Chapter 4: The Hidden Boss (Right Side) Finds a Black Notebook
Okay. Let me just explain this one more time. My name is Yumiella Right-Side Dolkness. I’m the one and only villainess of this world! Or rather, I was... I’ve apparently been split into two halves.
In the absolute worst turn of events, my left side died and is in a place called the Kingdom of Twilight, so I can only move the right side of my body. I won’t give up, though! I’ve faced plenty of difficult situations until now.
I’m definitely going to get my left side back, but in order to do that, I first need to...
“What should we do?”
“What should we do, indeed?” Patrick repeated.
I’d forced myself to feel motivated to solve this problem, but Patrick and I were just sighing deeply at this nonsensical situation where half my body had died.
After we found out that my left side was dead, we had tried asking Lemn various questions, but he didn’t have any useful information. It seemed that the Kingdom of Twilight, or whatever it was called, couldn’t be visited unless you died, and there was no way to come back to the living world from Twilight.
If Yumiella (right side) were to die in order to go to the Kingdom of Twilight and save Yumiella (left side), that would go against the whole point of trying to return to being a whole Yumiella. Well, you were a good person, Yumiella (left side). I’ll live a life full enough for the both of us!
“What should we do?”
“What should we do, indeed?” Patrick repeated once again.
We both let out our umpteenth sigh. I think we’re toast. Not only are we in an incomprehensible situation based on retconned lore, but our only clues lie with Lemn.
Lemn was rejoicing over the fact that my strength had been halved, so I couldn’t expect him to help us too much. The silver lining was that he would at least answer our questions.
I turned to the god of darkness to ask another question. “Is there truly no way to come back to life?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can’t we speak to them or communicate through letters or something?”
“I’ve heard of scents passing through from Twilight to here, but voices and text won’t work.”
Why can smells come through? Maybe I can use scents to use Morse code and communicate with my left half... No, that wouldn’t work. The me over there is me after all—she wouldn’t be able to understand a code that uses smells.
As I pondered a way to communicate only through smells, Patrick spoke up. “Even if Yumiella herself can’t, couldn’t you send a message to the Yumiella over there, Lemn? You can go to the Kingdom of Twilight, right?”
“Fine, I’ll send a message to miss’s left side. A letter would be fine too. I’ll deliver it to her!”
“We need to explain our situation, then...” Patrick trailed off. “Hold on. You seem too happy to do it. You’re saying you’ll go to the Kingdom of Twilight, but you’re probably just going to hide and stay hidden, aren’t you?”
Lemn fell silent. It seemed that was exactly his plan.
There was no way to directly communicate with my left half, and our messenger couldn’t be trusted. There was really nothing we could do.
It would be nice if she (left side) could contact us... Actually, Patrick said something about explaining our situation. I wonder how much she knows about what’s going on.
If I were to end up with only the left half of my body, I would think that my right half had disappeared. I would never imagine that my right half was alive and just my left half had died. Did my left side even know she was dead?
Lemn was here to explain the Kingdom of Twilight to us, but there probably wasn’t such a convenient character to explain things over there. Since my left half’s understanding might affect how we move forward, I decided to ask Lemn if he knew anything.
“Do you think my left half understands what’s going on? I think she might not know she’s dead.”
“I can’t say for sure since I wasn’t there, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think King probably told her about it.”
“So she knows that she’s dead... I didn’t realize the Kingdom of Twilight had a king.”
“He’s just acting like a leader on his own,” Lemn clarified.
I was surprised to learn that not only was there a leader, but there was a whole community in the Kingdom of Twilight. I was expecting some kind of lawless land where people do as they please. I expressed my honest impression to Lemn, who then confessed to his own atrocities.
“Well, I said the sunlight isn’t good for them, and everyone just believed me. They all stay in the shade of a mountain, which makes it easy for me to observe them. It’s been really helpful. I think your left side is at that settlement too.”
“Don’t you feel bad for the people who are earnestly following your words?” I asked.
“Erm, not really. King doesn’t believe me anyway.”
Wow...I should know this by now, but Lemn sure is thoughtless to the point it’s off-putting. Though I was disconcerted by the god of malice, Lemn, Patrick seemed to be concerned with something else.
“Why do you call this leader ‘King’? He doesn’t seem to have any kingly aspects to him from the way you’ve described him.”
Now that Patrick’s mentioned it, that’s true. He feels more like the leader of a neighborhood association or something. Does this leader call himself King? Or have people started to just call him that? There’s also the possibility that Lemn calls him King ironically...
The answer was none of the above. Lemn casually revealed the truth, which was a shocking fact we couldn’t ignore.
“Oh, remind me, what’s the name of this kingdom?”
“The Kingdom of Valschein?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. He’s the first king of this kingdom, so he’s King.”
Some facts were more significant to certain people, while not being a big deal to others. This should’ve been obvious, but Lemn’s sensibilities were that of an insane person when it came to these sorts of things. The fact that the first king of Valschein was in the Kingdom of Twilight might’ve not been the first thing, but surely should’ve been around the third thing to mention.
“Why didn’t you tell us?!” I asked.
“I mean, he’s just a guy.”
“He’s the king. He’s a special person. You should’ve told us.”
“Everyone is special to someone,” Lemn said. “Depending on who you ask, they might be more interested in the cat-eared man than the king.”
Lemn wasn’t wrong. This cat-eared man’s family would probably be more interested in hearing about him rather than the founding father of Valschein. Wait...is there actually a cat-eared man?
Wow, the first king, huh? Since I knew the truth behind the Demon Lord, I had a terrible impression of the king.
“Please tell me more about the first king,” I said. “I’d also like to know if there are any other important people there.”
“Important people...like the cat-eared man?”
“I’ve heard enough about him.”
After asking various questions to Lemn about the first king, the man’s peculiar nature came to light. Even setting aside his status of being a king while he was alive, he was quite the special person.
This King was acting as a leader of the Kingdom of Twilight because he was its longest resident. Most people in that world would disappear in several decades even if they’d died with regrets, but the king had been there for several centuries. Not only that, but the king ignored Lemn’s warnings and explored the sunlit world. His goal was to come back to life.
This King was the closest to the solution of how my left side might come back to life. Since they could cooperate under similar interests, the king was perhaps more helpful in this situation than Lemn was. I continued asking questions about the king, wanting to know more.
“What’s his motivation for coming back to life?”
“All humans try to return to the living world after they die.”
“That may be true, but the fact that he works harder than most normal people must mean that he has some great ambition he wants to fulfill in this world.”
“I don’t know, nor do I care.”
Ah, there’s that awful side of Lemn that doesn’t care about people’s feelings. Well, since the King is in the Kingdom of Twilight, he definitely has some sort of regret... I guess it’s no surprise for a king to have a regret or two, but the fact that he’s worked for centuries to find a way to resurrect himself without giving up must mean it’s a hefty ambition.
“What do you think, Patrick?” I asked. “What do you think the first king’s objective is?”
“I’m not sure. I can’t even begin to imagine what it could be since I don’t know what kind of person he is.”
Yeah, same. I still can’t figure out what kind of person he is. Though historical texts wrote about his personality, there was probably some added color that differed from reality.
What kinds of thoughts cross the mind of someone as important as the founder of a kingdom on his deathbed...?
◆◆◆
After that, we continued to interrogate Lemn in order to figure out what sort of person the first king was, but we found out pretty much nothing. Could you be a little more interested in individuals, Lemn?
We were at an impasse, but the first king of Valschein was still our only way out of this. Since there was nothing else we could do, we headed to the Royal Capital to research him as much as we could.
With Patrick supporting my immobile left side, we traveled for half a day by carriage and headed to the Royal Capital. Ryuu stayed home, but Eleanora tagged along for some reason.
Upon arriving at the Royal Capital, we immediately headed to the Royal Palace, where we were able to meet with Ronald right away. We were brought to a room that had been cleared of others, and right away Eleanora was struggling with how to address Ronald.
“Broth— No, my mistake. Headmas— No, that’s wrong too... Who are you?”
“You don’t have to keep it a secret,” Ronald said.
“My dear brother!”
“Yes, yes. It’s been a while, Eleanora.”
Ronald was Eleanora’s older brother, as well as the former headmaster of the Royal Academy and the current king’s right hand... He was a complex man. He also knew of the truth behind the Demon Lord’s sealing, so he would be very helpful in researching the unembellished facts regarding the first king.
After some quick greetings, I immediately jumped into the main topic. “I’m currently researching the first king. Could I take a look at the documents in the royal family’s archives?”
“Sure. I’ll take you there, so have a look at whatever you’d like.”
Wow. That only took one round of conversation to be settled.
I preferred stories with quick developments, but this felt a bit excessive. Surely the precious documents regarding the royal family’s ancestors were filled with things that couldn’t be shown to the public. I fell silent, expecting there to be some sort of catch, and Ronald spoke up right away.
“You can trust me. This is related to your left leg, and by the looks of it, your arm as well, right? I wouldn’t allow it if it was just out of curiosity, but if you’re in some sort of trouble, I’d like to help.”
“Thank you very much. I’ll be sure to return the favor by—”
“No, no. It’s fine. I can’t accept a favor from someone who isn’t feeling well and seems to be struggling.”
I’d wanted to specify how I was going to return the favor, but he was a tenacious man. I guess this means I owe him one. I was going to have to provide an adequate favor in the future, whenever Ronald or His Majesty needed it. Ugh, I would’ve preferred he just charged me an exorbitant amount to look at the documents.
Despite my dissatisfaction, I had no choice but to agree.
“Understood. I’ll return the favor one day.”
“I might reach out to you if we’re ever in a little trouble, but you can help us out when it’s convenient for you.”
I guess it’s a small price to pay to look at texts that have never left the premises. Ronald won’t ask for anything ridiculous either. He already knows I would say no if he asked me to help the kingdom take over the world. He’ll definitely ask for a favor that toes the line of something I won’t want but will agree to do.
It wasn’t a terrible deal. In fact, I was much more unreasonable in this situation for suddenly asking to see the royal family’s secrets without any explanation of my situation. Even if I did tell him the whole story about how my left side had died and so on, he probably wouldn’t believe me. I’d pretty much given up on explaining the situation, but that wasn’t the case for Eleanora.
“Yumiella’s left side has gone to the Kingdom of Twilight! She heard from the god of darkness that a king from long ago is trying to come back to life. That’s why we came here!”
Ronald just smiled and nodded along to his sister’s words. Though her explanation was filled with fantastical elements, he didn’t react in any unusual way. “Eleanora spills everything,” he said in a gentle tone. “The best thing to do is convince her that lies are the truth.”
“I’m not lying!” Eleanora objected.
Ronald trusted that his sister wasn’t a liar, but at the same time, he knew that she would take lies seriously. It was actually more convenient for us if he thought Eleanora was lying, so I ignored Eleanora’s fuming.
“I sure am glad, though. I was worried whatever you came for was related to that recent incident.”
“I’m sorry for the confusion.”
The recent incident Ronald was referring to was probably all the commotion regarding the Lord of National Affairs. It was just a week ago that I had caused trouble at the court conference, so I was a little embarrassed to come to the Royal Palace.
The documents were in the palace basement. With Patrick supporting me, I dragged my paralyzed left side as I walked. If I hopped on my right leg, I could move on my own, but I restrained myself since I was in the Royal Palace.
I have a good sense of judgment, so I abstain from bizarre actions when in a serious place. Forget about that Lord of Leveling stuff.
We arrived at the archives in the palace basement. It was bright thanks to a magical instrument lighting the area, but the air around us had that chilliness unique to basements.
“To that room, please,” Ronald said, which prompted the keeper to head to a door down the hall and take out one of the keys dangling from his neck. He then used that key to open the door before returning to his post.
Oh, so this is as far as he goes. I was going to ask him where the documents I’m looking for are. I watched the keeper walk away.
“He has the keys, but he can’t go inside,” Ronald explained. “The records surrounding the foundation of this kingdom are just that confidential.”
“What? Is it okay for me to look at them? I won’t be ‘disappeared’?”
“You already know things that would get a regular person ‘disappeared.’”
We knew about the truth behind the Demon Lord and that the former Duke of Hillrose was still alive. We knew enough that it wouldn’t be strange for the kingdom to suddenly decide that we knew too much and get rid of us.
If they had a way to get rid of me, they probably would’ve done it already, I thought as I entered the secret room.
“It’s small,” I said.
The room really was small. It was a space of about eleven square meters, and three walls were covered in bookshelves, which made the space more like eight square meters. This is it? This is all the confidential information?
The shelves were filled with books that had clean spines. Each book was ‘clean’ in every sense—there were no stains, no patterns, not even text... Seeing a shelf full of books with blank spines felt very unsettling, and I stood there, mesmerized.
“Do you know why they’re like this?” Ronald asked.
“Is it so that it’s hard to find specific documents and intruders can’t find what they’re looking for? They’d have no choice but to search each and every book.”
“That’s what you’d think, right? An intruder would be so focused on the shelves, in a hurry to check the books...to the point that they wouldn’t realize there’s a trap door beneath their feet.”
Beneath their feet? I looked down at the floor in the area I was standing, and... Wait. There’s a hole in the stone flooring.
Ronald pulled out a key and stuck it in the hole, then turned it, but nothing happened. Huh? Isn’t there supposed to be a hidden room under this one? Suddenly, Patrick started stomping on the ground.
“It makes a dull sound,” Patrick said. “There’s a room under here?”
“Yeah, it makes you wonder. If an intruder were to find this keyhole, they might think the secrets are hidden underneath and try to dig a hole in the floor.” Ronald laughed, seeing that we were thinking like this imaginary intruder.
The room first draws your attention to the bookshelves, then to the floor. Where’s the stuff really hidden? I looked up, expecting the next misdirection to be on the ceiling, which made Ronald chuckle teasingly.
“The key in the floor is connected to here,” he said, pulling on one of the bookshelves in the back with both hands, but...it didn’t move.
I thought the bookshelf was actually going to be a secret door, but it wasn’t such a simple gimmick after all.
Ronald struggled with the bookshelf as he explained the full truth behind the hidden room. “Behind this—urgh!—this door...mmph! Sorry, can someone help me...?”
It turned out that he just wasn’t strong enough.
The left half of my body wasn’t working, and Patrick was busy supporting me, so neither of us could rush to help him. Eleanora was the first to volunteer her help. It was as helpful as if the mouse was the next one to help the grandpa in “The Gigantic Turnip.”
“Leave it to me!” Eleanora declared.
“I’ll say ‘go,’ then we’ll—”
“Okay! Ragh!”
“Wait, wait. That ‘go’ was just me explaining the signal.”
“Ragh!”
“I give up. Hnngh!”
The meager siblings attempted to move the bookshelf with a lack of teamwork that seemed unusual from siblings. The heavy bookshelf made a deep sound as it began moving. Once it started moving, the rest was easy, and the Hillrose siblings were able to fully open the secret door attached to the bookshelf.
It was time to enter the room with the kingdom’s secrets. The first thing that caught my eye in the dim room was a mummified mermaid.
It was a mummified mermaid. Its upper half looked like a monkey, and its bottom half looked like a fish—it was definitely a mermaid.
There were plenty of other things, like rusty swords, old wooden slips, and yellowed stacks of papers, but the mermaid mummy was so impactful that nothing else was registering.
The large glass case containing the desiccated mermaid was sitting in a corner of the room, covered in dust, yet it had such a strong presence.
What a shock! The government has been hiding the existence of cryptids after all! Though in a fantasy world with monsters, cryptids don’t feel that special... They don’t feel that strange, I guess.
After realizing that the mermaid mummy wasn’t such a big deal, I immediately lost interest in it, but for some reason Patrick was now overreacting to it.
“What is that thing...?”
“It’s probably some monster from the sea.”
“It’s not a monster,” he objected. “Monsters don’t leave carcasses behind.”
He was right. Once a monster died, its body disappeared. Since they were quasi organisms completely made out of magical energy, the moment they stopped being active they would turn back into magical energy and disappear as if they’d evaporated, leaving only magic stones behind. For that reason, it was impossible to taxidermy a monster or make weapons out of their claws.
Does that mean that mermaid’s not a monster but an animal? Is it something that can be explained by biology like regular mammals and fish, even though it looks like that?
What a shock! The government has been hiding the existence of cryptids after all! This is the second time it’s been proved today. They’re probably hiding the existence of UFO’s along with cryptids. Are we really going to be all right? Is the kingdom going to “disappear” us?
I glanced over at Ronald, worried about whether we’d be able to safely return home after seeing such unbelievable things.
“I apologize,” he began, sounding regretful. “I don’t mean to rain on your fun, but that’s fake. An amateur just put together the bones of a monkey and a fish.”
Then why is it being stored in the basement like it’s some precious thing?! I won’t be fooled! I’ll bring your conspiracies to light!
As I fumed all on my own, Patrick made his way to the display case housing the mermaid mummy, not seeming skittish.
“The bones on the monkey side and fish side are pretty different.”
“What? Really?”
“Look here.”
He’s right. The more I looked at the suspicious mermaid’s hips, the more obvious it became that this was a poorly made fake. Ugh, what a boring world. But I still believe there are aliens. Before I could ask why they were storing such an item, Ronald answered.
“It seems that an important person made it long ago. We can’t make it public, and no one has the heart to throw it out either.”
Who the heck is this important person who had enough free time to make this thing? I’m sure they would be okay with throwing it out. They probably made it when they were a kid anyway. It’s like your parents keeping your crafts from elementary school in a storage closet, only it’s been several hundred years.
Though the mummified mermaid had stood out quite a bit, its importance drastically decreased. I needed to focus on my original objective, so I began scanning the secret room.
The room, which could be called the forbidden archives, turned out to be quite large once we entered. It was filled with things like wooden slips that felt ancient, carefully bound stacks of papers, and a metal box that was wrapped with chains... There were items that were historically valuable and things that couldn’t be revealed to the public. I once again felt that I’d come to a dangerous place.
“Is it really okay to show me this place?” I asked Ronald.
“It’s fine. You probably won’t tell anyone.”
It was true that I wouldn’t reveal secrets I’d found out here to others, nor would I let them accidentally slip. The same went for Patrick. Everyone here can keep their mouth shu—
“Wowie! There are so many old things!”
I wonder if this is fine. She’s the last person who should be here. I started to get worried, and I glanced over at the potential risk’s brother to see if things were okay.
“I wonder if this is fine,” Ronald said. “She’s the last person who should be here.”
It seemed that her dear brother felt the same way.
That very same potential risk continued to explore the room on her own, her unfortunate danger on full display. Stop! You’re going to end up seeing something you shouldn’t, and they’ll erase your memories. They’ll show you a glowing pen thing!
Nothing here should’ve been interesting to Eleanora, but she began rummaging around with a strange persistence.
“There’s a wonderful scent coming from somewhere,” Eleanora remarked. “This smells like...a desert at sunset,” she mumbled to no one as she sniffed the air.
Now that she’s mentioned it, something smells like flowers enveloped in something. There’s nothing about it that smells like a desert at sunset, though. Actually, what does that even smell like?
Ronald tilted his head in confusion without trying to sniff out the scent, but Patrick seemed to understand.
“You two get what she’s talking about?” Ronald asked. “Is there such a smell?”
“It does smell faintly of flowers, but not desertlike... Do you know what it is, Patrick?”
“I can smell that something smells like perfume, but I don’t know where it’s coming from.”
Thanks to our heightened senses that came with being at high levels, Patrick and I were both able to smell the scent that Eleanora was talking about. It was incredible that Eleanora was able to notice it without the same advantages as us.
Eleanora went deeper into the room in search of where the smell was originating from.
“Oh, this is... But this shouldn’t smell so...”
Eleanora arrived at the farthest part of the room. I was worried if it was okay for her to rummage in this area.
“This is actually the area where all the documents relating to the foundation of the kingdom—in other words the first king—are located,” Ronald said.
The perfume-detection dog Eleanora had brilliantly found the documents we were looking for. Though it was probably a coincidence, it was a magnificent move on her part. Eleanora finally found the source of the fragrance.
“It’s this notebook! The smell is coming from this.” Eleanora held a black notebook up high. It was probably an antique item from before the foundation of the kingdom, but it didn’t look too weathered.
“Whose is that?” I asked.
Ronald just placed his hand over his mouth with a dubious look. “There shouldn’t be something here that’s not in the catalog... Did an intruder leave it behind? No, that’s not possible. In that case, what is that...?”
What? Is it some unknown item? It didn’t seem likely that something within Eleanora’s reach had been undiscovered until just now. That’s strange...
Reading the contents of the notebook would probably reveal some information, but Eleanora was only interested in its smell. She brought the notebook up to her nose. As she took a long sniff, a look of happiness washed over her face.
“Ah... This is such a lovely scent.”
I knew she liked nice fragrances, but it was rare for her to be so enamored by a smell. Maybe there’s something dangerous in that scent. It smells like crime.
“I wonder what this smell is,” I said.
“There’s something mysterious about it, like when you think something’s ended but it’s only just begun. There’s also a loneliness to it, like a desert at sunset. There’s also a joy to it, like being able to live as you please...”
“I see...”
“More than anything, this smells like the real thing.”
“Is that so?” I limply responded.
“Finally... He was finally able to make something real.” Overcome with emotion, tears began streaming down Eleanora’s face.
I would’ve liked some information that would help us narrow things down, like the scent of a flower from a certain place or a fragrance that can only be obtained at a certain location... My senses weren’t as sensitive as Eleanora’s, so I wouldn’t be able to understand. I decided to give up on figuring out what the smell was.
After getting the notebook from a teary Eleanora, I immediately scanned the contents. There was an entry written in rounded, cutesy handwriting.
“Ugh, he’s so annoying! Also, I saw that girl for the first time in a while, and she was split in half! I was so surprised!!!”
What the hell is this? It’s as unintelligible as Eleanora’s thoughts on the scent. I showed the notebook to Ronald, thinking if he could deduce the contents then we’d be able to figure out what this was, but it only furthered our confusion.
“I think I would remember something like this...” he said.
One mystery just leads to another... Perhaps this entry hadn’t made sense because I’d flipped to a random page. I flipped through the notebook and checked the first page.
“Starting today, I’m going to jot down my thoughts and feelings from my daily life. I hope the rest of my day is wonderful!”
It seemed like a diary, or rather, a collection of memos. The adorable, round handwriting meant that the owner was probably a woman. I skimmed the notebook as I flipped through the pages.
“Work was so tough today. I’m so exhausted! I want comfort.”
“My boss, who I admire, and my crush were hanging out together. Feeling kinda sad.”
“My crush told me, ‘You’re weirdly feminine when it comes to certain things’! Is that a good thing...?”
“Got demoted. I’m definitely not going to forgive my boss, grrr!”
“I might’ve unlocked some secret power... I’m totally going to use it to get back at my boss!”
“I’m suddenly in an unfamiliar place? Where am I? I’m so lonely.”
“Ugh, he’s so annoying! Also, I saw that girl for the first time in a while, and she was split in half! I was so surprised!!!”
Oops, I made it to the newest entry. After a quick skim, it seemed that it was eighty percent about the owner’s romantic relationships, and the rest was all complaints about her boss. Most of it was stuff that didn’t matter, and it felt like the owner’s imagination was running wild with the part about the secret power... Really, what is this?
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