of the ordinary with it. Bandits weren’t a thing in the Human Empire, nor did any monsterish monsters spawned here, so if anyone had sneaked in here, it would only be some kind of animal, though wild beasts wouldn’t be pulling on a sleeping person’s hair like that.

“What gives, ugh……”

Noticing that I was thirsty upon muttering this, I quietly got down on the floor. Careful not to wake Eugeo, I tiptoed to the table where we had left our canteen, and just as I was about to reach out for it, I suddenly noticed.

The moonlight was supposed to be shining in from the southern window, that is, right in front of me, yet I felt a dim light coming from the left side of my view.

A bluish-white light was shining beyond the entrance next to the counter, from a corner of the kitchen. Calling it dazzling… would be a big stretch. It was a faint phosphorescence, paler than even a single light element.

——Did some luminous moss start growing on the wall or something? Though I’ve never seen such a thing in Underworld before.

With such thoughts in mind, I timidly headed towards the kitchen. Pressing my back against the wall beside the arch, I glimpsed inside. I couldn’t discern what was shining. Touching my hip with my left arm, I realised that we had left the sword on the table; yet, ‘Oh whatever’, I continued going through the arch.

Lined up by the kitchen’s right wall were the hearth, a countertop, a sink, and a water jug; a shelf reaching all the way up to the ceiling was placed by the left wall. The bluish-white phosphorescence seemed to be coming from the open space between the wall and the water jug. After slowly approaching it along the shelves on the left, I peered into the opening, only to——

“～～～～～～～～!!”

Open my mouth wide in an urge to scream, barely managing to restrain myself. The reason why I held back that scream wasn’t because I feared waking Eugeo, but because I thought it might pounce at me if reacted dramatically.

Shining between the huge water jug and the brick wall was neither a firefly, nor luminous moss, nor a panama sawtailfish⁵, but rather, a very young girl, sitting and hugging her knees. That she wasn’t a physical Human Empire resident was obvious from the fact that the hem of her skirt, as well as the ends of her limbs were faintly transparent. No matter how you looked at her, she was an astral type…… meaning, a ghost. Her hair was braided; I couldn’t see her face, as it was cast down.

As I stared at her, holding my breath, the girl’s small head twitched. Deciding to let out a full-power scream for sure this time if her face turned out to be skeletal, I continued staring at the girl as she slowly raised her head.

Skeletal——it was not. If it weren’t for the bluish-white light, her smooth forehead and plump cheeks would actually look healthy. Nevertheless, the moment her pupil-lacking silver eyes stared at me, I felt a chill at the very depths of my body. As her small lips began moving, a voice not of this world escaped her mouth in a whisper.

“Mister……Are you… not scared of me?”


2

“A ghost……?”

Faced with Eugeo’s most sceptical expression ever, I nodded my head frantically.

“I’m serious here. Yesterday, when I woke up in the middle of the night, I saw a faint light coming from a corner of the kitchen…… Upon peeking inside, I saw the ghost of a small girl sitting there……”

“A small girl……”

As Eugeo muttered this, his expression suddenly became serious. After moving his mouth up and down as if hesitating several times, he let out a slightly cracked voice.

“Did that girl…… tell you her name?”

“Eh…… nah, she disappeared before I could ask……”

“Then…… what did her hair look like?”

“If I recall correctly, she had her hair braided into twintails. About this long.”

When I pointed to the area right below my shoulders, Eugeo gave a short sigh. That’s when it finally dawned on me. My partner was thinking that the ghost I saw might have been the Alice girl he’s been looking for.

I don’t know what Eugeo’s childhood friend Alice Zuberg looks like, but I have been able to confirm the fact that the ghost girl from yesterday wasn’t Alice. After all——

“The ghost called this Bilzen Inn her 《papa’s inn》. So, I’m pretty sure she’s the daughter of this inn’s owner.”

“The inn’s……”

Muttering this, Eugeo turned around to look at the building. At the same moment, a soft bell chime came from beyond it. Six o’clock in the morning.

Having woken up one hour earlier, we finished up our daily early-morning practice in front of the inn’s entryway and then proceeded to the well in the backyard to wash our faces. Using this opportunity, I told him about last night’s event, but looking at the red roof illuminated by the pure morning sunshine, it didn’t seem like the place would be haunted by ghosts, even though it was abandoned.

“Say, Eugeo. In the first place, do ghosts actually exist in the Human Empire?”

When I posed this question, my partner once again turned around and suddenly shrugged his shoulders.

“I for one sure have never seen one…… Though, among the stories granny told me when I was little, there were some featuring ghosts. At the end of most of them, they’d be exterminated by some knights or priests from the Axiom Church, though.”

“Hmm…… Well, since goblins do exist, it wouldn’t be odd if there were ghosts, too……”

“Those two are entirely different subjects, I believe.”

“Eeh, that so?”

“After all, goblins are living creatures from the land of darkness, while ghosts aren’t exactly alive, no? Though…… goblin ghosts might very well exist in the land of darkness, for all we know.”

At Eugeo’s words, I subconsciously gave a wry smile. To someone who’s grown up completely immersed in games since childhood like me, goblins and ghosts are both just types of monsters, though from an Underworlder’s perspective, goblins are indeed beings of this world, while ghosts are beings from the netherworld. The question is: does the twintail girl exist within the system or not?

“Ah, right, dammit……”

As I frowned, Eugeo tilted his head.

“Damn what?”

“I should’ve tested whether I could bring up a Stacia Window for that ghost last night.”

“……Even I can’t tell whether you’re joking or being serious here……”

Shaking his head in shock, Eugeo removed the cover of the well.

The cover, made out of stone, was still in good condition, but as Eugeo had told me yesterday, both buckets that should have been hanging down from the pulley above us had decayed. ‘How on earth did he scoop up some water; did he make a bucket out of metal elements or something?’, as I watched on with that question on my mind…

“System call. Generate aerial element.”

‘Why wind elements?’, as I cocked my head in puzzlement, Eugeo threw a green element into the well.

“Kirito, form a bowl with your hands.”

“O……okay.”

Still unable to grasp what he was going to do, I followed his instructions. As my partner glimpsed into the well, suddenly——

“Burst element.”

‘Gopaan!’, a muffled explosion roared inside as cold air spouted from the well… or so I thought, when… A column of water rose up with the force of a fountain, rocking the pulley.

“Come on, Kirito! Now!”

Eugeo plunged his hands into the water, so I quickly followed suit. I hurled the water — so cold that it stung my hands — towards my face to wash it.

Hearing as the water once again fell down into the well, I got the remaining water off my hands and face, before opening my eyes. Looking at Eugeo, drops of water dripping from his forelocks, I gave him a piece of my mind.

“You sure pull some crazy stunts.”

At that moment, my partner burst into laughter.

“Ahaha, how do you like that, now you know how I feel when I get dragged into your usual crazy stunts.”

“Even I wouldn’t go this far……”

“It beats trying to open up a 《Window》 for a ghost!”

Declaring this, Eugeo once again returned to his sceptical expression.

“At any rate…… As I’ve said numerous times now, are you really sure you talked to a ghost? Couldn’t you have just been dreaming?”

“The fact that I wasn’t dreaming is the one thing that I am definitely sure of. After all, the ghost told me something that I hadn’t known before.”

As we were having breakfast, consisting of a celery-like plant——apparently called 《caldamo》—— that was growing wild in the inn’s backyard, in addition to our own dried fruit, I told Eugeo of the ghost girl’s final words.

“On the day of a storm, Ladino-sama…… did something not nice……?”

“Yeah, that’s definitely what the girl said. I’ve got no clue who the hell this ‘Ladino’ character is, but that guy’s undoubtedly related to why this inn went out of business…… if you believe the words of a ghost, that is.”

“Hmm……”

Just then, Eugeo showed some hesitation for a few moments, before telling me something I had not expected.

“I do know who that character is.”

“Oh, so you do………… Wait, wut!? You do!?”

“Yeah. The Ladino family are imperial nobles that have a personal domain just south of this inn. Remember how I told you yesterday that travellers passing by this area are having a hard time as Bilzen Inn has gone out of business?”

“Yeah. If I recall correctly, they either borrow a horse, camp outside, or depart from the previous town in the dark……”

“Actually, the mistress of that 《Nagabibachi》 inn that we stayed at the day before yesterday told me of a fourth option. Staying the night at an inn operated by the Ladino family one kilor to the south of Bilzen Inn…… Though the lodging fee is sky-high there, so I didn’t tell you anything about it, figuring that it was irrelevant to us moneyless folks.”

“That definitely doesn’t sound relevant to us. Though, considering that those guys are even running an inn, the ghost’s words are sure starting to ring true.”

Facing me as I munched on the final caldamo, Eugeo took on quite the serious look.

“Indeed…… Something not nice, huh. Something that isn’t against the Taboo Index or the Imperial Fundamental Law yet capable of driving the once prosperous inn out of business……”

After saying as much, he hung his head, as if being hurt by his own words.

During our seven hundred kilometre trip from Rulid Village on foot, we have experienced the virtue of a great many people; however, we have experienced the opposite as well, though seldomly. In this world, there are also people who believe that “anything not forbidden by the law is condoned.” Having been born in Rulid, a village that had bullies and greedy rich guys but did not have any truly wicked people, Eugeo apparently can’t come to grips with the concept of human malice.

However, when we head to Central Capital Centoria, where both sorts of people have taken residence, we’re probably going to see an increase in our odds of encountering sinister malice. While we still have the time, we’ve gotta learn ways to deal with it.

I hesitated on how to put such misgivings of mine to words. However, seemingly having sensed what I was thinking, Eugeo donned an expression of resolution as he said the following.

“Kirito, let’s go take a look at the boundary of the plot. I’ve got a bit of an idea.”

Having finished cleaning up after our breakfast, and having packed our bags, we picked up our respective swords and headed out of the Bilzen Inn. As the building was facing south, the path leading to the Nomain Highway went to the west; however, when we investigated a grove on the east side of the front yard, we also found a path there, nearly covered up by all the weeds. Upon exchanging a nod in silence, Eugeo began leading me along that path.

If this were an RPG quest, this path should lead to a clue that would help us solve the mystery of the ghost girl and why the inn ran out of business. As my curiosity continued to be piqued during our walk, Eugeo came to a stop a mere twenty or so metres down the path. I didn’t even need to ask why. Because the path was blocked by a sturdy-looking wooden fence.

The fence covered not only the path but also extended to the sides into the forest. When I approached it and peeked in through the gaps, I saw a plot of cleanly ploughed land on the other side. About a hundred metres long. In addition to the caldamo we found growing in the backyard, a variety of other spring vegetables grew verdantly there, conveying the richness of the soil there.

“……So that’s the Bilzen Inn’s field? Who’s taking care of it now that it’s out of business? Also, why is there no door on this fence……?”

At my question, Eugeo shook his head exaggeratedly.

“Nah, that field doesn’t belong to the inn. Most likely, it’s the field of that Ladino family that the ghost girl mentioned, I think.”

“Whaaa!? But…… don’t you think the inn is just way too close for that? Heck, I can’t even see hide nor hair of Ladino’s mansion or whatever.”

When I turned around saying that, I could clearly see the inn building down the path. Almost all of the inns that we’ve spent a night at had their own fields or pastures; the fields had to have been about this far away from the main building.

Eugeo nodded with a serious look, before pointing to the right—— that is, to the south side.

“I believe we’ll figure things out if we head there.”

Saying that, he began walking along the tall fence, thus I followed suit.

Weeds were growing thickly even inside this grove, though not to an extent that would cause people to trip. We pressed on, brushing off a swarm of midges along the way, but the fence turned out to be longer than I had expected. After we traversed fifty or so metres, we finally encountered a change.

Ahead of us, the Ladino family’s fence bent ninety degrees to the west. And there appeared to be another fence just in front of it. When we approached it in a light run, we noticed that the closer fence had rotted to heck and looked like it would collapse at any moment now. When I looked to the west, I realised that it hadn’t seen any repairs in a long time, seeing as the fence had actually broken up at several spots. There were but thirty centimetres separating the two fences.

“Just as I thought……”

As Eugeo muttered this, I posed a question, “What do you mean by that?” Just then, my partner began explaining, looking as if he had put a load of salt into his mouth.

“Ehmm…… Kirito, even you know that the ownership rights for objects and buildings are unquestionable, right.”

“Ah, yeah. All it takes is to open up a Stacia Window for people to figure out whom it belongs to, after all.”

“Yeah. Though, it’s not that simple for the ownership rights of land plots. You can’t open up a Window for land, after all…… A long time ago, there was apparently some distinguished priest at the Axiom Church who succeeded in forcing a Stacia Window to appear for the land itself, but the moment that priest laid eyes on the Window, he went crazy and disappeared, or so the story goes.”

“He-heeeh……”

Hearing that, I got the urge to try that out right away, but since it was clear as day that Eugeo would get mad at me for that stunt, I held back my urge and continued with the topic on hand.

“So, how exactly do people settle on ownership rights for land?”

“With this.”

Eugeo extended his hand, putting it on Ladino family’s fence that towered firmly over the land.

“You can’t see the ownership rights for land, but you can see the fences. According to the Imperial Fundamental Law, a fenced up plot of land belongs to he who holds ownership of the fence. Though, of course, the length of the fence is strictly determined by the size of the family that owns it, or the number of people in the family.”

“Hmm…… So that means the rotten one here is the fence for the Bilzen family’s plot, while the firm one is the fence for Ladino family’s personal domain, is that it?”

“Yeah. And so you see…… In the past, both fences probably stretched out straight to the west and east, I believe.”

Saying that, Eugeo pointed at the spot where Ladino family’s fence bent to the north.

“Eeh? So, you mean that field over there used to belong to the inn in the past?”

“I think so. The girl did say…… ‘on the day of a storm’, right? I’m almost certain that when an awfully strong storm destroyed Bilzen family’s fence, the Ladino family made use of the opportunity to construct a new fence in a way that it went straight through the inn’s plot of land to make the fields their own. That’s the reason why the inn was forced out of business, I’m sure of it.”

Even when Eugeo closed his mouth, I still couldn’t bring myself to react to his words for a time.

Despite the fact that I judged my partner to be 《lacking resistance against human malice》, I found myself to be at a loss for words at the extremely sleazy act committed by the Ladino family. If the reason why that ghost girl died was because their family lost their fields and then starved to death due to being unable to maintain their business, I won’t feel satisfied until I storm into their mansion and shake the family lord by his nape till he’s foaming in the mouth, regardless of how much of a big-shot noble that Ladino character is.

Having approached the fence, I once again peeked in through the gaps. To the south of the fence was a pasture with no connection to the eastern fields. Far beyond the pasture filled with long-haired goats － called Ul-goats －, munching on the grass without a care in the world, I was barely able to make out a spire with a blue roof that seemed to belong to a mansion. The mansion was likely at least two kilometres away.

“……They have such an oversized plot of their own, so why on earth did they have any need to steal someone else’s fields. Not like they couldn’t foresee what would happen to Bilzen Inn, after all.”

The ghost girl told me, ‘Ladino-sama did something not nice.’ ‘Not nice’ my ass, how is that not a clear-as-day crime? Even if it doesn’t go against the laws or taboos of this world, it’s an utterly inexcusable action.

Extending my right hand, I grabbed firm hold of the varnished Ladino family fence. However, just before I could add some force to it, Eugeo put his hand over my own.

“Kirito…… breaking that fence would be a violation of the Taboo Index.”

“…………Yeah, I know.”

As I attempted to somehow contain my anger, blowing out all the air in my lungs, my partner gently patted me on the back. It seemed like a gesture you would use for a kindergartener with a temper tantrum, but it did actually help me calm down, prompting me to take my hands away from the fence.

“……At any rate, now we know why the inn ran out of business, huh.”

“Yeah. Though it’s a shame that there’s nothing we can do here……”

“Yeah……”

Of course, we can’t resort to destroying Ladino’s fence to reform the old boundaries of the fields, after all, nor can we just stay here and wait indefinitely for another great storm to pass by. Besides, even if we were to take back the fields by some means, there’s no one left in the Bilzen family to make use of it.

The people of the Human Empire can’t choose their occupation—— their 《Calling》 by themselves, thus even if the inn’s management had become unsustainable, they wouldn’t be allowed to just take up a new job at a different town. Even so, no matter how hungry a parent were, they should have at least tried to feed their child; based on the fact that such a young girl has died, it’s highly likely that the entire Bilzen family has already starved to death.

Dead bodies in this world are all eventually reduced back to resources, without leaving even a bone behind, thus we couldn’t even search for their remains to hold a funeral for them——

“……Sorry for having you accompany me on something so weird, Eugeo.”

Muttering this, I put on a mask of cheeriness as I returned the favour by slapping my partner on his back.

“Now, it’s about time we headed out. Gotta reach the next town before it gets dark, huh.”

“…………”

However, despite always being the one to rush me, Eugeo didn’t even try to nod this time. After just a few moments of staring at the fields beyond the fence with a serious look, he suddenly turned around.

“Hey, Kirito, you mind if we spend a bit more time investigating this place?”

“Huh? Ah…… sure, I have nothing against it……”

“That so. Then, let’s go.”

Smiling, he began returning along the path we had used to come here.

Walking another fifty metres along the fence, we regrouped at the path in the middle of the grove. Although I was almost certain that he was planning to return to the inn, Eugeo instead continued crossing the path and stepped into the northern side of the grove.

Just when we traversed about another fifty metres, the fence bent ninety degrees to the east. Ladino family’s, I mean, the Bilzen family’s old field seems to span a hundred metres or so in all directions; if that’s the case, it would add up to ten thousand square metres, that is, one hectare, that is, one #hectare#(choubu). A single household of farmers nationwide in the real world possess an average of two hectares of arable land, or so I recall learning at the Survivor School, though considering that this world doesn’t have agrochemicals or tractors, one hectare would be quite a lot here.

Having stopped at the corner of the fence, Eugeo looked around the surrounding trees. I assumed he was searching for a gap in Ladino family’s fence, but I was apparently wrong.

“……Yeah, just as I thought.”

Since he muttered something like that, I couldn’t hold back posing the following question.

“What’s ‘just as you thought’?”

“Kirito, take a close look yourself. The trees growing around here look bigger than the ones on the plot’s southern side, right?”

“Huh……?”

Doing as told, I looked at the broadleaf trees growing in the area. Indeed, there appeared to be a lot more imposing trees here than in the southern grove.

“When I took a look at the fields, I noticed that vegetables were growing better on the northern side, despite the southern side having more exposure to the sun, so I was struck by a hunch. This area has a lot of blessings from Terraria…… meaning that the land is very fertile. Perhaps there’s a spring or something like that nearby.”

“Heeh, just what you’d expect from an ex-woodcutter. Though, what of it?”

“Ehm……”

After a few moments of hesitation, Eugeo said with resolution.

“I just thought of a little something. If someone were to cut down all the trees around here, you could surely make yourself a new field out of it……I thought.”

“Eh… eeeh!?”

As my partner uttered something outrageous, I subconsciously found myself staring at his face.

“……W-well, yeah, that does sound logical, but…… Even if we were to make a new field, there’s not a single person left in Bilzen family anymore. Who do you think will use that field for growing vegetables…… Don’t tell me, are you suggesting that we reopen the inn ourselves?”

“Heavens no, we can’t do that. We’re planning to go to the Central Capital and enroll at the Swordcraft Academy, after all. Though, if we were to refurbish this area into a field, we might find someone — and I’m not talking about some random scoundrel who’d just want to get his hands on the ownership rights of the building ― who’d be willing to take up work at the inn. And then, when the inn begins thriving like in the old days again, the ghost you saw, Kirito, might be satisfied with it and depart to Stacia-sama’s side…… is what I was thinking.”

“……Take over the inn…… that sounds nice and all⁶, but you can’t just change your Calling as you please, right?”

“Of course not. So, our only option⁷ is to have a child who has yet to be given a Calling request the position from their town mayor or village chief, or to have a person who’s already working at an inn request independence from their employer.”

“Hmmmm……”

Hearing the possibility that I hadn’t even considered till now, I let out a groan for a few moments.

Would the twintail girl allow a random person with no relation to her family whatsoever take over the inn? Or would she be satisfied by it and be able to pass on peacefully if the inn becomes as prosperous as in the old days, even if the inn’s name were to change……?

『Mister…… are you not… scared of me?』

Suddenly, the girl’s words played back in my ears.

I’m almost certain that the girl only wanted to talk to someone. Having been all by herself for who knows how many years, she was looking for someone she could chat with. In that case, surely the girl would want the inn to regain its prosperity once more.

“……You’re right. If that were to happen, I’m sure it would make the girl happy. Though, you know……”

Once again, I looked over the grove on this side of the fence. Looking solely at the size of the towering trees, they looked so imposing that you could even call this grove a small forest.

“……How many days is it going to take to cut down all these trees……? If I recall correctly, the Swordcraft Academy’s entrance exam is taking place on the 10th Day of the 3rd Month, while today is the 2nd Day of the 3rd Month, so we have to reach the Central Capital in a week. If we don’t make it in time, all our half a year’s worth of work as sentinels at Zakkaria to get a recommendation letter from the commanding officer will have been for naught.”

“Kirito, how many days do you yourself plan to spend on cleaning up such a small grove?”

Boldly declaring thus, Eugeo smoothly took out his Blue Rose Sword that had been hanging at his left hip.

The moment I saw that slightly transparent silver blade, I almost blurted out an ‘Ah!’ in surprise. However, without giving me a chance to say anything, Eugeo took a stance by moving his sword behind him to the right, activating the Sword Skill 《Horizontal》.

‘Gagaan!’, came a shockwave as a blue flash mowed through the scraggy trunk of sawtooth oak-like tree. Felling it in one swipe—— would have been an exaggeration, but the slash did cut nearly half of the nearly one metre-wide trunk, causing it to creak.

“Hmm, considering how long it would take me to do handle this, seems like this would go faster if you, Kirito, were to use your 《Horizontal Arc》 or 《Horizontal Square》 on the trees with the Blue Rose Sword.”

As my partner nonchalantly made such a declaration, I couldn’t help but stare at his face from the side in silence for a few moments.

Now that I think about it, Eugeo and I had once cut down a huge as hell cedar tree — named the Gigas Cedar — that was even referred to as the 《Demon Tree》 using the Divine Object that is the Blue Rose Sword. Compared to that thing, the trees growing in this grove were nothing but scrubs.

“So what’s it gonna be, Kirito, you up for it?”

At Eugeo’s last call-like question, I voiced my own final doubt.

“Ehm…… Would clearing out a grove at our own discretion not go against any taboos?”

Just then, Eugeo answered with his usual stunned expression.

“If that were actually forbidden, how do you think my ancestors would have been able to found Rulid Village?”

Five hours passed as Eugeo and I continued working in silence, with me felling trees using the Blue Rose Sword as Eugeo used my own sword——a rugged yet sturdy 《Steel Sword》 that was provided to me at the Zakkarian garrison——to get rid of the branches and leaves to turn the trees into logs.

During that time — spent so entirely devoted to our work that we even skipped our lunch break midway — we cleared out the grove to the north-east of the inn.

If this were the real world, dealing with the leftover stumps would have actually been more time-consuming than cutting down the trees, but it was possible in this world to completely exhaust a 《stump’s Life》 by slashing it vertically once or twice, causing it to turn into spatial resources. A large number of logs piled up in the inn’s backyard; additionally, a large number of branches were turned into firewood after adequate cutting, while the remaining leaves scattered to the ground, turning into resources as well.

The sole exception was an old silver oak that we found towering by the side of a small spring during our work and decided to leave untouched. According to Eugeo, who predicted the existence of the spring, such an old tree could apparently be used for offering daily prayers to keep the fields protected. Based on the spatial resource theory, cutting it down should improve vegetable growth, but we decided to follow the traditions of Eugeo’s ancestors.

Once we completely took care of all the weeds and thickets, completing our work on the bare land that, like the original fields, was one hectare in size, our labour for the day came to an end. We then used the inn’s well to wash away the sweat and mud——this time, instead of using wind elements to create a water spout, we made ourselves a new bucket from the loads of leftover lumber——and greedily devoured a pig- or tanuki-like beast that Eugeo and I had brought down during our work and roasted whole, before being quickly assailed by drowsiness despite it only being just past six.

As I wanted to get up at twelve o’clock in the evening, I had more than enough reason to collapse into the same sofa as last night, where I immediately found my consciousness slipping away. This world didn’t have any alarm clocks, so whether or not I would actually wake up at twelve o’clock was up to chance; however, the sensation of something pulling on my forelocks roused me from the deep abyss of slumber once more.

“Hey, get up, Eugeo.”

After some gentle shaking, his flaxen-coloured eyelashes quivered and finally slowly rose up. Although my partner usually far surpassed me in his ability to get up from sleep, his still half-closed eyes continued wandering absent-mindedly for a few moments before his green eyes finally opened up in sudden realisation.

“……D-did it appear?”

At that subject-lacking question, I nodded in silence. Before waking him, I had confirmed that a faint light was coming from inside the kitchen this night, just like yesterday.

We crossed the cafeteria on tiptoes, passing through the arch into the kitchen. Once we peeked into the shade of the water jug, surprise, surprise, we found a girl sitting there this night as well, hugging her knees and giving off a bluish-white phosphorescence. Despite suddenly tensing up for a moment upon seeing her, Eugeo bravely struck up a conversation.

“……Hey there.”

Just then, the twintailed-girl slowly raised her head, her silver eyes first looking at Eugeo, then at me. Returning her gaze to Eugeo again, she asked him a question.

“Mister…… you’re not afraid of me either?”

Based on the fact that she said 《either》, the ghost girl apparently recalled that she had spoken with me the previous night. It’s odd yet not odd at the same time.

While I was cocking my head in puzzlement, Eugeo squatted in front of the girl, before nodding with a smile.

“Yeah, I’m not afraid.

“Oh……”

For a moment, it seemed like the girl had also smiled, but she cast her eyes down right afterwards. I kneeled down next to Eugeo as well and, taking care not to startle the girl, I began talking to her.

“You know…… we figured out what Ladino family did on the day of the storm. They built a fence around your family’s field, taking it away from you.”

“…………Yeah.”

The girl nodded. As the girl seemingly found it difficult to bear that unpleasant memory, the outlines of her body began quivering without a sound. Upon sidling up to the girl a bit, I continued speaking to her in a whisper.

“We can’t take back your fields for you…… but today, this guy here and I cleared out the grove in your backyard to create a new field. Once we finish ploughing it tomorrow, it’ll be all ready for use.”

Just then, the girl once again raised her head, her mirror-like eyes alternating between me and Eugeo.

“……Really? Will we be able to grow various vegetables again?”

“Yeah, you can grow anything.”

Eugeo assured her with a smile.

“Caldamos, tamanases, and even siral trees can grow there now.”

Hearing that, the girl gently stood up with a radiant — a far cry from ghostly — smile. As she held out her small hands towards us, tears that looked like beads of light appeared from her eyes——

“Thank you, misters. I’m sure Papa and Mama will be happy to hear that. Thank you so much……”

Eugeo and I extended our hands at the same time, gently placing them on the girl’s hands. I didn’t feel anything physical behind them, but I did indeed feel a faint warmth in them.

The next moment, the girl’s entire body was covered in white light, scattering into countless particles and dissolving into the air.

After a few moments, Eugeo muttered.

“……We didn’t even get the chance to ask her name…… but I’m sure she went to the Celestial World.”

“Yeah, I’m sure of it.”

Nodding, I gripped my partner’s right shoulder.

3

As promised to the girl, we began cultivating the field early in the morning the following day. Though, the only work left was to plough it with some hoes we found in the backyard shed. If this were the real world, ploughing a hectare of land manually would have probably been a daunting task, but with my and Eugeo’s Object Control Authority exceeding 40, the Class 3 Object-ranked hoe felt as light as a feather duster. I began ploughing from the eastern edge while Eugeo began from the western; while we were busy competing which one of us would be the first to reach the centre line——

The ten o’clock morning bell rang cheerfully through the air; the moment its ringing stopped, I seemed to hear the neighing of a horse coming from the front yard.

Halting the ploughing, I exchanged glances with Eugeo. Seems like I wasn’t just hearing things. Yet there was no way some guest would be visiting this inn, and I don’t recall ever seeing wild horses around these parts. ‘It’s a pain in the ass, but guess I’ll go check it out, might as well get some water to drink while I’m at it’, just as I finished that thought.

I saw a figure going around the inn’s building and approaching us. Rushing over to me, Eugeo whispered in a tense voice.

“Who could that be.”

“Considering the circumstances, it could be someone related to the Ladino family…… I wonder if they noticed that we were making a field and decided to come over to complain about something.”

“Complaining, you say…… but it’s outside of their fence……”

“Doesn’t seem like we’re dealing with someone whom logic would work on.”

Even as our chat went on, the figure continued approaching us in a straight line with resolute steps. In addition to the fact that we were facing the sun, the figure was also wearing a large hat, so I couldn’t see its face. The only thing I could make out was that the figure probably belonged to a man in the prime of his life, based on his attire: a thick shirt and vest.

Having stopped just beside the field, the man placed his hands on his hips and looked around the just-ploughed land. It didn’t seem like he’d be moving from there, so I reluctantly approached him myself. Both of our swords were left behind in the cafeteria, thus we’d have to fight with our hoes if it came to the worst.

Once I came into a shade provided by the trees surrounding the field, I finally got to see the man’s face. A man in his fifties with a mop-like moustache growing on his face. His attire carried not a single trace of pompousness, so he didn’t seem like a member of the nobility, at the very least.

Once Eugeo and I came to a stop, the man put a hand on the brim of his thickly-woven hat and unleashed his throaty voice.

“So were you the ones who made this here field?”

Unable to deny his observation, what with the hoe still in my hand, I gave a subtle nod.

“……Indeed.”

“How many days did it take ya?”

“……This would be our second day at it.”

At that point, the man raised his thick eyebrows for a mere moment, his sharp gaze piercing us.

“……Ya don’t seem to be lying, huh. The logs piled up in the yard are all fresh, after all. Ya see, I actually wanted to make a field here m’self, but the trees here were just too damn huge for me, so I gave up on that idea.”

“…………Excuse me?”

Unable to immediately grasp what the man had just said, I let out a response in a stupefied voice. Beside me, Eugeo jerked his head up and posed a question.

“Umm…… what is your name?”

“Y’mean me? I’ma Tobai Bilzen.”

“…………Bilzen?”

Eugeo and I repeated in sync; just then.

A small figure suddenly came out from the shade of a nearby tree, rushed over to us in a trot and grasped the man’s right hand, letting out a high-pitched voice.

“See, Papa! Just like I told you! These misters made us a new field!”

The one responsible for that shout was a very young girl with short twintails dangling beneath a lovely straw hat. Her physique and face were entirely identical to that of the ghost who appeared in the inn’s kitchen…… however, her eyes were now a bright brown, similar to cofil tea with some milk poured in.

————So you were ali～～～～ve!

Refraining screaming that out, I asked what I had been unable to ask her last night.

“Ehm…… Lil’miss, what’s your name?”

“Me? I’m Kothlin Bilzen! What about you, misters?”

“……I’m Kirito.”

“……I’m Eugeo.”

Once we gave her our names, a radiant smile found its way on the girl’s face as she held out her hands, just like last night. Unlike last night, however, I could feel a corporeal warmth when I held her hand.

Afterwards, according to what I heard from Tobai-shi, after becoming unable to support their inn when their fields were usurped by the Ladino family, the Bilzen family moved over to Fouchelle to the south. There, Tobai-shi worked as a cleaner at an inn, allowing him to support his family all this time, it seems.

Come to think of it, while the people of the Human Empire are unable to change their own Calling, all that means is that you can’t just switch over to a different trade; nothing says that the exact place you work at is forced on you for life. Eugeo’s unique 《Gigas Cedar Carver》 Calling was the exception of exceptions in this case; working at an inn in a different town is by no means a breach of the Taboo Index or anything.

Some time after they moved to the town, the family’s youngest daughter, Kothlin, began saying some strange things…… or so Tobai-shi says. That each night, the girl would have dreams of returning to the inn.

Of course at first, her parents thought that it was just a mere dream, yet two years later, and even three years later, Kothlin continued telling the same story. Just when they began considering that it was about time to consult with a sister from the church, Kothin suddenly told them yesterday that “A new field was created at the inn.”, it seems.

The girl stubbornly ignored their numerous attempts to convince her that it was all just a dream; in the end, since she was about to storm out of their home to check on it by herself, the man was forced to rent a horse to come here, where he found that some suspicious youths had indeed cultivated the land, and that’s how we got to this point.

At this quite strange story, Eugeo again said “I guess it happens.”, but this did remind me of something.

One year ago, when we fought against some goblins inside a cave at the End Mountains, I shared some of my own Life in order to save Eugeo from the verge of death due to his grave wounds. Just as I seemed to be close to fainting as my consciousness continued fading away, I heard a mysterious voice.

I can’t help but think that the voice that told me ‘I’ll be waiting for you both at the top of the Central Cathedral’ belonged to the one and only Alice, taken away by the Axiom Church. Though it wasn’t the middle of the night back then, nor did I catch sight of Alice herself, but the phenomenon itself was quite similar to Kothlin’s dream. In that case, that would mean that Alice, like Kothlin, was still alive somewhere at a place called the Central Cathedral——

I’ll need to bring up my conjecture for discussion when we arrive at the next town. With this thought in mind, I finished ploughing to the centre of the field at about the same as Eugeo finished his part. As the final job of picking up all the stones was taken up by Tobai-shi and Kothlin, this brought our work on cultivating the field to an end for now.

Although initially somewhat suspicious of us, once he heard that we travelled here from Rulid Village and were planning to take the exam for the Central Capital’s Swordcraft Academy, Tobai-shi’s misgivings were resolved and he promised us that he would definitely bring the inn back to life.

However, before we set off, there was just one more thing we had to take care of.

Creating a fence out of the logs piled up in the front yard and re-enclosing the inn’s plot with it. A fence so sturdy that it would never break, no matter how violent a storm came by.

“At this rate, guess we’ll be staying here for one more night.”

When I mentioned this as I looked up at the mountain of logs, Eugeo answered with a smile.

“Though, when we arrive at the town of Fouchelle, Tobai-san said he’ll let us stay at their place. Also, he said that when this inn reopens for business, we’re welcome to stay here for free for as long as we want.”

“Haha, much appreciated. When we become Integrity Knights and break Alice free, we’ll have to remember to come by for a stay here on our way back to Rulid.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Upon bumping our fists against each other, we set forth on our final task.

(The End)

Notes