Vol 3 Chapter 8 (2/2)

”Wh, h-he-, what the!? What business does a Unicorn have with me?!”

”No business, really . Your presence simply resembled someone I haven't seen for a long time . Could you be related to ”No Names,” virgin boy?”

”I don't understand what you are saying at all, but I'm somehow sure it was quite rude!”

Though, it would've been more problematic if a boy his age wasn't a virgin .

The Unicorn realized that its words weren't being understood, so it tapped on the bulletin board with the tip of its horn instead .

To Homura’s surprise, the creature seemed to be recommending a particular bath to him .

” . . . ? You are telling me to go there?”

”Indeed . Humanoids gather primarily in this area . And it gives you a beautiful view of the starry sky above . One wouldn't enjoy it during daytime as it tends to be occupied by Spriggan Fairies, but now's your chance, virgin boy . ”

”I see . Since you are recommending it, then I'll check it out . . . . But for real, stop talking as you please just because I can't understand you . ”

Homura parted with the Unicorn and proceeded towards the panorama bath at an easy gait . That said, it took quite some courage for him to walk side by side with what could only be described as carnivorous beasts .

(c.r.a.p . . . If I knew this was going to happen, I would've come with Tokuteru or Porol . )

Homura was a human who wouldn't harm a fly . Therefore, even though he wanted to believe that the Eudemons wouldn't attack the Players out of the blue, he still wanted someone to be here with him right now .

That made him visibly jumpy and, finally, one of the bystanders could no longer bear to watch him look out for danger at every step . Homura felt a tap on his shoulder .

”Hey, you . You are the one who appeared in the exhibition, right? Are you here alone by chance?”

”Eh? Ah, yes . What about it?”

Feeling the tap, Homura turned around . The owner of the unfamiliar voice was someone taller than him but their ages seemed to be about the same . He could see an unreliable-looking smile under the stranger’s longish bangs .

However, judging by the fact that he dared to call out to someone in this bath, the guy must have had some steel in his backbone .

”Right . . . If you like, would you like me to show you around? I doubt you can relax with all the various races that are present, right?”

”That would be a big help . I just arrived from another world, so I'm a bit out of my depth . This bath is clearly bigger than it appears, what's going on here?”

”Well, I don't really know the inner workings of its structure . Maybe Queen lent her talents to make it happen . . . Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself . I'm Jin Russell . I'm a Player of the Sun Authority War just like you . Nowhere as important though . ”

The boy calling himself Jin Russell scratched his head with a helpless smile .

Enticed in by this pleasant smile, Homura also introduced himself once more .

”I'm Saigou Homura . Though I suppose you would know that since you watched the exhibition . . . Let's get along . ”

”Pleased to meet you . While we are walking, mind telling me a bit about the exhibition? 200,000 ”Sun Thousand” gold coins sure is something, huh?”

”Ah, so it came down to that after all… . Well, this is a good opportunity . I wanted to complain to someone about it anyway and vent some of the frustration while it still burns . ”

Homura agreed to tell the story and they proceeded towards the target bath .

Jin heard about Homura's situation with Tokuteru and others .

He heard how a youth called Arjuna made a debt, and that he was related to Tokuteru . That, as a result, Homura had no choice but to take part in every exhibition from tomorrow on .

The part-story, part-rant conveniently finished as they finally arrived at the bath the Unicorn indicated .

Jin took in Homura's story with interest and when it finished, he put a hand to his chin .

” . . . Heh . So you aren't exactly partic.i.p.ating in the Sun Authority War out of your own volition, are you?”

”Well . . . My partic.i.p.ation has already been decided before I realized it . Regardless of how dangerous a situation it was, opening Queen's invitation letter makes me the fool . ”

”I wouldn't exactly say that . At the very least, your life was saved and as long as there is life, there is hope too . So be thankful for that . Let's talk about that Arjuna if you don’t mind? Think everything will go well?”

”I wonder about that . I haven't talked to him that much, so I can't say . And I'm not really that familiar with his legend . ”

” . . . I see . You might want to be careful around him . He is not called the Oathbreaker Hero by mistake . I think rejecting him, even by force if necessary, is a choice too . ”

Perhaps you are right, mused Homura while soaking himself in the bath .

For some reason, Jin kept the conversation on the subject of Arjuna .

”If you don’t mind me doing it, I could tell you about his legend . ”

”You know it, Jin?”

”It is famous, after all . There is even a familiar theme in his legend regarding debt . At that time, his entire country was swindled from under him in a game of dice . ”

Hearing that fact so abruptly shocked Homura so much that he leapt up from the bath .

”A c-country?! He lost a country in a gamble?!”

”That's right . He's a gambling maniac, so to say . Because he couldn't stop himself until he won it all, he crossed the final line and lost everything . In the end, even his wife was s.n.a.t.c.hed away in a bet . ”

Seriously!? Homura went back to submerging himself in water with a strained smile . He couldn't understand Arjuna's logic at all . What could go so wrong for him to become like that?

Actually, he was married at that age? Homura's mind was a jumble of conflicting thoughts and he couldn't digest the new facts fully .

Jin averted his gaze in a sympathetic manner and continued once more .

”I can also explain why he came to be known as an Oathbreaker Hero if you want . . . How about it?”

”Hmm . . . No need . While it does sound like an interesting story, it doesn't seem like it would be of any use . ”

Homura started to swim in the s.p.a.cious bath .

Jin’s eyes went wide . He was not expecting that answer at all .

” . . . Why? Are you going to unconditionally trust him even after hearing what I just said?”

”I mean, that's just a legend, right? The truth might be quite different . ”

”There is no smoke without fire . ”

”Perhaps . . . . But, you know, those tales are created from someone's subjective point of view, aren't they? It's one thing if it's necessary to solve a game, but it's rude to judge someone based on rumours someone else started . ”

Homura continued to float in the bath . There wasn’t much emotion in his voice .

The monster Minotaur that he had met just recently had turned out to be a completely different child than what the legends said .

Thus Homura judged that being influenced by legends that were built on individual prejudice and misplaced self-righteousness was dangerous in Little Garden .

”Besides . . . And this is just my intuition speaking, I don't think he's that bad of a guy . He might have created a debt, but that's because he lost in a game, right? I'd smack him if it was done out of delinquency, but I don't think he did anything that outrageous considering this Little Garden is made up of games . That's why, I can't say anything until I've had a good talk with him . I'll think about him being an Oathbreaker or whatever after that . ”

” . . . Oh? That’s quite an unexpected view to have . It seems you are quite fair towards others . ”

”Because I want them to be fair with me too . . . . So, yeah, it's meaningless to try to rile me up . ”

Homura looked at Jin with a big grin . Jin also returned a troubled smile while scratching his head .

”Ah . So you realized it, after all?”

”You are like an open book . Besides, you are a Player too right, Jin? There's no way I would just swallow an unsubstantiated tale from an opponent just like that . ”

”It as you say . But well, I saw the chance so I thought I'd try my luck once . ”

What a cunning fellow you are, thought Homura as he also smiled in satisfaction . This little chat was particularly enjoyable for him since, having devoted his life to Particle Body research, he never enjoyed a time where he could trade pointed remarks like this with someone of the same age .

He sat cross-legged inside the bath and suddenly looked at Jin with curiosity .

”I explained my circ.u.mstances . Now it's your turn, Jin . ”

”Mine?”

”Yea . Since you came to stir trouble right from the start, it’s obvious you knew that Arjuna belonged to our — no, in this case, it's better to say — Queen's Community, I guess? Anyway, it means you knew that he was in the same Community as us, right? Who told you that?”

Whoops, looks like I stirred up a hornet's nest, thought Jin and looked away . Indeed, he couldn't arrive to that conclusion just by watching the exhibition match .

Thus he could only have called out to Homura while already fully aware of his circ.u.mstances .

”Well, will you tell me now? Just who told you that?”

”Hmm . . . well, I don't mind answering, but…,” he said, playing up his reluctance . Since Jin was able to have a fun conversation for the first time in a while, he wasn't against divulging some information . But answering that particular question required him to expose the information provider .

Eventually, he just looked without a word towards the shade of a pillar .

Homura followed Jin’s gaze . And just as expected, he caught a momentary glimpse of a boy's silhouette . Jin stifled a burst of laughter with a hand .

”It can't be helped . Just give it up . All things said, in the end Homura is your benefactor who paid off your debt as a loan to you . ”

” . . . So be it . As you say, it is not my intention to burden him any more than this . And I also want to correct your lies, Jin . ”

A very apologetic blue-haired youth emerged from behind the column .

Seeing Arjuna show himself, Homura sighed in extreme displeas.e.m.e.nt .

” . . . Right . So that's how it really was, huh . ”

”Did you predict this?”

”More or less . In that case, the Community you belong to would be . . . ”

Jin grinned and waved off Homura, as if trying to say “Don’t finish your thought . ” After all, this was a large, publicly accessible bath . A fair place where anyone could face anyone with nothing but a loincloth to their name .

Bringing outside disputes here is extremely boorish, postulated Jin Russell, the tactician, in his mind with a smile, conveniently turning a blind eye to his own faults . He couldn't help but laugh at his frank cunningness .

Arjuna closed the distance to them with big steps and glaring at Jin all the time, the more displeased the closer he got .

”Jin . Since you already revealed my past, I want you to correct what you said . ”

”Correct? What exactly?”

”I'm talking about the story of me losing a country in a dice game! I've been saying all this time, haven’t I? That I was just caught up in the events?! That the actual gambling maniac was my brother, not me!? I don't remember ever becoming too addicted to dice gambling!”

Hearing his heated complaints, Homura and Jin exchanged glances .

It seemed that that was the reason why Arjuna looked so dissatisfied all this time .

Homura offered him a pitying gaze . Having heard that the blue-haired boy had a gambling maniac of a brother, made him relate to Arjuna a bit .

”Alright! I got it! This is a good opportunity, so let's go have a talk at that sauna lounge over there . And it's just the time to fix Jin's forked tongue . ”

”I'm hurt . That was the only lie I told . Besides, Arjuna is at fault too . Knowing that you squandered 200,000 gold coins, I don't think I can believe your protestations of not being a gambling addict . ”

”As I said, that was supposed to be staking Sun Authorities, but before I noticed . . . ”

”Yeah, yeah, sure . You were swindled . Since this is a rare opportunity, though, why not celebrate with a game? There should be some card games in the sauna lounge . . . ”

The three made their way inside the sauna lounge while chattering .

It was about an hour later when the broadcasting started in the entire panorama wagon .

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