ACT 2
“Oooooooh!!” Curled up on a hard bed, Yuuto could do nothing but groan loudly.
His abdomen hurt terribly. His chest and stomach were filled with a sickening nausea. He’d lost track of the number of times he’d had to race to the toilet due to vomiting and diarrhea.
His face, reflected in the surface of the water in his water jar, was pale greenish in color and very thin. These were the symptoms of food poisoning.
Modern-day Japan was one of the world’s leading nations in terms of sanitation. There weren’t that many countries where one could, for instance, simply drink the tap water straight from the pipe. In other words, Yuuto had grown up in an environment that was mostly germ-free, which meant that he had a very low resistance to bacteria and other germs.
Over the past few days, Yuuto had developed an aversion to even putting food or drink in his mouth. And yet, like any human, he could not live without eating or drinking. Whenever his empty stomach became too much to bear, he would fill it, and then be bedridden with sickness and pain again.
For the past full month, he had repeatedly gone through this hellish cycle.
He was borrowing a room in Felicia’s house and thus technically living together with her under one roof, but he didn’t have the energy to spare for any sort of thoughts, romantic or otherwise, about that situation.
A familiar, flat and unemotional voice was coming from the direction of the house’s front entrance. “Felicia, are you there?”
It was Sigrún. It seemed that she was friends with Felicia, and would come over from time to time to hang out when she was free.
He didn’t have the Connections galldr to help him right now, but he could understand all her words so far. After hearing the same words and phrases enough times, you started to remember them... like it or not.
“Hey, is Felicia—” As Sigrún poked her head into the room Yuuto was in, she noticed him and gave a long sigh. “Again? What a weakling. ᚨᛜ ᛒᚨᛉᛜᛖᚦ.”
These were also words he’d heard countless times, aside from that last part. As for the last part, he may not have learned it yet, but he could assume it wasn’t anything nice.
“Hey, Durinn, where’s Felicia?” Sigrún asked.
Struggling through his pain, Yuuto managed to squeeze out a hoarse answer. “Urgh... h-hausu koll.”
The Connections galldr put a strain on Felicia, so Yuuto had made an effort to learn at least some of the words most frequently used in everyday conversation. But Yuuto’s pronunciation of the language was still a bit strange to the ears of a native speaker.
Sigrún paused and thought for a moment before nodding. “Hm? Oh, on a house call.”
As both a priestess and a wielder of galldr song magics, Felicia was often sent out on house calls to attend to the sick and provide healing to them.
Having got her answer, Sigrún immediately lost all interest in Yuuto. “ᛃᚨᚷ
ᚹᚨᛜᚦᚨᛉ ᛁ ᚲᛟᚲᛖᚦ.”
She quickly left, leaving behind only a few words Yuuto didn’t understand.
He felt an intense loneliness well up within his chest. Laid up in bed by illness like this, he wanted someone to be there with him.
He didn’t speak the same language as the maidservant Angela, and more than that, Angela herself seemed like she wished to avoid having anything to do with him. When she did interact with him, it was only in her formal capacity as a servant, and she maintained her distance.
Whenever Felicia actually had some free time, she spent it attending to him in a devoted manner, but she was incredibly busy, so she could never stay with him for very long.
“Mitsuki...” he murmured. He powered on his smartphone, and displayed his childhood friend’s picture on the screen.
By now, he’d said countless prayers of thanks to his late mother for making him carry a small solar-charged battery in case of a natural disaster or other emergency. It was only a solar battery, so it didn’t last for very long on a charge, but even just being able to see a picture of Mitsuki like this was enough to alleviate his loneliness a little bit.
“I’ve had enough of this hell,” he murmured. “I wanna go home to Japan. It’s the day after tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, I can finally go home.”
One month. It was far too short a time to learn the language, but it was more than enough time to learn the reality of life here.
Any hopes or expectations Yuuto had held for the mysterious world of Yggdrasil were now cut to ribbons, and as he waited for the moment he could return to his “boring” rural life in Japan, each day here felt like an eternity.
“Oh look, it’s Annarr.”
“No, no, his name is Sköll, remember?”
The next day, with his stomach pains finally receding a little, Yuuto was walking through the streets of town led by Felicia. As people passed by him, their deliberately loud insults reached his ears.
He’d long since become used to it. He tried to pretend he hadn’t noticed, and slightly quickened his steps. As he did, he could hear the mocking laughter at his back.
He clenched his teeth tightly, and balled his hands into fists.
“Sköll” had caught on as a disparaging nickname for Yuuto. It meant “Devourer of Blessings.” In other words, it meant he was a good-for-nothing, useless freeloader who wasted food and resources and provided nothing in return.
Right after his summoning, he’d been shown to be a total weakling by his very public loss to Sigrún in front of everyone. Ever since then, he’d spent most of his time ill in bed with stomach pains. Because of that, he was also sometimes called Durinn, a name which meant “Oversleeper.”
At the beginning, a few people had continued to look at him with expectation, but their feelings had gradually changed to disappointment, and now the only looks Yuuto got from people were of contempt.
“Lord Yuuto, please pay them no mind.” As always, Felicia looked like she felt painfully sorry for him and offered words of consolation, but Yuuto turned away from her.
“Toodei, I go hohmu,” he tried to say. “...Aargh! Ngh!”
Realizing his mistake but unable to remember the right word for “tomorrow,” Yuuto was so overcome by irritation that he clamped a hand over his own mouth.
I’m going home tomorrow so don’t worry about me. Just leave me be. Unable to even communicate something that simple left him frustrated with himself.
“I don’t want any of your pity!” It was a line that was a popular cliche in manga, but now Yuuto understood the feelings behind it painfully well.
Yuuto himself no longer harbored any dreams that he might become some great hero. He himself knew better than anyone that he was nothing but an unlucky kid, a useless and pathetic stranger in this land. He was worthy of the nickname Annarr, which meant “foreigner” or “stranger.”
Glancing down the street, he could see beggars here and there. There were more than a few staring longingly at the foodstuffs on display in the bazaar-style marketplace. Theft, burglaries, and the like were pretty frequent, too. The Wolf Clan as a whole was clearly not doing very well.
And here he was, unable to do any work, eating that precious food, only to throw it up. Even he thought of himself as a wasteful freeloader because of that.
The more Felicia consoled him, the more wretched he felt, to the point where he wanted to find a hole and bury himself in it. Felicia still hadn’t given up her hope in him, and so whenever she gazed at him, he felt a weight and a pain that was unbearable.
Even so, being left alone at her house would have been even worse, and so regretfully, here he was following her around.
In this world, she was the only one who was kind to him, and the only one with whom he could communicate. If he couldn’t be near her, he felt like he might go mad from loneliness.
And yet when he was with her and she was kind to him, instead of gratitude, he felt only a swirl of dark emotions, and he ended up taking a peevish and sulking attitude with her. Then he ended up hating himself even more for that, and the vicious cycle continued.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!!” With nowhere to direct his anger, Yuuto began kicking the ground and cursing.
“ᚹᚨᛉᚲ! ᚹᚨᛞ ᛃᚨᚷ ᚹᛁᛚᛚ?!” A girl who had just been walking past him turned around to face him, clearly angry at him. In a stroke of bad luck, Yuuto seemed to have kicked the girl’s leg by accident.
She had frizzy, unruly hair that she kept cut short. Yuuto also got the impression from her slightly upturned, almond eyes that she had quite the strong-willed, fiery personality, though of course her anger at being kicked was probably part of that.
“Oh! I’m sorry.” He promptly apologized, but the words that reflexively came to him were in Japanese, and she tilted her neck and looked at him suspiciously.
“Ohhh.” The girl’s eyes caught sight of Yuuto’s hair, and she nodded to herself as if she now understood something. It seemed she knew who Yuuto was. “Hmph. ᛇᛖ ᚢᛈᛈ.”
Expressing her disapproval, the red-haired girl walked away.
Feeling quite embarrassed, Yuuto made to follow her, when—
“Ohhh, they’re back!”
—someone’s voice cried out and a commotion swept through the crowd, bringing Yuuto back to his senses.
Yuuto turned toward the western gate, where the voice had come from, and he saw a long line of soldiers carrying spears marching his way.
Almost none of them were uninjured. Everyone had a deep or painful-looking wound somewhere on their body, and there were some who had lost one of their limbs. Their expressions were all dark and full of incredible exhaustion, mixed with relief that they’d made it back alive.
Without having to understand their language, that was enough to communicate to Yuuto the severity and the tragedy of the battles they had fought their way through.
Currently, the Wolf Clan was in the middle of an armed dispute with their neighbor the Claw Clan, according to Felicia.
To a Japanese person like Yuuto raised on the ideals of peace, that had sounded like the affairs of some faraway land. But seeing the injured soldiers up close like this, he was forced to recognize the reality.
Right now, he was in the middle of a war, and there was no telling when an attack could come.
And he was nothing more than a lost little lamb who lacked the means to fight back against that.
That evening, someone new came home to the house Felicia and Yuuto were staying in.
“Felicia, I’m home!”
Felicia greeted him joyfully, with tears of happiness in the corners of her eyes. “Welcome home, Brother! It’s so good that you’re all right.”
When she was with Yuuto, Felicia always looked apologetic or concerned, so Yuuto found himself excessively irritated with this young man. Of course, at least half of that was due to his resentment at being unable to make Felicia smile like that.
The young man glanced over at Yuuto, and smiled as he asked, “And who are you? Why are you in my house?” But his eyes weren’t smiling in the least.
He looked to be about in his twenties, and with his blond hair, blue eyes, and pretty face, he bore a resemblance to Felicia, which was only natural.
Yuuto knew about him from Felicia. His name was Loptr, and he was Felicia’s blood-related older brother.
Coming home at night to find his precious little sister together with some strange man would be enough to make any older brother ill at ease, to say the least.
“Uh... er... I’m... uh...” Yuuto felt his mind go blank under the pressure of the man’s intense gaze.
He had intended to at least give a proper self-introduction in the language of Yggdrasil, but all the words had flown out of his head.
“Brother, don’t act so intimidating toward Lord Yuuto like that!”
“But Felicia, as an older brother, isn’t it only natural for me to be suspicious of some man I don’t know spending time with my unmarried little sister?”
“Geez! That’s not what this is!” Puffing up her cheek childishly, Felicia proceeded to explain the sequence of events thus far to her brother.
About how she had been deep in supplicant prayer to Angrboða, the guardian deity of Iárnviðr.
About how suddenly, Yuuto had appeared out of thin air wearing clothes the likes of which she’d never seen before.
And finally, about how Yuuto had faced off against Sigrún, wielder of Hati, Devourer of the Moon, and had managed to catch her off guard.
“Oho! So you managed to score a point against that girl with the gods’ own gift for battle!”
“Ahhh, no, she was going waaay easy on me, and calling it lucky would be an understatement,” Yuuto said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do it again.”
“Still, that’s strange. There was such a major incident, and yet I never got a report about it.”
“The reason no one told you about it was, it ended up being pointless and not worth reporting to you,” Yuuto said with a pained smile, shrugging his shoulders. “Thanks to that silver-haired girl, as soon as I arrived, I was revealed for what I really am. I’m not the Gleipsieg or whatever, I’m just some useless Annarr who ended up here by coincidence.”
During this past month, he’d learned a little bit about the world of Yggdrasil.
In this world, power and strength were everything. Even the blood child of a nation’s sovereign ruler, or patriarch, had to be content with the life of a rank and file soldier if he or she lacked the strength to rise higher. Likewise, even the child of an outcast or hated criminal could potentially rise up to become a patriarch.
The law of the jungle, that the strong should rule over the meek, was faithfully borne out in this world.
That way of thinking even applied to the gods. Or, more precisely, the logic went that a messenger sent by the gods must necessarily have some sort of power, and thus the weak and useless Yuuto was clearly some sort of faker.
In addition, food was known as a blessing from the gods, and whenever Yuuto ate the local food, he was wracked by pain and lay in bed sick. The chief rumor around town was that Yuuto’s illness was a punishment from the gods for his attempting to masquerade as their messenger and deceive everyone.
“Coincidence?” Loptr asked. “Hrmm, so then you weren’t sent by Angrboða after all, then.”
“That’s right. Before coming here, I had never even heard of that name.”
“Well, that’s his story. What do you say?” Loptr directed his question at his little sister standing next to him, as if he were testing her.
“Even now, I am convinced that Lord Yuuto is the Child of Victory. I most surely felt it. When I used my seiðr, I felt Gleipnir grasp ahold of ‘victory!’ No matter what anyone might say, I am certain that Lord Yuuto is the Gleipsieg.”
Felicia gave her declaration without the slightest waver or hint of doubt, and Yuuto could only manage a long sigh in response.
While everyone else’s opinions of Yuuto had fallen through the floor, only she continued to stubbornly insist that he was the Child of Victory, Gleipsieg.
These creatures called women were always prone to have blind faith in their own intuitions. Without a single bit of evidence, Felicia was asserting that her intuition was absolutely correct. She had that trait in common with Yuuto’s childhood friend Mitsuki, and with his late mother.
Yuuto certainly believed that a woman’s intuition was more accurate than a man’s. But that was only a matter of relativity, and intuition was much more likely to be off the mark, according to Yuuto’s personal experiences.
Perhaps Felicia had felt something strongly enough to convince her to have such absolute confidence, but at the end of the day, Yuuto felt that it had to be nothing more than a misunderstanding on her part. Yuuto knew that he didn’t possess any sort of great strength.
“Oh? So Felicia is willing to argue that far for you,” said Loptr. “How interesting. Oh, that’s right, I hadn’t properly introduced myself yet. It’s a bit late, but I am Loptr. I’m Felicia’s older brother by blood, and I serve as the Wolf Clan’s second-in-command.”
“Huh?! So you’re the highest ranking person in the clan after the patriarch, then?” Yuuto’s eyes went wide in surprise. He’d heard that Felicia had an older brother, but not that he was such an important person.
“Yes, well, my predecessor was killed in action during the previous battle, so it was only a field promotion.” Loptr shrugged his shoulders, but something about that seemed far too humble.
The Wolf Clan might be a small and weak clan, but including its branch families, it still had tens of thousands of citizens. And the second-in-command was the head of all clan subordinates, and served as the acting patriarch when necessary, with access to all the patriarch’s authority and command in such cases. He or she was also next in line to be patriarch.
Even if Loptr’s predecessor had met an untimely end, without having accomplishments of his own as examples of his own strength and potential, there was no way someone as young as Loptr would have been recognized as fit to be the second-in-command.
“My brother is an Einherjar of the rune Alþiófr, the Jester of a Thousand Illusions, with powers which are like an all-around more powerful version of my own,” Felicia added.
Yuuto had heard that Felicia’s rune was an “all-purpose” rune with a wide variety of powers, rare even among Einherjar. Loptr’s rune was an all-around more powerful version of that? It wasn’t an especially detailed description, but along with his position in the clan and the intimidating air he gave off, Yuuto could tell without a doubt that Loptr must be considerably powerful.
“Well, I hope we’ll get along well. It’s ‘Yuuto,’ right?” Loptr extended his hand to Yuuto amicably, a charming smile on his face.
He seemed frank and casual, and yet it didn’t come across as shallow or insincere in the slightest. To put it another way, he seemed outwardly easygoing, but he also projected a sense that he was down-to-earth, with an unshakable self-confidence at his core.
“Yes, I’m Yuuto Su—OW!!”
As Yuuto gave his self-introduction, his hand clasped Loptr’s, and in the next instant it was being squeezed with such incredible force that Yuuto cried out and his face contorted in pain.
Without seeming to pay any consideration to the pain Yuuto was in, Loptr quickly pulled his arm downward, forcing Yuuto’s body to pitch forward. He then pulled sharply upwards, and Yuuto barely managed to avoid tumbling to the ground.
“W-what are you—?!” Yuuto started to cry out in protest.
“Huh?” Loptr had a slightly surprised look in his eyes, and began to twist Yuuto’s arm. Despite his non-muscular appearance, he pulled with incredible strength.
“Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!!” Yuuto found himself unable to put up any kind of resistance, and it was all he could do to endure the pain.
“B-Brother?! Just what are you doing to Lord Yuuto?!” Felicia rebuked sharply.
“Ohh, sorry, sorry.” Apologizing, Loptr let go of Yuuto’s arm.
Finally free, Yuuto pressed a hand to his arm, which was throbbing with pain. He hadn’t done anything to deserve this kind of treatment.
He directed a resentful glare at Loptr, but the man didn’t appear to notice at all. He seemed to be deep in his own thoughts, puzzling over something.
“Hmm, you don’t seem any different from a total amateur to me... Did you really win a round against Sigrún?” Loptr asked.
“That’s why I said I just got lucky!” Yuuto insisted. “It was a fluke. Heh, either way I’m still a weakling.”
“No, no, what I mean is, and I know this is going to sound rude, I can’t imagine someone like you being able to win against her at all, fluke or not. For reference, would you be willing to tell me how you did it?”
“Well, sure, I guess.” Yuuto spoke with his face turned away, sulking a bit. “I didn’t think there was any straightforward way I could beat her either, so I held my sword with a loose grip, and when the timing was right, I purposefully let her knock it out of my hands, to make her think she’d already won. Then she let her guard down, and I struck at that opening. That’s all.”
Loptr and Felicia kept calling it a win, but for Yuuto, the fact that he had done all that and still been miserably defeated meant that it was nothing more than a memory of failure and shame.
“Hmm, I see, I see. Haha! You did pretty well. There’s no need to be so humble. That was definitely your win. You should take pride in it.” Yuuto felt a thwack on his hunched-over back as Loptr clapped it.
It was probably nothing more than a hearty pat from Loptr’s perspective, but it had enough force to push Yuuto forward several steps, and the impact left his back smarting.
“Like I said, it wasn’t even a big deal,” Yuuto said, even though he didn’t exactly dislike what he was hearing.
He was genuinely happy to be recognized and appreciated by someone. That was especially true because he’d spent the past month being ridiculed by everyone around him as a no-good freeloader.
Loptr gave a mischievous smile. “I’ll bet it was a good lesson for her, too. Lately I’ve been puzzling over just how to get her to be a little less soft and naive.”
“Soft? She seemed cool-tempered and guarded to me.”
“Oh, well, it’s true that she’s been blessed by Angrboða with outstanding natural talent as a fighter. Even at her age, the only ones left who can give her a real fight are me and Brother Ská. But over-relying on that talent has spoiled her and made her soft.”
Loptr spoke with a gentle smile and in a cheerful tone. He didn’t look like the kind of fierce warrior who could go toe-to-toe with Sigrún. But the strength he had used against Yuuto a moment ago had been unnatural.
“She’s at the age with the most potential for growth right now. If she gets too satisfied with herself at her current state, she could lose the chance to polish her talents to an even greater shine, and I’ve been anxious to avoid that.”
“If that’s the case, I think it would have been better for you to have just gone ahead and taught her a lesson yourself,” Yuuto said.
Just remembering Sigrún’s cold eyes looking down at him filled his chest with an angry, sickening feeling that he couldn’t suppress.
If Loptr was really stronger than this Sigrún girl, maybe he could have knocked her down a peg or two, and taught her some manners and consideration for others. Then Yuuto wouldn’t have had to suffer such a humiliating experience.
“Haha! I’m too many years her senior in both age and experience. So if she lost to me, wouldn’t she just be able to use that as an excuse? Then there’d be no point. That’s why you were perfect for the job, in that respect. You’re clearly much weaker than her. Actually, you’re even weaker than average, worse than a green recruit in the rank and file.”
“You’re really putting a lot of stress on that point considering that I’m right here in front of you!”
“Ahaha!”
“Tacking on some refreshing laughter doesn’t make it funny!”
At first glance, Loptr seemed to be just a kind, sociable young man, but he seemed to have a few twists in his personality.
Even that side of him wasn’t unpleasant at all, though. It was more like lighthearted teasing that came from a sharp sense of humor, one that kept conversation lively and undid the tension of the people around him. That was the kind of curious charm this young man had.
“Sorry, sorry,” Loptr chuckled. “Still, she lost to you despite that. She’s had to face how inexperienced she still is, and I’ll bet that right now, she’s frantically swinging around that sword of hers in training. And that’s a good direction for her. Thanks to you, that girl is going to get even stronger.”
“If that happens, I think she’ll be too much for anyone to handle,” Yuuto muttered.
“Hahaha! I wish for nothing more. I’d like to see her get so strong that even I couldn’t lay a finger on her. Because, right now... the Wolf Clan needs every elite fighter we can muster.”
Loptr’s expression grew hardened and serious, and he stared off into space, as if he were gazing at something far, far away.
He was friendly and easy to get along with, but that wasn’t all there was to him. He was the kind of person who could be trusted with the heavy burden of a position like second-in-command of the clan at a young age.
“So... the most recent battle was quite a difficult one, then?” Felicia asked, unable to conceal her concern.
As something which affected the very future of the nation, Felicia must have been quite curious about the current direction of the war, but she had held off on bringing up the subject out of consideration for Loptr and Yuuto’s lively conversation.
“Yeah, it was really rough,” Loptr confirmed. “That Claw Clan patriarch Botvid is a real problem. And as for the previous second-in-command... Father got caught up in that man’s wily schemes and, regrettably, met his death. I told you about that in my correspondence, right?”
“...Yes.” Felicia nodded once, her expression stiff. She was holding herself together, but the depth of her sadness was abundantly clear, and her face was darkened with its shadow.
By “Father,” Loptr was not talking about the patriarch of the Wolf Clan, but about his, and thus Felicia’s, father by birth. Yuuto could infer that much from the spirit of language in their words.
“Well, this time around, Brother Ská and I were able to rally the troops and withstand the enemy assault, and somehow we got them to withdraw for now. But our side had quite a lot of casualties, too.”
“I... I see.” Felicia nodded gravely, with her fists clenched.
The certain doom of her nation was creeping ever closer, and she looked as if she could hear the approaching footfalls. She could hear them and do absolutely nothing about it. That was the sort of hopelessly vexed expression she wore.
“So, that’s why I’ve got high expectations for you.” Loptr directed a keen gaze at Yuuto.
But for Yuuto, having expectations pinned on him like that was a problem. “I said it earlier, but I’m not some impressive person you can expect anything from. I’m not useful for or good at anything in this world.”
“Hmmm. You’re too humble, you know. I think that what the Wolf Clan needs most right now is someone like you.”
“Huh?”
“The situation for us right now is truly precarious. Brother Ská is holding the line at Fort Gnipahellir, but if that falls, the flames of battle will engulf Iárnviðr next. I’m going to try to avoid that outcome, but by the new year, the enemy will have re-organized their armies, and they’ll surely invade again. Honestly, I’m not sure we’ll even be able to hold out against them at this rate.”
Loptr sighed deeply, fatigue washing over his handsome face. There was no trace left of the almost annoying level of confidence and composure he’d displayed a moment ago.
“What we need is an idea that’s outside the box of common sense, some sort of plan or trick that can break us out of this hopeless situation and pull us back from the brink. I don’t care if it’s dishonorable, or disgraceful, or cowardly. To hell with fighting fair and square. In other words, just like how you got in a hit on Sigrún despite the overwhelming difference in strength between you.” Loptr’s usual flighty manner made him a hard man to gauge, but Yuuto could tell from the weight of his words that those were his true feelings.
This young man was desperately struggling, trying to think of a solution. As second-in-command, he carried the weight of tens of thousands of lives on his shoulders. I have to do something. Those anguished words were written all over his face.
“You’re overestimating me. It’s not like I’d have any idea what to do, either.” Yuuto shook his head, and gave a small, disheartened laugh at his own expense.
He was so ashamed of himself for having treated this all like it was some sort of game. Sigrún’s words about him lacking any real resolve had been exactly right. He couldn’t imagine that someone as shallow as himself would actually be able to do anything to help.
“Plus, I’m going back to my own world tomorrow.”
“Oh, is that so?” Loptr asked. “That’s too bad. We’ve only just gotten to know each other. I’ve decided I like you, too. Are you sure you won’t stay here a while longer?”
“I’m happy to hear you say that, but...” With a dry smile, Yuuto shook his head.
The thing was, he was honestly happy to be appreciated like this. And that scared him. He knew that those expectations would only turn into disappointment.
“I’ve got someone waiting for me,” Yuuto explained.
There was someone on the other side who needed him, and for who he really was.
“Hold on, what the hell is this?! Don’t screw with me!!” Yuuto lost control of his emotions and almost threw his smartphone at the floor in fury, barely managing to stop himself.
The white disc of the full moon shone in the sky above.
He had made his way to the tower and run all the way up to the hörgr even before sunset. At the instant of moonrise, he’d been standing ready to use his phone to create the opposing mirror effect. But once again, nothing.
I can go home at the next full moon. That thought alone had kept him going, and finding out now that it wasn’t true after all was something he couldn’t accept.
The Yuuto of two years later would have scolded him for being naive enough to rely on such a simple assumption. At this point in time, though, Yuuto was simply filled with anger and resentment that things hadn’t gone as planned.
“What the hell?! Why isn’t it enough?! Just what the hell is missing here?!”
“Um, Lord Yuuto?” Felicia called.
“Wha—! You...!” Yuuto turned his rage in her direction and scowled at her.
Surprised, Felicia recoiled at his menacing attitude, but Yuuto ignored her and kept on going.
“That’s right! It was you! I definitely heard your voice back then! You’re the one who summoned me here! So send me back!”
“Uh, but, even if you say that, I-I don’t...”
“You were doing some kind of dance back then, right? Well go on, do it again. That should be able to send me home!” Yuuto spoke feverishly, his arms crossed tightly and grasping his own shoulders.
Felicia looked at him with pain in her eyes, then silently shook her head. “Lord Yuuto, I would be willing to dance if that is what would satisfy you, but I do not have the power necessary to send you—”
“Don’t give me that crap!” Yuuto raised his voice and cut off Felicia’s words in a rough tone.
He already knew. He knew that there wasn’t a single lie in anything she had said to him. Even so, he couldn’t just accept that.
“Just do it for me, okay? If you do that, I’ll be able to go home. I should be able to go home!”
Yuuto pleaded with her as if he was also trying to convince himself, clinging to his own words as his last hope.
Felicia looked away, as if she couldn’t bear to watch him anymore, and sighed heavily. “...All right.”
Felicia took a gentle step forward, and began to dance. Her expression was completely serious, and each and every one of her movements was sharp and nimble. It was gorgeous and bewitching, and under normal circumstances, her dance would be enough to enchant him.
However, something was wrong about it.
“Do it seriously!” Yuuto yelled. “It isn’t going to work if you’re just going through the motions! Back then you were more emotional, more intense!”
Yuuto knew that a work of artistic expression was an act that laid bare the condition of the heart and mind of the artist. As the son of a traditional Japanese swordsmith, he had come to know that through and through.
Felicia wasn’t focusing her full mind on this place and moment in time, and she didn’t have the heartfelt wish for victory for the Wolf Clan that she’d held the previous time. She was simply dancing. The “soul” of the dance, the most important part, was missing.
“But even if you say that...” Felicia’s expression clouded over, and she seemed confused.
For her part, she was doing the best she could. However, true passion wasn’t something a person could just summon and control at will.
“I don’t care, just do it right. Send me home! Send me back to Japan!” Yuuto’s voice grew shrill and hysterical. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he was being unreasonable, but he couldn’t stop himself.
Was he going to go back to having constant stomach cramps and nausea?
Was he going to go back to the constant scorn and ridicule from everyone around him?
Was he going to have to continue to face his own tiny, useless existence?
If he lost this chance to go home today, he’d have to repeat that life of hell for another month. Just the thought terrified him.
“Quit screwing around!” he screamed. “You’re the one who called me here! So then you should be able to send me home! Take responsibility for this! If you couldn’t send me home, then you shouldn’t have damn well called me in the—”
Thwack!
Suddenly, there was a sharp impact on Yuuto’s right cheek, and he was sent tumbling onto the floor.
“Gah!”
A moment later, intense pain coursed through his head.
As Yuuto lay there struggling to process what had just happened, a displeased voice, hoarse and elderly, called down from above him.
“Pheew-ee. I can’t believe it. An old man’s just sitting here trying to enjoy a drink under the full moon, and you had to go and ruin it.”
Yuuto finally realized that he’d been punched. The pain spreading across the side of his face transformed into fuel for his anger.
“That hurt, dammit! Who are you, and what the hell was that for?!” Yuuto jumped to his feet and, pressing a hand to his cheek, glared with enmity at the man who had struck him.
It was a very old man. His hair was completely white, and his face was creased with layers of deep wrinkles. His body was mostly skin and bones, so skinny that he looked like a withered old tree.
Yuuto gasped and took a step back. “Urk! Wh-what’s with that old man?!”
At a glance, the man looked weak and frail, but there was also something strangely intimidating about him. The keen glint in his eyes was as bright as if he were still in his prime, and also seemed to express the depth of his accumulated years. Just being stared at by those eyes made Yuuto feel rooted in place, like his body was suddenly made of lead.
“F-Father!” Felicia gasped.
“Huh?” Yuuto was dumbstruck for a moment.
He knew her birth father was dead. If she was calling this man Father, then there was only one other person it could be...
“N-no way... You’re the patriarch?!”
“Yep, I am the patriarch and sovereign ruler of the Wolf Clan, Fárbauti.” Stroking his fine beard, the old man cackled. “Nice to meet you, Gleipsieg... or, going by how you were acting just then, maybe you’re as much of a letdown as the rumors say, and I should just call you Sköll, hmm? Keh-heh-heh.”
“F-Father, why are you here?” Felicia stammered. “Being out in the wind at night is not good for your health.”
“Keh-heh! I may be gettin’ old, but I’m not that weak. There was such a nice moon out tonight, I thought I’d enjoy it! And there’s no better place for that than here, where we’re closest to the sky.”
Laughing off her concern, the old patriarch took a gulp from the silver cup he was holding. It looked to be full of alcohol, and Yuuto could see that his cheeks were slightly red.
“And then what do I see but some guy ranting and screaming at a woman in a real unseemly fashion. Talk about killing the mood. It was ruining the taste of my drink, so I I thought I’d give him a bit of a scolding. No need to thank me, now. Keh-heh-heh!”
“Hmph, so damned arrogant.” Yuuto spit some of the blood in his mouth onto the floor. “I don’t need a lecture from an incompetent leader who’s letting his country waste away so fast that I can watch it happening.”
Under any normal circumstances, Yuuto would use polite speech with someone older than him or above him in station, but he’d just had his last hopes crushed, and was filled with the kind of desperation where he didn’t really care about consequences anymore.
Not to mention this guy had just punched him solidly in the face. There was no better target for all the pent-up indignation in Yuuto’s heart.
“The whole reason I ended up in this situation to begin with is because you couldn’t do your job as a ruler,” Yuuto snarled. “That’s right — you of all people don’t have any right to tell me how to act!”
“L-Lord Yuuto, please don’t...” Felicia nervously tried to dissuade him from saying any more, but to Yuuto, she was another one of the reasons he had been put into this hellish situation, and he didn’t feel the need to listen to any advice from her.
“What, are you gonna execute me for insulting the dignity of the sovereign? Ha! Go ahead and try it if you like. I’ll die laughing at this ruler who’s so petty, it’s no wonder your country’s going off a cliff.”
Yuuto kept on going and going and going. In the back of his mind, he could hear himself whisper, Ah, well now I’m dead, but the part of him that felt angry enough to not care what happened next still won out.
If this man had just been doing things properly, Yuuto could have stayed in peaceful Japan without ever having to come here. He had been made to suffer so much by being brought here, and the root cause of all of his suffering was up here having himself a drink without a care. He wouldn’t be satisfied until he got this guy to lose his temper and drop the “cool, wizened leader” act.
But contrary to Yuuto’s assumptions, the old patriarch didn’t get angry, but instead crossed his arms thoughtfully and closed his eyes. “Hrm...”
When he opened them again, the corners of his mouth turned up in a smirk.
“You’ve got some nerve, boy. You’re the first person who’s mouthed off at me that much despite knowing I was a patriarch.”
“Heh, so none of your retainers ever call you out honestly?” Yuuto smirked. “Guess they don’t have a lot of confidence in you, old man.”
“L-Lord Yuuto, p-please stop...”
“It’s fine, Felicia,” the patriarch said. “He isn’t one of my people. Let him say what he wants.”
“B-but...”
“I said that it’s fine.”
The old patriarch gave Felicia a single, strong glance, and she bowed once and stepped back.
“...All right.”
Despite only being here for a month, Yuuto was now acquainted with the fact that the people of the world of Yggdrasil rejected aristocracy and bloodline, and their society was an extreme kind of meritocracy.
Even in a tiny nation threatened by its neighbors, this patriarch was someone who had risen to that seat of power by virtue of his own abilities. There was indeed something lordly and commanding in his eyes and in his tone of voice.
“Boy, it’s just as you say. I don’t really have any right to criticize you.” At that, the old man sat down on the spot, cross-legged. Placing his hands on his knees, he bowed his head. “My weakness and failure has caused you so much trouble. I am truly sorry.”
“G-good... as long as you understand.” After receiving such a proper apology so easily, Yuuto had no choice but to drop his aggression. He almost felt disappointed at how quickly the tension had been deflected.
But the patriarch was much more shrewd than Yuuto could have surmised. “Now then, I’ve apologized.”
“What?” Yuuto tilted his head suspiciously, unsure of what Fárbauti meant.
In response, the patriarch glanced meaningfully over toward Felicia. “Don’t you have someone you should apologize to, as well?”
“Ah!” Yuuto couldn’t stop his exclamation of surprise as he finally realized the old man’s game.
This person had properly apologized to him despite being mocked and insulted by him. If Yuuto didn’t now admit his own fault and apologize as well, it would make him look bad.
By that same token, apologizing was the only way he wouldn’t lose face as a man. He’d been set up and led into this situation.
Fárbauti really was a cunning old fox.
“You... damned old geezer.” Yuuto reflexively spit out one more insult at Fárbauti.
“Keh-heh, well? Go on.” With a smug grin, the old patriarch gestured to Felicia with his chin.
There was no way out of this. If Yuuto ran away in this situation, he’d be throwing away his manhood.
“All right, I get it!” he snapped. “Felicia, I went too far! When I realized I couldn’t go home, I took it out on you, and there was no excuse for that, and I’m truly sorry!”
He said his whole apology in one breath, and then bowed deeply with enough force that for a moment it looked like his forehead might hit his knees.
As he did, he heard the old man next to him whisper, “Hm, looks like the apple isn’t rotten to the core,” which grated his nerves, but he ignored it.
“No, you needn’t apologize at all.” Felicia seemed a bit embarrassed, and nervously tried to refute him. “It’s just as you said, Lord Yuuto; I am the one who originally summoned you here.”
But Yuuto continued, “Mm-hm, and if I’m being honest, I’ve had some pent-up anger about that. But that didn’t make it right to speak that way to the person who’s been looking after me ever since I got here. So, I’m sorry.”
Here in Yggdrasil, Yuuto couldn’t do anything. Indeed, he couldn’t even survive on his own.
He’d been here for only one month, but it had been a full, long month. Yuuto had only been able to live through it because of Felicia’s dedication. If she hadn’t been there for him... If she had instead forsaken him in this world where he couldn’t even speak the language, Yuuto would have likely been dead in a ditch within a week.
Ever since those first days, he had always felt grateful to her. And because he understood that upsetting her or getting on her bad side would directly affect his survival, he’d always held back his negative feelings around her. Not being able to let himself speak about it, he had desperately suppressed those feelings, deep in the recesses of his heart.
The truth was, he resented being pulled out of prosperous, peaceful Japan and into this barbaric world filled with poverty and war. And upon realizing he couldn’t go back home after all, the dam had broken, and he had no longer been able to stop that resentment from bursting out.
“P-please raise your head, Lord Yuuto.” Felicia softly dropped to one knee and hung her head. “I... I am the one who should be apologizing!”
Felicia’s eyes were overflowing with tears.
“This entire time, I was unaware of the pain in your heart. No, I was pretending to be unaware. Being summoned alone to a land whose tongue you could not speak, mocked by those around you, of course you would be lonely and disheartened... and I averted my eyes from that. I kept telling myself that since you are the Child of Victory, Gleipsieg, sent by the goddess Angrboða, then this must be destiny; that since I had acted in good faith for the sake of the Wolf Clan, I couldn’t have done anything wrong. Please, forgive me.”
She said she “pretended not to notice” my feelings, and that doesn’t sound like a lie, Yuuto realized. In other words, she did notice them at some point, and felt guilty over it. That guilt, combined with her sense of responsibility for being the one who summoned me here, was what made her so dedicated in taking care of me.
“It was only today, when I heard your cries of lament and felt your anger firsthand, that I finally realized you are human just like any of us,” she continued.
“Ha ha ha, you’re not so sharp, are you, Felicia?” Yuuto couldn’t help laughing. “You can tell just by looking at me I’m just a normal human being, not some messenger from the gods.”
“Hm, looks like the affair’s settled, then,” Fárbauti chimed in, then took another gulp from his cup.
“Sorry, old man,” Yuuto conceded, looking over at him. “I said some pretty nasty things to you, too. And... thanks.”
Yuuto’s head had cooled, and he’d regained his composure. If it hadn’t been for this old man, Yuuto might have created an irreparable gulf between himself and Felicia. With that thought in mind, words of sincere apology and thanks came easily.
“Keh-heh-heh, you don’t need to apologize to me. You said it before, but it’s true that I’m an incompetent patriarch who couldn’t protect his people.” Fárbauti chuckled, as if laughing at himself, and tilted back his cup again. He was staring down at the city spread out below him. He was trying to act nonchalant, but there was clearly some bitterness in his voice.
Yuuto had already come to realize that this old man was far from incompetent. But that wasn’t good enough in this case, and Fárbauti could do nothing but face the hopeless, vexing situation at hand.
Yuuto had heard it already from the clan’s second-in-command Loptr, but the patriarch’s manner drove home just how terrible the situation surrounding the Wolf Clan had become.
“It isn’t your fault, Father,” Felicia said. “You have ruled the Wolf Clan well for many years, and are loved and respected by the people. My late father Skíðblaðnir was grateful to you from the bottom of his heart for giving him a new home after he was driven out of the Hoof Clan, and even going so far as to make him your second-in-command. He always said that he was truly blessed to have the honor to serve you, Father. No, everything is because of that wicked man Botvid. If it weren’t for his betrayal...!”
“That responsibility also falls on me, for not being able to sniff out the man’s schemes.” And with a bitter smile, the old patriarch explained the circumstances to Yuuto.
It would seem that originally, the Claw Clan and Wolf Clan had been indirectly related, what one might call “affiliated clans,” and to that end Fárbauti, and the previous Claw Clan patriarch had exchanged the Oath of the Sibling Chalice, at about a sixty-forty split in terms of power and authority.
In Yggdrasil, the relationships formed by the Oath of the Chalice were unbreakable and absolute, and so, having eliminated the threat to his east, Fárbauti had been able to focus on the war with the Horn Clan to his west.
However, the current Claw Clan patriarch, Botvid, had forced his predecessor into retirement. And as soon as he took power, he attacked the Wolf Clan with lightning speed, snatching away a large chunk of territory.
Faced with this sudden betrayal, the Wolf Clan troops had been caught off-balance, and the renowned and distinguished patriarch of the Horn Clan, Hrungnir, had not missed the opportunity to make the Wolf Clan suffer a huge defeat and lose many of their soldiers.
It was perhaps a small mercy that, shortly afterward, the Horn Clan had pulled back their troops in order to respond to the Hoof and Lightning Clans, which were beginning to act suspiciously. The Wolf Clan had narrowly escaped certain destruction, but even now, its fate was hanging by a thread.
“To think you got summoned here now of all times, with no way to return home. This must be a disaster for you,” Fárbauti said. “It’s not something one can fix with an apology, but still, I really am sorry.”
“No, there is nothing for you to apologize for, Father... everything is my...”
“A parent takes full responsibility for his child’s conduct.” Smiling warmly, Fárbauti gestured with his hand to stop Felicia’s protest.
Yuuto furiously scratched his head for a moment, then sighed deeply, shrugging his shoulders. “Enough. It’s fine already. Out of consideration for the old man, I’ll just consider the whole thing forgiven.”
On the day my mother passed away, my father abandoned her in her final moments. I swore to myself then that I’d never become like him. Be it a family member or a lover, I will never, ever forsake the people important to me. I will hold myself to that vow at all costs, even if it puts me in danger.
There were no blood ties between Fárbauti and Felicia. But even so, the old patriarch looked at her with eyes filled with the kindness of a father toward his beloved daughter. Yuuto couldn’t bring himself to hold a grudge against the man, not after being thoroughly impressed by his willingness to protect his family from blame without regard to himself.
“You know, you’re a pretty good patriarch,” Yuuto said. “Sorry for calling you incompetent.”
“Hmph, if you really feel bad about it, then listen to a few more addled words from this old man,” Fárbauti said.
“Hey, you’re still gonna lecture me after all that?” Yuuto replied dejectedly.
Yuuto had decided that this old man was worthy of his respect. Normally he would have listened to the nagging voice of reason in the back of his head, reminding him that he should use polite speech with his elders, but he’d already come this far speaking to the man as an equal, and changing his manner of speech now felt like it would just make things awkward.
“Of course I am,” said Fárbauti. “I let you say whatever you liked a minute ago. Now it’s your turn to listen to me.”
“All right, all right. So what do you wanna say?”
“I’ll have you know, I’ve lived for more than sixty years now. I’ve been through one hairy situation after another. There was the eruption of the Surtsey Volcano, and the great flooding of the Körmt River. There was a great famine brought on by continuous drought, and once when I was a kid, I even saw the sun get swallowed up by darkness. I’ve faced the prospect of death on the battlefield more times than I can count on both hands. Even now, my clan is on the brink of total destruction.”
“You’ve had a life full of drama all right,” Yuuto agreed. “Actually, it’s amazing you’re still alive.”
“That it is, and you’re exactly right. I’m still alive!” Fárbauti used his lips to make the piece of bamboo grass he held in his mouth tilt upwards, and beat a fist to his chest with a powerful thud.
Even though he and his clan were backed into a corner, his face and voice were those of an indomitable man who would fight to the end.
“Why do you think that is?” Fárbauti asked, gazing into Yuuto’s eyes as if testing him for his response.
In the face of those piercing eyes that seemed like they could see through anything, Yuuto didn’t think he could get away with a halfway-clever retort. He shook his head, honestly unable to guess the answer.
The white-haired old man smirked, and said with utmost confidence:
“It’s because, I never gave up.”
“...Huh?”
“Pardon?”
Yuuto and Felicia voiced their confusion in unison.
The look in both of their eyes said it all: That can’t be all you have to say after making such a show and building it up like that.
The old patriarch, unable to keep a straight face, cackled at their wide-eyed expressions. “Keh-heh-heh! Remember this, boy. What separates success from failure, what determines life and death, isn’t intelligence or brute strength, or authority or wealth. In the end, all of that stuff is secondary. What wins it all in the end is...” Fárbauti paused, and punctuated his words by tapping a thumb to his heart. “...determination, the firm resolve to follow through on things, no matter what.”
“Uh... right.”
Faced with the patriarch’s intense speech, Yuuto found himself replying in the affirmative, but it didn’t really mean anything to him.
Honestly, it just sounded like a bunch of platitudes. The world wasn’t the type of place where you could make things work just by showing some spirit.
Rather than that sort of vague and abstract philosophy, Yuuto couldn’t help but see better examples of useful and beneficial power in Sigrún’s combat skills, Felicia’s galldr magic, or Loptr’s charisma and leadership.
“Judging by that look, you’re not convinced?” Fárbauti said. “Well, I guess that’s no surprise with how young you are. But you shouldn’t make light of how important it is. The power of a strong will draws good fortune to itself. And a heart that’s given up drives luck away.”
“Great, it’s starting to sound like something out of the occult,” Yuuto muttered under his breath.
This speech was Fárbauti’s way of trying to pass on some wisdom to a younger generation, and Yuuto didn’t want to say anything rude to the man’s face, so he didn’t say it any louder than that.
“So, what are you going to do?” Fárbauti demanded.
“Huh? What am I... What do you mean?”
“Are you going to keep looking for a way to go back? Or will you give up on seeing your homeland and live here?”
“There’s no way I’d give up!!” Yuuto shouted reflexively.
Mysteriously, as he said the words, it was as if a cloud that had been over his heart was cleared away. Even though it was a relief, it was a bit annoying, since he was still skeptical towards the old patriarch’s philosophy.
Certainly, he hated life in Yggdrasil. He was fed up with the constant stomachaches and derision. But that wasn’t the strongest feeling he held within himself.
What came to mind from deep within his heart was the image of his beloved childhood friend.
“I... I’m definitely going to make it back home to Mitsuki!!”
Beep! Beep! Beep deedeleeeee... ?
As if in direct response to his soulful shout, a nostalgic melody echoed throughout the room.
At first, Yuuto thought he might be so desperate that it was making him hear things, but he did indeed feel the vibration from the smartphone clutched in his hand, indicating that a call was being received.
“Wait... are you... kidding me...?”
His mind instantly flashed back to that log of missed calls, that could only have occurred after he’d arrived in this world.
“No.... no way...”
His voice a hoarse whisper, he turned over his hand and stared at the screen to find the name Mitsuki Shimoya displayed on the screen.
If he wasted even a second in hesitation, this miracle could slip through his fingers. Panicking, yet struggling to be as careful as possible, Yuuto pressed the Answer Call button and held the phone to his ear.
“H-hello! Mitsuki?!”
“Y-Yuu-kun?! That’s your voice, right, Yuu-kun?! Finally! Finally! You finally picked uuup! I-if you’re alive, call and tell me so, you idioooooot! Waaaaaaaaauuughhh!!”
An endless stream of tearful yelling poured out of the speaker. It made his ears ring, but he didn’t even think of taking the phone away from his ear.
“Sh-shut up! Th-there was... a lot happened to me, okay?!” As he shouted back at her, his own voice was choked with tears.
He knew that a man wasn’t supposed to cry in front of others. That was doubly true if it was in front of a girl he liked, over the phone or not. And yet he couldn’t do anything to stop his sobs.
“A-anyway, where are you right now?!” Mitsuki exclaimed.
“This is going to sound made-up, but I’m in some kinda alternate world called Yggdrasil. I-it’s true, okay? Please believe me, I’m begging you!”
Even as he said it, it sounded so much like something out of a prank that he panicked and started trying to defend himself.
If Yuuto were in her situation, if that was the explanation that he got after not hearing from someone from over a month and finally getting in touch with them again, he’d scream, “Quit screwing around!” and be furious with them. He had no doubt of that. But that absurd explanation was completely the truth.
Yuuto’s mind raced, wondering just how he was going to get Mitsuki to believe him.
“....Okay, I believe you.”
“Th-that’s pretty quick of you,” he said, stunned. “Even I feel like I’m talking nonsense here.” This was going so well that it felt strangely anticlimactic.
“I saw you disappear into thin air with my own eyes, Yuu-kun. Your body went all transparent, and then vanished.”
“Oh, so that’s what I looked like.” Yuuto remembered his vision of Felicia at that moment. At first she’d been faint and blurry, but gradually grown more and more solid and real. A similar phenomenon must have happened to his body.
“I... I was so w-worried about you, you know,” Mitsuki said. “I... I thought I might never see you again, never hear your voice again. This whole month, I’ve been so scared and sad and uuughhh...”
His childhood friend broke down crying again.
“...I’m sorry.” Yuuto did the only thing he could, and apologized.
A woman’s tears were unfair, as the saying went, and Yuuto now understood that painfully well. There were a bunch of things he’d wanted to complain to Mitsuki about, but now that she’d started crying, his mind had gone blank, sending those thoughts off to who-knows-where.
“A-and then, I remembered the legend about Tsukimiya Shrine, and tonight’s the full moon, and it was really scary to do it alone but I made it to the shrine, thinking if I looked into an opposing mirror like you did, I might be able to go where you are...”
“Y-you idiot! Don’t do it!”
“You’re too late. I already tried it.”
“Wha?! S-seriously, that was so completely thoughtless of you!”
“I don’t wanna hear that from you, Yuu-kun,” she shot back. “I thought long and hard about it before resolving to do it.”
“Urk...!” Faced with such a clear and direct rebuttal, Yuuto couldn’t say a word in response.
Mitsuki was the type of indecisive girl who, whether it was what snack to buy or what clothes to get, was always making Yuuto wait endlessly for her to make up her mind. And yet, once in a while, she’d take action based on her emotions and do something completely crazy or reckless.
He knew about that part of her personality, but this time was especially bad. He was dumbfounded with amazement that she’d watched a person disappear before her eyes, and then was willing to attempt to do the same thing herself.
“But when I tried it, nothing happened... but I couldn’t just give up, and when I tried calling, it worked.”
“It work— Oh!!” Yuuto suddenly raised his voice and shouted, surprising Mitsuki.
“Wh-what is it?!”
“Mitsuki, you’re at the Tsukinomiya Shrine right now, right? In front of the mirror?”
“Uh-huh. Oh!” On the other end of the line, Mitsuki seemed to have realized the same thing he was thinking.
In the small town where the two of them lived, there were places here and there where cell phones didn’t get a signal. Apparently this was because cell phones only worked within the coverage range of things called “base stations.” That meant that his town was so far out in the rural countryside that the whole area wasn’t covered by the nearby base stations.
Even within Japan, there were situations like that. And despite that, he was getting signal from all the way in a completely different world. It should have been impossible. But there was no point in denying the reality of what was happening to him right now.
And, for every effect, there was a corresponding cause.
“Wh-what is this? What’s happening, Yuu-kun?”
“Who knows,” he answered. “Well, I can tell you one thing. Where I am right now, there’s a mirror in front of me that’s identical to the one at Tsukimiya Shrine, and it’s giving off a weird light.”
“Whaaat?! Th-the one here’s doing that, too!”
“I figured. I’m willing to bet that this thing is definitely one of the factors in what pulled me into this alternate world.”
“But when I tried doing the opposing mirror thing just now, I couldn’t go over there!”
“Yeah, I had the same problem. Looking into opposing mirrors under the light of the full moon is part of it, but it probably isn’t enough to make it work.”
Yuuto remembered once learning at a cram school about the difference between necessary and sufficient conditions. Both the full moon and staring into the divine mirror using an opposing mirror were surely necessary conditions for crossing between worlds. But they weren’t sufficient conditions.
There was some other condition that had to be fulfilled.
Yuuto was able to calmly accept that now. He didn’t plan to say it out loud because it irritated him, but the fact that he was calm was thanks to the rowdy old man next to him with a strand of bamboo grass in his mouth.
“What do you mean, ‘it isn’t enough’?” Mitsuki cried. “What’s missing?!”
“That’s what I’d like to know. But unless I find out what it is, I’m not gonna be able to go back home.”
“...You’re kidding, right? You can come back right now, can’t you? You’re just lying to try and scare me, Yuu-kun. Y-you’re not gonna trick me that easily.”
“I wish I could tell you it was a lie. But it just means we’re missing something, is all. It doesn’t mean that I can’t come back at all—”
Beeep-beep! Beeep-beep!
An electronic tone unfitting for Yggdrasil cut off Yuuto’s words. It was the warning tone for the battery being almost dead. If this was going to happen, he should have been more careful with how he used the battery, but Yuuto put off those regrets for later.
“Damn, already out of time, huh? I’ll give you more details next time we talk. So please, wait for me!”
“All right! Promise me! You’ll be able to call me again, right?! This isn’t the last I’ll hear from you, right?!”
“That’s right. I’m really sorry I made you worry. Anyway, I’m in one piece and I’m in good health. So don’t worry about me. And I’ll definitely find a way to get back home!”
“Right... Right! That’s a promise. You’d better make it back here!”
“Yeah, I promise! I’ll absolutely get home.”
“I believe you. Yuu-kun, you’ve always kept the promises you made with me. So I know you’ll keep this one too—”
Mitsuki’s voice was suddenly cut off.
Yuuto stared down at the black screen. Pressing the power button did nothing now. Still, the smartphone had already served an incredible purpose for him.
He was absolutely fed up with this world, and didn’t want to stay here any longer; that feeling hadn’t changed. If he could, he wanted to go home right this second. He could already feel a sharp pain in his gut just thinking about how those days of stomach aches and mockery were going to start up again.
But the gaping hole of loneliness in his heart had been filled, if not completely. He had been beaten down by his own solitude and weakness and lost his self-confidence, but being reunited with his childhood friend, even just over the phone, had revived a bit of the spark of life in him.
He was an optimistic and happy-go-lucky kid from the country who tended to get carried away, but he was also an old-fashioned type of guy.
“Keh-heh-heh, looks like luck’s started coming in your direction, hasn’t it?” Fárbauti snickered. “There you go! Can’t make light of what I said now, eh?”
The old patriarch crossed his arms, laughing confidently.
“...Hey, gramps. You said that not giving up is the trick to life, right?”
“Yep, that’s it exactly.”
“I see...”
For now, I’ll trust in those words, Yuuto decided.
The sound of Mitsuki’s tearful voice echoed in his mind, and wouldn’t go away. He couldn’t let the girl he liked feel sad. That single, strong feeling granted him a new resolve.
If it helps me see Mitsuki again, I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll make it through any pain or hardship. I’ll survive, even if I have to eat rocks to do it. And then...
“I’m gonna find a way back home!!”
Grasping his newfound determination, Yuuto’s hand clenched tighter around his smartphone.
The night in Iárnviðr was dark, and deep.
In the 21st century, even rural farming villages like the one Yuuto was from would see the light of street lamps, or light coming from the windows of houses whose owners were staying up late. However, Iárnviðr had gone completely quiet, and the only light in the darkness was from the full moon, and from the torch Felicia was carrying.
“Uhh, so Felicia, I just wanted to say... um...” Walking back from the sanctuary, Yuuto gathered his courage and put his gratitude into words. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me!”
They had parted ways with Fárbauti at the base of the Hliðskjálf, so it was just the two of them.
“Oh, um, you don’t have to worry about what happened at the hörgr,” Felicia said ashamedly. “Really, I was the one at fault...”
Perhaps he’d accidentally dredged up her feelings of guilt, contrary to his intentions.
Yuuto hastily waved his hands in denial. “No, no, that’s not it! Please, let’s not rehash that whole thing again. Uh, though I guess it’s probably my fault for bringing it up, but...!”
“Er...”
“So, earlier,” he said quickly, “I apologized to you, but I never thanked you. Felicia, this whole month, you’ve helped me out and taken care of me. You’ve even done stuff like staying up late at night to tend to me when I was sick even though you had work during the day, and I just thought... it would be wrong if I didn’t properly thank you for that.”
Yuuto started to get embarrassed at what he was saying partway through, and he had to look away. His cheeks felt strangely hot. He was glad it was nighttime. His face was surely bright red, but at least the reddish light of the torch would help to disguise that.
“Really... Thank you very much!” Yuuto bowed his head, putting all of his feelings into it.
It was something he should have said to her back at the hörgr. He’d been trying to get himself to spit it out since then, while they were descending the Hliðskjálf’s stairs and making their way through the city gate. Now they were almost back at Felicia and Loptr’s house, and he’d only just been able to screw up his courage, telling himself that there might never be another good moment to say it if he let this one slip by.
“I am not worthy of such thanks.” Felicia placed a hand to her heart and closed her eyes. It was as if she were reflecting deeply on Yuuto’s words.
After a moment, she nodded strongly in affirmation.
“All right, I’ve decided. Brother! I want you to serve as our mediator.” As she entered the door to her home, Felicia shouted for Loptr.
“Uh?” Loptr, who had been in the middle of enjoying a nightcap before bed, was totally taken off guard, and responded with quite the silly look on his face. “What’s this all about, Felicia? And hey, what happened with you? Were you not able to go back home?”
“That’s right, so I’m going to need to stay here for a while longer. I’m sorry for the trouble.” Yuuto bowed his head politely.
“Hm, looks like you found some guts in the meantime. You’ve got a better look about you now,” Loptr said, with a soft smile.
“...Guts?” Yuuto couldn’t help recalling how when he’d first met Sigrún, she had criticized him using a similar remark, about how he lacked resolve. He didn’t feel like he’d changed since then, so he wasn’t sure what to think.
“When you left here yesterday evening, you had those dead fish eyes, like someone who’d given up on everything. But right now, I can see a strong willpower coming from them.”
“Did I really look that bad?”
“Yeah, you had the eyes of a total loser. Like a soldier from a defeated army.”
“That’s an awful way of putting it.” Yuuto felt dejected at hearing it put so plainly, but the description also hit home.
It’s true that, right up until I left to go to the hörgr, all I could think about was escaping from Yggdrasil, from my pain and suffering. I had a completely negative attitude.
Loptr might seem casual and a bit shallow at first glance, but he actually had a deep understanding of people and a good eye for seeing their true nature.
It’s no wonder he’s serving as the second-in-command at his age, Yuuto thought.
“Brother, I’ll ask that you refrain from using such disrespectful language to describe the person who’s going to become my sworn big brother.”
“...What? Er, umm, that reminds me, you mentioned something about a mediator earlier... you can’t be saying—?!”
“Yes,” Felicia confirmed. “I want you to serve as the mediator so that Lord Yuuto and I may exchange the Oath of the Outer Sibling Chalice.”
Felicia gave a small nod as she spoke, her tone calm and matter-of-fact.
By contrast, Loptr looked quite troubled. “A-are you serious, Felicia? You have the potential to rise through the ranks and become one of the future leaders of the Wolf Clan, and I’m not just saying that as your family. Do you understand just how much weight your Chalice vow holds?”
“I am fully aware.”
“Today, when I visited the palace grounds, I heard some of the things being said about Yuuto, and frankly speaking, his reputation isn’t a very good one. If you start treating him with deference as an older brother, it’s going to affect how you’re treated, too. They’ll say hurtful things like, ‘For someone supposedly called the Wise Wolf Ráðsviðr, she’s a blind fool when it comes to someone she takes an interest in.’ You still want to do this?” Loptr asked carefully.
“I still want to.” Felicia looked straight back into his eyes and nodded solemnly. “I have come to deeply admire Lord Yuuto’s kind and magnanimous nature, from the bottom of my heart. After being charmed so thoroughly, there is no way I could not seek his Chalice oath.”
Loptr sighed and gave a somewhat resentful glance in Yuuto’s direction, then picked up his cup and drank its contents all at once.
“...Whew!”
His breath stank of alcohol, and to Yuuto, it looked a little like he was drinking away his sorrows.
Even though he had only known Loptr for a night and a day, he had gotten the impression the man was unflappable, and so seeing him like this made Yuuto feel like he’d done something terrible to him. He felt his body tense up to think of it.
“U-um, so, what exactly is an ‘Outer Sibling’?” Yuuto asked.
“Oh, good grief. He doesn’t even know that, and you’re going to make him your big brother.” Loptr laughed wryly to himself and shrugged his shoulders. Then he proceeded to explain it to Yuuto.
Just as those who share the same parent in a normal family are siblings, the concept was no different among clan families formed by the Chalice.
However, if two people under different sworn “parents” came to recognize and respect each other, and they decided to exchange the Oath of the Chalice, they could become sworn siblings, as well. Such a sibling from outside one’s clan family was known as an Outer Sibling.
Exchanging that oath with someone meant they could go around proclaiming how they were so-and-so’s brother, and so those with high status or good future prospects within a clan were advised to be prudent about who they swore such oaths with.
“That’s—! Felicia, don’t you think this is a bit crazy all of a sudden?!” Yuuto began to panic.
“No, I am very much in my right mind.” Felicia smiled at him softly. There was no hesitation or sign of misgivings in her eyes.
“But someone like me isn’t worthy of being your sworn sibling, Felicia,” he argued.
“That isn’t true in the least. It is my earnest wish that I might receive your Oath of the Chalice.”
“How can you see that much value in me...?”
“Tee hee. In my opinion, the others in the clan just lack a discerning eye for character. Despite being a complete novice, you won against Rún in a fight. They laughed and dismissed your win as nothing more than luck, which says a lot about them. And with what just happened, you have shown how broad-minded and magnanimous you are!”
“Huh?” Yuuto was baffled.
“They see a lion’s cub and call it a mere cat, deriding it as a weak fool. Honestly, one wonders who the real fool is in that situation. In the near future, every one of them will surely be bowing at your feet, Lord Yuuto.”
“Ohh?” Loptr said, grinning mischievously. “Felicia’s intuition is often right... So he’s going to transform into something major, is he? All right then, this is my chance. How about it, Yuuto? Would you become my little brother, as well?”
Loptr stared expectantly at Yuuto. He’d asked in a joking tone, but his fervent stare was void of humor.
“Oh, my, you’re indiscriminate as always, Brother,” Felicia said. “You mean to say you’d try to recruit even the messenger of the goddess Angrboða to work under you?”
“Hey, he says that’s not who he is, right?” Loptr retorted. “Then there’s no problem. In order to revive the Wolf Clan, I desperately need any promising recruits I can get my hands on.”
“Seriously, both of you are putting way too much stock in me here...” Yuuto wearily slumped his shoulders.
After all of that, half because he was going along with the flow and half due to the combined pressure from the two insistent siblings, that night, Yuuto exchanged the Oath of the Chalice with each of them, with the qualifier that it would only be for until he was able to return to Japan.
“I hope that we get along well from here on, Big Brother,” Felicia beamed.
“Make our little sister cry, and you’ll pay for it, Little Brother,” Loptr snickered. “Ha ha ha.”
As thus, in this strange other world, Yuuto gained a new family.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login