Chapter 58 (1/2)
Chapter 58
Chapter 58 The smell of the beauty under the moons
“The moons are beautiful, Master. Look, Lynclumir and the mountain bell constellation seem so close… Once ‘Hitotsuzuki’(1) ends it’ll be winter.”
“It’s a beautiful night sky, for sure. You can’t see this very often in j.a.pan… since you have two moons, it’s a lot brighter and you can see much more. …Is Lynclumir the name of a moon?”
“That’s right, Master. Lynclumir and Mythmikandal. The most famous, most loved, and… most hated couple in this world.”
The night after I signed the contract with Etowa, I met Diana in the garden of the mansion as promised. After returning to the mansion, everyone ate the dinner that Aurica made together, then I looked over Aurica’s j.a.panese studies, had a bath, and waited until 10pm when Marina and Aurica both went to sleep (10pm is considered late night in this world).
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Diana and I were in the garden of the mansion, illuminated by the moonlight.
I was in a jersey top and bottom, comfortable enough to be called pyjamas. In contrast, Diana had just gotten out of the bath and had her hair down, wearing the same dress as the first time we met. Instead of her pyjamas she was wearing comfortable Uniq*o sweats.h.i.+rt, which looked a little odd. Illuminated by the moonlight, the platinum blonde looked as though it was glowing with eye-opening beauty.
“A moon couple, huh. I didn’t know they had names. I wonder which is male and which is female… I guess the bigger one is the male moon?”
There was a large red moon and slightly smaller bright moon in the night sky, separated from each other.
“No, the bigger red moon is the female, Lynclumir. The bright one is the male moon, Mythmikandal. When Lynclumir and Mythmikandal completely overlap, ‘Hitotsuzuki’ happens. Looking at the alignment of the stars, the next Hitotsuzuki will be Fall Pendulum. Strong monsters will sp.a.w.n during that time, so it may be better for Master to shut himself in the mansion for the duration.”
Diana said while looking up at the moons. Apparently, the monsters that sp.a.w.ned during Hitotsuzuki were said to be the children of Lynclumir and Mythmikandal. That was why they were the most hated couple… it made sense.
“What’s the Fall Pendulum?”
“Hitotsuzuki happens two to four times a year, but the strength of the monsters will vary each time. There are different types of Hitotsuzuki based on the movement of the moons and the position of the stars, each having their own names.”
“Huh. So Fall Pendulum is the most dangerous one of them?”
“Generally, yes. The monsters born during the Channelmarks. .h.i.totsuzuki are the weakest, followed by Dusk in Twilight. Meanwhile, the monsters born during Fall Pendulum are at their strongest. In terms of frequency, Channelmarks and Eight Brave happen roughly the same amount of times. Dusk in Twilight and Fall Pendulum only happen once a year. There are some exceptions that happen very rarely, every few decades or so.”
That made sense. In any case, that means the upcoming Hitotsuzuki will be dangerous. But if a moon is covering another moon, did that make it a lunar eclipse caused by a moon? Or something like that? It might be quite a spectacle. I’d want to take pictures.
Come to think of it, didn’t Rebecca-san mention something about joint moons too?
“Joint moons, otherwise known as Awasetsuki, happens when the two moons overlap partia
lly. If the overlap is covers less than half it’s called ‘Acquaintance Awasetsuki’, and if it covers over half it’s called ‘Boy and Girl Awasetsuki’. While it doesn’t sp.a.w.n strong monsters like the Hitotsuzuki, it increases the sp.a.w.n rate of regular monsters, so you still need to be careful.”
“Every little detail has a different name, huh. Diana sure is knowledgeable.”
Something else had captured my interest. I wondered if looking up at the stars was a universal constant. Constellations and astrology existed in this world too, and the stars probably had stories behind them as well. Lynclumir and Mythmikandal were similar to Orihime and Hikobos.h.i.+ in a way, too.
…The part where they become Hitotsuzuki—One Moon—and have a ton of kids is a little direct, though.
“…It’s because of the picture book I often read when I was a child. A story called The Great Magician of Dreams.”
I had heard of the Great Magician of Dreams from somewhere before.
When I received my blessing in the temple, Priestess-chan had obnoxiously explained that it was someone who was once famous in Erishe.
“What was it about?”
“To put it broadly… once upon a time, there was a Hitotsuzuki named ‘Globetrotter’ that sp.a.w.ned monsters even stronger than Fall Pendulum, and the Great Magician of Dreams was the one who stood against those monsters. It was full of pretty pictures of the Hitotsuzuki, so it was my treasure.”
Globetrotter, huh. It all seemed so fantasy-like that I couldn’t differentiate between what were made-up fairy tales and what actually happened. The only thing I knew for sure was that the Great Magician of Dreams was a real cheater of a character. I guess people in this world also liked the whole ‘I’m the strongest’ concept. Come to think of it, didn’t Priestess-chan mention something? About the legend of how the Great Magician of Dreams had a unique skill that allowed him to stop an army of a thousand all by himself…
“I see. I’m a little surprised that Diana likes those kinds of heroic tales.”
“Eh? Ah, yes. That might be true… To be precise, it’s not that I like heroic tales… but more that I like stories targeted towards girls.”
Aah, so the book was about the love story between Lynclumir and Mythmikandal, meeting under the stars during Hitotsuzuki, romantic things like that.
“…In reality, Hitotsuzuki is undeniably a disaster to humans. But the elf village is a place full of spiritual power, so… Monster spots don’t exist nearby… That’s why to me, Hitotsuzuki was… Thinking back on it now, I can see how naive I was…”
Looking up at Lynclumir s.h.i.+ning beautifully in the clear night sky, Diana confessed her regrets.
According to Jephthah, two years had pa.s.sed since Diana’s ‘special guidance’ was issued, and something could have happened in that time. While I hadn’t experienced Hitotsuzuki myself, I had heard from Rebecca-san that around here these terrible monsters called ‘Armour of the Knight Guard” sp.a.w.ned and caused 16 deaths, and unpreventable tornadoes appeared all over the world simultaneously… or something? Which meant that I shouldn’t be sitting here relaxedly commenting on how beautiful the moons were.
“Well, it couldn’t be helped, right? Since the monsters themselves didn’t sp.a.w.n in Diana’s hometown.”
“But… I knew a lot about Hitotsuzuki. Yet I still… felt admiration for Hitotsuzuki…”
“Why was that?”
I wondered if it was similar to how people would say Tanabata(2) is romantic and longed for it.
Diana seemed to hesitate between answering or not, opening her mouth and closing it repeatedly, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Then she turned this way, as if she had made her decision.
“That’s because… err, umm…”
Diana’s face flushed red as she stuttered falteringly. She hadn’t decided at all!
“Is it that embarra.s.sing? Hitotsuzuki is a love story between Lynclumir and Mythmikandal, one which you admired because you found it romantic, right? Is that perceived as something embarra.s.sing here?”
It was the norm for girls on earth to admire things like that. Ah, or was it embarra.s.sing to still be dreaming about a ‘Prince Charming’ past a certain age?
Diana seemed reluctant to speak up, so I decided to change the topic.
“By the way, Diana, how’s your guidance going? It doesn’t seem like there’s been any action, have there been any developments?”
“Eh? Yes… I’ve been making some progress… or so I hope…”
“Is it something that vague? This ‘special guidance’ must be troublesome.”
“No, it’s no trouble at all, Master. This is something like my own selfishness…”
Selfishness, huh. Well, she was using a huge amount of the Solo family’s money, after all.
“…Since this is a good chance, I’d like to ask something. That is… even though it was your guidance… weren’t you scared, becoming the slave of a stranger?”
There was no need to emphasise how absolute ‘guidances’ were in this world at this point, but even so, ‘become a slave’ was a little… To put it bluntly, it was abnormal.
“That’s true… While it’s a secret whether ‘becoming a slave’ was my guidance or not, it’d be a lie if I said I wasn’t scared at all… perhaps.”
“Really? You seemed pretty indifferent at the beginning though. Well, I guess there was no helping it if it was for your guidance. Hey, you had to get support from the Solo family to become a slave at your own request for your guidance, right? Doesn’t that mean becoming a slave was definitely part of your guidance…? But I guess you don’t have to say anything if it’s a secret.”
“…It’s a secret.”
I see, there was no helping it if it was a secret. Details like that weren’t important anymore anyway… At any rate, Diana’s ‘special guidance’ will end soon… it would be over soon.
“Besides… we didn’t meet for the first time at that trading company. I was secretly watching Master make that deal with Jephthah at the town square. …I thought we made eye contact then, but apparently Master didn’t realise.”
That time I messed up and pretended to be a surprise present for the mayor, huh.
“Hmm? No, I didn’t notice. There was a big crowd and I was in a desperate situation myself…”
On top of that, I was a little drunk—but there’s no need to mention that.
“That’s right. Fufu, it’s true your face was red and you were panting in a panic… Just watching on made me anxious.”
“Really? How mean.”
I personally thought I handled the situation very well. I guess there was no way a long-time NEET could have handled something like that… But the red face was because I was drunk. Though I wouldn’t mention that.
“…But at the end, the mayor and his wife hugged, and I saw Master look on with a kind smile. It made me think that this person would be good. …If it was this person, they could be my ■■■■…”
Diana said, looking at me directly.
Hmm? Did she say something good about me…?
I couldn’t hear the last word. No, to be precise, it ‘wasn’t translated’.
“Sorry, I couldn’t hear your last word there.”
“Master is always joking like that… You’re always so mean to me. I said that with all my courage too… I said! Master! Is my! ■■■■! Aah, geez!”
Embarra.s.sed, Diana covered her face with both her hands and twisted her body. Meanwhile, I was uncomprehending. What was I to do in this situation?