Chapter 09 - 'Encounter Pt. 3'

The cries of the birds announced the presence of morning tickled her ears, the sun leaked out from the windows shines brightly into the room.

Chizuru tried to lift her eyelids gently, the sun glaring straight to her face, it was so bright that she had to blink for a few times.

The morning...... has come.

The first morning since I came back to this world.

She stretched out her body on the carpet, rolled over the blankets and stood up slowly, and Chizuru immediately looked around the small room. But on the bed, it was empty and Dorothy was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she heard a moving sound somewhere in the house, she carefully sniff around(?)and smelled the sweet aromas of food wafting from below.

(T/N: It was written as '注意深く神経を研ぎ澄ませてみると' so, it's kinda weird when it was translated as "sharpen your nerves", so I changed it to something that makes sense with the situation. Please help and correct me if you have a better translations)

Her body was honest as her stomach was growling from sniffing the sweet smells.

Chizuru came near the closed doors and with a doubt she pushes the doors forward. Since the wooden doors were decayed and rotting, it creaked and opens up without any particular resistance.

「Oh, um...... Can I go out?」

Chizuru finally broke into silence and speak out. There is no answer.

In other words, there were no any objection, so Chizuru went out of the room in fear because she was hungry. The dark mansion that she saw last night was now lit by the light that leaks into the window.

To tell you the truth, Rodolgo's mansion was horrendous.

It looks terrible. It's a little bit surprising to her since she've been saying that twice now. The building itself was made from stone, but the surface was rough and not polished properly, so many things were missing, even the floor and the walls are uneven. There's really no purpose for the wooden doors to be attached to the room since the doors are rotting and falling apart.

(Speaking of which...... Lukrov...... I was only told to do it, or I'll be driven away by someone)(?)

(T/N: I tried my best really TT_TT, but I'm not sure what this sentences mean author-san :( - "そういえば....ルクロフ....かもしれない人に追い払われて、細々やってるだけって言ってたっけ")

Of course, she knows that there a lot of people living in this world is much more poor, but the fact somehow made Chizuru feel a little responsible.

The mansion was not that large enough to wander around here and there, Chizuru could easily find the stairs to go down.

When Chizuru showed up, Dorothy was drinking something that looked like a light gray soup on the wooden table. Dorothy looks up at Chizuru.

「You're finally up....」

「Ah, Yes」

「As I said last night, there's hardly anything to eat here except for potatoes. There's this in the kitchen, if you want it you'll bring it yourself....」

Dorothy said while holding the soup dish.

From what Dorothy said and the sweet smells, it must be some sweet potato soup. It was a bit of a shock to Chizuru, who had been used to Japanese food.

「I will. Is there Rodolgo-san?」

「He's already eaten and went out the first thing in the morning. It takes three days from here to the Duke's house on a horse....」

Three days....

So to say, if you're going back and forth, you'll be able to meet the Duke, who may be Lukrov, at least six days later. Perhaps until then, she and Dorothy might have to live alone with this sweet potato soup.

Chizuru sighed and went into the hallway which she thought would continue to the kitchen.

And there was a small room that looks like a kitchen, of course there was no fridge, and there was a pile of potatoes with dirt on the stone worktops, and the iron pot was just hanging over the fire like a Kamado(!). Chizuru took the soup from the pot and put in into her wooden bowl and returned back to Dorothy.

(T/N: For those who knows Kamado, yay good for you (/o_o)/ But for those who don't know, Kamado is a traditional Japanese wood-or-charcoal-fueled cook stove.)

Dorothy is silently sipping on her soup without raising her face when Chizuru returns.

For the time being, Chizuru decided to follow her. Fortunately, there seems to be plenty of time. After taking a long time to finish her unexpectedly delicious food, Chizuru faced Dorothy.

「Um..... May I ask you a little?」

Chizuru asked, after she finishing her meal. Dorothy put the bowl on the desk in silence and turned towards Dorothy with her gloomy eyes. Even if Chizuru tries to run away now, she won't follow her. It was such a dry gaze.

「About the Duke. According to Rodolgo-san, he was a national hero, but the king's order has brought him to this area.... Such a thing」

「Huh, are you worried?」

Dorothy's face was distorted, there was a glimpse of her teeth between the gaps of her lips.

「Well~ That might be true.... Because you might be sold to that guy」

Will she be sold?

It's a very disturbed statement, but if she think about the price, will it be that kind of thing? As she breathed a sigh, Chizuru nodded at Dorothy's words.

Dorothy suddenly looked away from Chizuru and turned her gaze to see somewhere in the air. And began to speak in a slow tone.

「There used to be bad dragons in this country not very long ago..... Do you know that」

「Yes. It's a dragon with black scales, with horrible sharp fangs and claws, and five heads. It's a dragon that flew around in the middle of the night killing people」

Chizuru trembled, remembering the time when she had seen the huge beast before her.

This world is slightly different from the world 「Sword and Magic」, as in the book I borrowed from Mai. There was no so-called magic at all. It's a medieval world, of course there are swords as weapons, but it's not a magic sword. From the perspective of a person from modern era like Chizuru - the dubious traditions, customs and people were nothing but ordinary people. Neither animals nor plants are much different from the original world. The only exception was the beast......and there was a shrine maiden summoned from a different worlds to get rid of it.

Chizuru.

The evil dragon doesn't belong to this world, it is said that the dragon could only be killed by the hands of humans from different worlds - Chizuru, who was protected by the knights such as Lukrov, struck the heart of the dragon with a sword and ended it all.

However, Chizuku's existence was a secret among the Knights and the king, and the evil dragon was supposed to be killed by Lukrov and the Knights.

In fact, Chizuru was only reaching, and until then she was just being protected......

「If you know that much, you know the rumors about the man who defeated the evil dragon」

Chizuru nodded.

「In other words, the duke was the result of this man. Although he was admired as a hero, he was dazzled by gold and women...... he kept his hands dirty resembling an assasin. Four or five years ago, I've had enough, I was tired and decided to retire to the countryside. I'm going to get the King's rights to take control of this area.」

Dorothy raises her tone a little, 「It's like a mouth-watering fee. He's been doing pretty dirty stuff.」

「........」

Chizuru was lost for words, she stared into the wrinkles carved under Dorothy's eyes.

It is still unclear where and what the truth is.

However, it seemed quite impossible for her to lie completely.

Dorothy smiled brightly as she glanced back to Chizuru, who remained speechless.

「That's not all. Only a few people know it, but he had a odd characteristics, and a woman with black hair, dark eyes and a slightly exotic face.... If you have this type of woman, you can go all over the country and will get you a lot of money.....」

She stared at Chizuru who look exactly like what she described. Dorothy let out a creepy laugh, hihihi (ヒヒヒ).

「Well, that type of woman is rare.... It's like an angel. After settling down to the countryside, I seemed to have stopped looking for that woman..... But that Rodolgo fool found you and there was a bit of a tinge.... Maybe, the Duke might still pay the money.」

Chizuru's life these past few days has been very monotonous.

Despite how dark the rumors were, the duke was still likely to be Lukrov, so she couldn't bring herself to run away..... she was just living quietly with Dorothy.

Everday, it started a sweet potato soup, followed by a sweet potato soup for lunch, and then ended up with a sweet potato soup for dinner. In between, they're digging potatoes in the fields behind the mansion. About three days later, Chizuru felt like as if she had an allergy to potatoes, but after four days, she don't feel like that's the case.

She met the rest of the people in the village, but they were all equally impoverished old woman like Dorothy, or a man who seemed to be drinking from days to days, and they were not much to talk about. Perhaps the decent young mens from escaped from here.

On the morning of the sixth day, the news arrived.

「I was surprised! The duke himself was coming with Rodolgo to see you!」

In response to the announcement carried by the herald(!), Dorothy let out a rare voice in excitement.

(T/N: Herald - an official crier or messenger.)

And she began to talk about Chizuru's appearance which she never seemed to have a problem before. She's bringing a a plain white and green dress that was washed from somewhere and put it on Chizuru, she also brushes her hair using a comb.

Of course Chizuru was having difficulty with her high spirits.

Maybe she can meet Lukrov from now on......!

And that evening, the sun was setting and the sky was tainted with purple and orange, Rodolgo finally returned to the village with a fine-looking knight.

Dorothy and Chizuru stood in front of the mansion, waiting for the arrivals of the two men who were swayed by the horses from across the horizon.

「Women! I'm back now!」

As he approached the mansion, Rodolgo raised his voice loudly, but the knight remained silent.

The knight is wearing a chain and a silver armor from his head. His face can't be seen in the shadows since it's too dark to see.

But......

Straight back. Broad and wide shoulder.

Its tall figure that can be tell by riding on a horseback.

Rodolgo continue to shout something, but it didn't reach to Chizuru's ears.

It was the same for the knight, the two were locked up in a bond as they're looking at each other's eyes silently on the land where the sun was setting.