Encounter -enemy

Passing through the narrow alleyway and onto the path that leads to the

plateau, white walls could be seen constructed on top of the cliff face. I

presumed this to be Kishun's mansion. Now that I got a look at it, I could

see semblances of a Japanese-style castle, like one of the ones from the

early-to-mid Sengoku period that didn't have a tower.

Tomoe blinked repeatedly as she looked up at the building. "The walls

are a lot lower than the ones at the castle in the Kingdom, huh?"

"It's because they don't have to protect the surrounding town, too. Being

built so far up the plateau makes it hard to shell it, so they're probably high

enough," Ichiha explained.

"But what if wyvern cavalry attack?" Tomoe asked, cocking her head to

the side. "I don't see anything like an anti-air repeating bolt thrower."

"They have that covered, too. Because there are no wyverns living in the

Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago," Ichiha said, pointing towards the sea.

"Wyverns hate flying out so far that they can't see land. Eventually, their

wings will get tired and without some place to settle down, they'll

eventually crash into the sea. Thanks to the high mountains, the islands of

the archipelago look closer together than they actually are. It's tough to fly

from island to island on a wyvern, so there was never enough benefit to

bring them in from the mainland and breed them here."

"Right..." Yuriga groaned.

"That was amazing, Ichiha," Tomoe said, clapping her hands. "You

made that really easy to understand."

Ichiha smiled shyly at the praise.

The kids have a healthy desire to learn, I thought as we passed through

the gate at the top of the stone steps. They must be steadily absorbing all

sorts of new information from the foreign scenery around them. That's a

good trend.

Once Kishun led us into the mansion, the servants turned and bowed

their heads at our arrival. It looked like it had been explained to them that

we were guests.

"This way, please," Kishun said, leading us to a large tatami room.

The building had shouji screens and fusuma panels, making it feel very

Japanese. Because the garden was nearby, it felt less like the banquet hall at

an inn and more like a dojo.

"This room should be big and easy to use. I have already had the

materials that we prepared brought to this room. Please, use the things and

people in this mansion as you see fit."

"P-Please, give me your orders as well," Princess Shabon added, bowing

her head along with Kishun. It seemed like they were doing everything they

could for us. That just showed how serious the two of them were about this.

Looking around the room, there were piles of papers. Those had to be

the materials Kishun had mentioned.

I nodded, then quickly began giving directions to everyone, "Okay. Let's

get right to work. Ichiha and I will look through the information on

Ooyamizuchi. Juna, I'd like you to assist us."

"Understood."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Juna and Ichiha saluted.

I issued directions to the others, "Princess Shabon and Kishun, I'll have

you help classify the materials you've got gathered here. You were saying

we could 'use the servants,' but I'd rather not let a large number of people

come into contact with important information. Would you two help us

instead?"

"Very well. Give the word, and it will be done."

"Yes. Understood."

Shabon and Kishun accepted my request.

"Okay. Aisha... are you recovering?" I asked.

Aisha thumped her chest, despite looking a little sickly. "Yes. The world

is still shaking a little, but that should not pose a problem."

"You don't need to strain yourself, but... if you can manage it, please

stand guard inside this room."

"Yes, sire! Understood."

"Tomoe and Yuriga, you can just do whatever. This is a good

opportunity for you, so go see the island. Naden, watch over them for me."

"Roger that."

"Um, Big Brother? I was hoping to help, too, you know?" Tomoe said.

I beckoned her closer, then, plopping my hand down on her head, I

whispered in one of her little wolf ears, "I'll be needing your ability

eventually. But I don't think it's time for you to do anything just yet. Until it

is, I want you to keep an eye on Yuriga and keep her from doing anything

crazy."

"Yuriga?"

"Yeah. Look at the way she stowed on board. She's like a bundle of

potential energy. If we leave her bored and without someone to chat with,

there's no telling what nonsense she might pull."

"...I see. That makes sense." Tomoe snapped a salute as if to say "Leave

it to me!"

Tomoe can get up to her own antics sometimes, too, though. Well, with

Naden protecting them, they won't be in any danger. Once Tomoe went

back over to Yuriga, who was giving us a suspicious "What are those two

talking about?" look, I clapped my hands.

"Okay, everyone, I'm counting on you."

"These materials were brought to us by the spies that the princess and I

sent out, and include witness reports of Ooyamizuchi as well as materials

on the Archipelago Union fleet," Kishun explained, indicating the mountain

of papers on the table in front me.

I should have known the locals would be able to gather a lot of

information. Though we had sent in the Black Cats, we couldn't send many

of them because this place was quite far away and across the sea. Because

of that, they had limited ability to gather intel, and it often arrived late.

"I'm grateful for this. Now, diving right in, I'd like Princess Shabon and

Kishun to categorize these materials. Divide them into information about

Ooyamizuchi and everything else, then bring just the Ooyamizuchi

materials to us."

When I said that, Shabon's eyes widened in shock. "Does that mean...

the information on the Nine-Headed Dragon King and the fleet do not

matter to you?"

...Ahh, I guess I phrased that poorly. I could see why that might make it

sound like I was taking the Nine-Headed Dragon King and the Archipelago

Union's fleet lightly. Though they had parted ways with them, she and

Kishun had come to us out of a desire to help the islanders, so it was natural

that they would still feel some affection for their country. It must have been

unpleasant to see me seemingly disregard them.

"Sorry. That's not how I meant it. I don't know much about navies and

battles at sea, so I want to focus my attention on Ooyamizuchi. Pass the

materials on the Nine-Headed Dragon King and the fleet to Aisha, if you

would. She'll send the information to our expert back in the Kingdom

(Excel), who will come up with effective countermeasures."

"O-Oh, I see... Excuse me," Shabon said, bowing her head

apologetically.

That seemed to have satisfied her, so I immediately moved on to

examining the task at hand.

Juna and I took the materials that Shabon and Kishun had classified for

us and further divided them into witness testimony and damage reports

before passing them to Ichiha. He then analyzed the information and

narrowed down the creature's possible forms.

"Th-This is...! Oh, my..." Princess Shabon, who was sorting through

papers, suddenly cried out.

I turned to see what was up, and Princess Shabon came over, a pained

look on her face as she handed me a single document. I accepted the papers

and looked over them.

"A whole island, destroyed, huh...? That's awful," I muttered despite

myself.

The document was a damage report from a few days ago. Dozens of

people and their livestock had vanished from a single island overnight.

Judging by the destruction and the "scraps" left behind, it had been

determined that Ooyamizuchi must have been responsible. Looking at the

date, Shabon and Kishun would have been in the Kingdom when it

occurred. In other words, the damage had continued to spread while they

were away.

Images of the hellish scene outside the walls of Lastania flashed through

my memory. Things like that could happen anywhere in this world. I would

need to keep that in mind at all times. For now, though, I had to figure out

how to deal with Ooyamizuchi.

"Based on the witness reports, we're assuming that Ooyamizuchi is a

single creature. If it was able to devour all those people in one night, it must

be pretty huge, right?" Ichiha asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah. There're some discrepancies in the testimony, but it seems to be

the size of a small island. Its body must be over 30 meters high."

"About as long as Naden in her ryuu form if you stretched her out,

then."

"...I know it's inappropriate, but it's a bit funny to imagine that," Juna

said with a wry smile. We were using Naden like a ruler, after all.

"Hey, Ichiha, if it's 30 meters tall, it's got to be even longer than that,

right?"

"Correct. We have reports of people who saw it crawling like a turtle. If

we think of it that way, it might be two-to-three times as long."

"At that size, it's a real kaiju..."

I mean, I had seen a number of creatures you could call "kaiju,"

including Naden and dragons like Ruby, as well as rhinosauruses and sea

dragons, but this Ooyamizuchi was massive even when compared to them.

The only one that didn't lose in a competition of size was Mother Dragon,

but she didn't insert herself in the affairs of mankind when they didn't

involve dragons, so she wasn't going to be helping us. We had to take care

of our own problems.

"What do we know about its form? There were reports of it being a

many-headed snake, too, right?"

When I asked that, Ichiha looked through the documents, cocking his

head to the side a little.

"That's not clear. Many of these statements say that they weren't able to

make out its form clearly through the fog at a distance. Though, many do

mention seeing something long and serpentine."

"At a distance, huh...? Do we have any up-close witness reports?" I said,

digging through the pile, and Ichiha groaned.

"The only ones who've seen it up close are the victims. They've all been

injured, traumatized, or..."

"...Digested by now?"

"Though, we can't be sure it has a digestive tract like normal creatures."

Not much hope of getting information there, huh? I was thinking,

when...

"Oh, sire. How about this?" Juna said, presenting me with a piece of

paper. "It looks like a written report from the sole survivor of an attack by

Ooyamizuchi. Despite surviving, they were badly injured and had to be

moved to another island for treatment. They appear to have been in a fairly

unstable state of mind, so we can't be sure how accurate their testimony is,

though."

"Let me see?" Ichiha took the paper and looked over it.

— The Testimony of a Fisherman —

It was a snake. The head of a snake. Stretching out from the fog. We hid

in the boathouse, but this huge, long snake tore the roof open, and picked

Raishi* up with its mouth. We were terrified, just terrified... Couldn't do

anything but watch.

Moments pass, and then there's this sickening thud... We look out and

there's Raishi, split clean in two—his upper half and lower half.

We were confused, and all ran off in different directions.

I don't remember where I ran, or how... but I tripped over something,

took a tumble... and must have lost consciousness, because when I came to,

it was morning. I clutched my aching head, and... and went searching for

my buddies, but... I didn't find them.

I went back to the boathouse and Raishi's body was gone, too. Even

though his blood was still there...

Where did everyone go?! Where... Where...

* Addendum: One of the other fishermen

◇ ◇ ◇

"That was intense..."

Ichiha had gone pale as he read through it. Because they had written

down his words verbatim, the narrator's feelings were palpable.

"...But there's one thing that catches my interest." Ichiha managed to

force himself to say after taking a moment to recover.

"Hm? What's that?"

"The way the one man was split into his upper and lower halves. Just

before this, the witness stated the man had been lifted up by a snake."

"Yeah. It did say that."

"If a snake with the power to tear the roof off of a building and jaws

powerful enough to bite through a person were to do so, what do you think

would happen to that person's body?"

"It'd bite them in half, right?" I asked.

"Sire. Are you aware of how snakes eat?"

"What are you... Ah! They swallow things whole!"

I had seen a snake eating on some nature program a long time ago, so I

recalled this image of them swallowing their prey whole. Having a man be

cut in half definitely seemed strange here, then.

Ichiha nodded. "I'm questioning the statement that it was a snake. Even

if we assume it was some kind of toothed snake, if it bit down on him from

above, his upper body should have remained inside its mouth. Only the

lower half should have fallen to the ground. Also, if it bit down on his torso,

considering its size, the severed arms and legs should have fallen down

separately."

"It shouldn't have split him so cleanly in two... Is what you're saying?"

Ichiha nodded in agreement. "It's almost like he was cut with a sharp

blade. That's not something that happens when you're bitten."

"So, is it a mistake to say it was a snake?"

"I can't say that much, but... It may have been something that just

looked like one."

"Right..." I laid down the paper and let out a sigh. "Still, even someone

who saw it up close couldn't clearly grasp what it looks like, huh? The fog

around it must be pretty dense. Does it ever appear under clear skies?"

This was like something out of an old tokusatsu film. I hear that back

when CG wasn't so well developed, they used a lot of scenes set at night to

hide the rough spots in the techniques they used. That's what this felt like.

"Fog... Thick fog... And it's always there?" Ichiha looked like he was

thinking about something. "With so many of these accounts mentioning

fog... it's possible that it's not naturally occurring. Could it be that

Ooyamizuchi is producing the fog itself somehow?"

"The fog? To hide itself?"

"No, that can't be it. From what these reports show, there's no record of

a serious battle against Ooyamizuchi. Isn't that right, Princess Shabon?"

Ichiha asked her, Shabon nodded.

"Yes. Ooyamizuchi moves through the sea and is hard for a ship to

follow. We cannot even fight it properly. Not that I am convinced we could

win if we could..." Shabon ground her teeth in frustration.

Ichiha continued speaking, "If there's no record of battles, then that

means Ooyamizuchi doesn't see mankind as a threat. We're probably no

more than prey that crawls on the ground. There's no point to hiding from

an opponent you're not scared of, is there?"

"That's true. But then what is it making fog for?"

"Could it be that, because it is a creature of the sea, there are some

limitations to its ability to operate on land? To give you an example... if you

leave a giant octopus on land, it'll dry out eventually, right? Maybe it's the

same for Ooyamizuchi, and its body dries out quickly on land, slowing its

movements. And that's why it makes fog, to help maintain its moisture...

maybe?"

That made sense. If you dried out a sea cucumber, it shrank down to a

small portion of its original size. Though, it got big again quickly when you

put it back in the water...

"A creature that produces fog? It doesn't seem like a whale's spout,

though... Oh! Come to think of it, there was a legend of a large shellfish

monster called a 'shen' that produced mirages..."

"A shellfish that produces fog, you say...? I'll try drawing it," Ichiha

said, then went to work using the charcoal and drawing board he had

brought with him.

He was trying to draw Ooyamizuchi using the fragmentary information

we had been able to piece together. Ichiha was the foremost expert in

monsterology. I was sure he'd produce something even more accurate than

he had been able to back in the Kingdom.

Juna and I hurriedly got him all the materials he needed.

◇ ◇ ◇

While Souma and his people were examining the information on

Ooyamizuchi, Shabon and Kishun were sorting through the materials that

had been haphazardly piled up. As they separated the information by

category, Shabon let out a little sigh.

"...Lady Shabon?" Kishun asked when he noticed, and Shabon shook

her head.

"I apologize. I was thinking."

"Is something bothering you?"

"Ah... Yes. Sir Souma seems to view the information on Ooyamizuchi as

important, but he left the information on Father and the fleet to his

subordinate. I know he said he is not familiar with the navy, but I find it

surprising that he would not even be remotely interested..."

"You think he takes the Nine-Headed Dragon King too lightly, then?"

Shabon nodded. "I am grateful that he sees Ooyamizuchi as a threat and

is working on a method of dealing with it. However, my father is the

stalwart ruler of an archipelago full of ruffians. I cannot imagine he can beat

him without taking it seriously."

"Does Sir Souma have absolute confidence in his ability to defeat the

Nine-Headed Dragon King? Like a weapon we could never imagine here in

the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago?"

"He might. However, if he lets his guard down, I worry he may get

tripped up. Knowing my father, I am well aware of how fearsome an

opponent he can be." She looked at Souma and sighed. "Still, all I can do

now is believe in Sir Souma. Because I have already parted ways with my

father... Because this is the path I chose..."

"Lady Shabon..." Kishun said, concern in his voice. Shabon slapped her

cheeks.

"I need to do everything I can, too. For it to be as easy as possible for Sir

Souma's subordinates to come up with a plan."

"Yes, my lady... Ah! Come to think of it."

"Hm? What is it, Kishun?"

"There was one thing that caught my attention while we were going

through the materials here."

"Something that caught your attention?"

"Yes. A report on the military equipment of Nine-Headed Dragon

Island."

Kishun handed a piece of paper to Princess Shabon to look over. It was a

report on the Nine-Headed Dragon King's expenditures on military

equipment to prepare for the battle with the Kingdom's fleet. Shabon

cocked her head to the side.

"My father's confrontational stance remains unchanged then. What

about it?"

"His expenditures are lower than I expected. You'll recall that the king

raised taxes 'to prepare for the coming invasion by the Kingdom.' He ought

to be able to spend more than this."

"Really?... That is strange."

If what Kishun was pointing to was true, then most of the funds that had

been gathered through taxes weren't going to the military.

"Lady Shabon. Was the Nine-Headed Dragon King the type to waste

money?"

"Never! Father was a militarist who would not hesitate to spend on

equipment, but he never wasted money on anything else. Instead of

luxuries, he would always choose to have one more boat for his fleet."

"In that case, where in the world is the money going...?"

"...I am not sure." Shabon's eyes quivered with unease as she looked in

the direction of Nine-Headed Dragon Island. "What is happening in this

country that we do not know about...?"

Kishun had no response to Shabon's question.

◇ ◇ ◇

Meanwhile, around that same time, Naden, Tomoe, and Yuriga were

looking around Kishun's mansion. They examined everything from the

hanging scrolls in the alcoves to foreign furniture with great interest.

"Hey, check this out. The head on this tiger ornament bobbles." Yuriga

pointed out. Tomoe leaned in for a closer look.

"You're right... That's pretty neat, huh?"

Naden, wrapped in a thick coat, shivered as she watched them. The coat

was from The Silver Deer. Normally, Naden was fine with an outfit made of

her own transformed scales, but that couldn't warm her up on its own, so

she was wearing some extra layers.

"Urgh... So cold... This mansion is too drafty. Ohh, I want to go back to

the brazier in Souma's room."

"A-Are you okay, Naden?" Tomoe asked, sounding worried, and Naden

hugged her tight.

"Wahh?!"

"...So warm. Children have such delightfully high body temperatures."

"You look like a kid, too, you know?" Yuriga said in exasperation as

Naden used Tomoe to warm herself.

"Hey now, Yuriga! Naden's a queen!"

"I don't mind. I know I'm the least regal of all the queens. The people of

Parnam keep treating me like a normal girl, too," Naden said with a wry

smile as she patted Tomoe's head.

Even now that she was a queen, Naden still went into town when she

had free time. The female shopkeepers adored her and would ask her to go

buy things for them or to sing lullabies for their children.

"I'm a queen you know!" ...she would protest, but Naden always did

those favors for them, so they kept relying on her. If you did a popularity

poll for the queens, but limited it to just Parnam, the nobles and knights

would go for Liscia, but the overwhelmingly larger vote of the common

people would probably be split between Naden and Juna. If you limited that

further to just female voters, Naden had a definite lead. They rewarded her

with products from their shops, so she was always bringing fresh produce

home and delighting Souma with her home cooking.

"That's why I won't complain about the disrespect... But in exchange..."

"Huh?! Eek?!"

Naden circled around behind Yuriga and grabbed her from behind.

"Warm me up with your wings for a bit."

"Wha?! Whoa, don't go feeling up my wings! They're sensitive!"

"Ohhh. I love your plumage." (Touchy, touchy.)

"N-No... Stop...! Ahhh!"

Maybe because of the cold, Naden was getting excessively touchy.

"Wh-What's this exciting scene? Maybe it's a good thing Ichiha's not

here." Tomoe blushed as she watched Naden accost Yuriga.

Once they had play wrestled for a little while, Naden must have warmed

up a bit and let Yuriga go. Finally set free, Yuriga glared resentfully at

Tomoe.

"Don't just watch! Help me!"

"Oh, I couldn't do thaaaat. I mean, look, I don't even have wings."

"You've got a wolf's tail, don't you? Look, Naden, wouldn't it feel so

warm if you could cuddle this kid's fluffy tail?"

"...Hey, you're right."

As Naden stared at her with the eyes of a predator, Tomoe instinctively

covered her tail with her hands.

"U-Um, we should really move on to the next place. The servants were

saying the warehouse is full of interesting stuff." Tomoe urged the other two

to move along, trying to get the subject off of her tail.

The warehouse they came to in the corner of the garden had white walls

and a tiled roof. If Souma were there, he would have described it as, "The

kind of place an evil magistrate in a period piece would stash gold coins to

later be stolen by the virtuous thieves."

Kishun had already given them permission to go inside, so the door was

open wide. When the three went in, the air smelled faintly of mold, and a

variety of objects were stored there, seemingly at random.

"Is this... a tool for farming? It looks pretty old."

"Yuriga, there's a throwing net for fishing over here."

"Is that a taxidermied giant boar...? It's smaller than the ones in the Star

Dragon Mountain Range. Did they catch it in the mountains here? Oh, and

those jawbones come from a shark, right?"

It looked like this warehouse was where they stored things that were no

longer in use. There were various tools used for farming, fishing, and

hunting, as well as trophies made from what they had caught.

"...Huh?"

Something in the storehouse caught Tomoe's eye.

"Woah?! What's this? It's cute."

"What are you on about? Wait, what is this?"

"A dog... No, a wolf?"

Yuriga and Naden came over to look at what Tomoe had come across. It

was an object maybe 30 centimeters long, resembling a wolf, and it was

fixed to a wooden base. The mouth had a round opening in it, leading into a

cylindrical hole.

Curious, Yuriga tried to pick it up.

"Ngh...! It's heavier than it looks."

It seemed to be made of iron and weighed on Yuriga's slender arms.

Tomoe would have struggled to even lift it.

Looking at the iron wolf, Tomoe cocked her head to the side. "Hmm.

From the shape of it, it looks like a cannon, but..."

"Aren't cannons a little bigger than this?"

"Maybe it's a little cannon?"

While Tomoe and Yuriga were struggling to figure out what it was...

"Wouldn't it be faster to just ask someone who knows?"

""Ah!""

Naden casually hoisted the iron wolf with one hand. Being a ryuu, she

was strong even in human form. Tomoe and Yuriga gaped at her. With it in

Naden's hands, the three of them headed off back to Souma and the others.

When they got back, Souma and Juna were taking a break, drinking tea

that Shabon had prepared for them, while Ichiha drew a picture based on

the information they had put together.

"Do you have a moment, Big Brother?"

"Hm? What's up, Tomoe?"

"We found this thing in the warehouse."

She showed Souma and the others the iron wolf they had brought.

"Is this... a cannon?" Juna looked at it, mystified. "We use cannons in

the navy, but this one is awfully small. It has a caliber of 60 millimeters...

and wouldn't hold much powder, so it couldn't punch through a ship's hull.

Though, here in the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago, they use wooden

ships with iron plates bolted on, so if you targeted the wood, I think this

would still be effective."

Tomoe was impressed by Juna's explanation.

Meanwhile, Souma was thinking, The animal looks like a komainu liondog, but could this be a Crouching Tiger Cannon? He remembered the

Chinese units in a civilization simulation game he had played in the world

he had come from using weapons like these.

"That is a lion-dog cannon," Kishun said. "As Madam Juna explained, it

is a gunpowder weapon used in naval battles. Because they are not very

heavy, we can load them onto even our smallest boats, and then take

advantage of their speed to target the enemy's weak points."

"I see... Expect a maritime nation to have interesting weapons." Souma

crossed his arms and groaned with approval.

It's somewhere between a cannon and a rifle, I guess. We couldn't use

rifles because the low mass of the bullets meant they couldn't be enchanted,

but this sort of hand cannon might be usable... It'd be heavy, and difficult to

maneuver with, but maybe I'll have the military research it when I get back

to the Kingdom.

While Souma was thinking about that...

"Souma... Er, I mean, sire! I'm finished drawing!"

Ichiha came over and spread out his drawing on the table. Everyone

crowded in to look, then gulped.

"Is this Ooyamizuchi?" Tomoe murmured despite herself.

This was still only an imaginative sketch, but it had the power to

convince all of us that this must be what the creature looked like.

◇ ◇ ◇

With the sun setting in the evening, you could see a faint red line along

the mountain ridge. We were in the garden with a campfire and a massive

pot that made me think of an imoni-kai hot pot party in Yamagata.

"Now, dig in everyone." The tanuki guy standing in front of the pot said,

offering a bowl with one hand while the other held a ladle.

I was told that the locals used the excess bits that were left over when

they prepared the fish from the kingdom for preservation, and combined

those with local vegetables to make soup, which was being offered right

now. With warm food in hand, we went up onto the veranda to eat.

"Whew... That really warms you up."

"Hee hee, it certainly does. It's such a comforting flavor."

Juna and I smacked our lips with satisfaction.

Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago cuisine was apparently quite close to

that of the world I came from, including its use of miso. The root vegetables

steeped in fish broth and miso were really delicious. Close to the pot, Aisha

and Naden were indulging themselves with delight.

"This feels similar to His Majesty's cooking. Oh! I'd like another bowl,

please!"

"The taste of our husband's cooking, huh? I'll have another bowl of that,

too!"

So, it's not the taste of their mother's cooking, huh? Well, not having any

memories of my own mom, it tasted like my grandma's cooking to me.

Tomoe, Ichiha, and Yuriga seemed desperate to show they could eat just as

much as the other two gluttons.

"This familiar miso flavor is delicious. It goes well with the umami of

the fish."

"Oh, that's right. You're also from the north, aren't you? We have

similar dishes in Malmkhitan."

"Same as in the Duchy of Chima. It's fascinating to learn that the NineHeaded Dragon Archipelago Union has a culture around food that's similar

to the Union of Eastern Nations. Did a group with that culture migrate from

one to the other, maybe...?"

As Ichiha pondered that, Tomoe smiled and poked him in the cheek.

"Come on, Ichiha. If you keep thinking about it, Aisha and Naden will

eat it all, you know?"

"Oh! Time to eat, then... Ow! That's hot!"

It looked like the food had been too hot for his hurried attempts to eat it.

Ichiha stuck his tongue out and fanned it with his hand. Tomoe watched

with concern.

"A-Are you okay, Ichiha? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have rushed you."

"N-No, I just wasn't careful enough..."

"What are you two doing?" Yuriga asked with a sigh. "Geez. Here, have

some water."

"S-Sorry..." Ichiha accepted a ladle full of water and gulped it down.

Things seemed to be fine, so there wasn't any need for the adults to get

involved. As we watched the three kids being adorable, there were voices

somewhere off in the distance. I perked up my ears to listen, and it turned

out to be a song.

We take our boat on the mother sea.

To the waves rich with fish and life.

Under the seabird's eye there treasure be.

If we're too slow, the big'un will strike.

Pull in the nets! Heave, ho! Heave, ho!

Let the port hear our song of triumph.

"This is..."

"A sea shanty. The islanders must be singing it," Kishun replied in

response to my murmuring. "I am sure they must be celebrating in port

today for the first time in far too long."

Kishun had come by holding a bottle of sake in his hands; behind him

was Shabon with cups. Kishun sat next to me and Shabon took a seat next

to Juna, putting themselves between the two of us before passing out the

cups.

"This is dragon sake, made with Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago

rice," Kishun explained, pouring the drink into my cup. It smelled exactly

like Japanese sake.

"For you, too, ma'am." Shabon tried to offer Juna the dragon wine, too,

but...

"I'm sorry. Could I ask for tea instead?" she politely refused it. Juna

could hold her liquor pretty well, but she must have thought it best that we

didn't both end up inebriated at the same time.

I clinked my cup against Kishun's and took a drink... Yeah, this really

does seem like sake.

I had left Japan before I reached the drinking age, so the only Japanese

alcohol I had experienced was the cooking alcohol mirin, but I felt like this

had to be the same as Japanese sake.

"How do you like it? Does our country's sake suit your tastes?" Kishun

asked and I nodded in response.

"Yeah, I think it's good. It pairs well with the rich flavors of the soup."

"I'm glad to hear it."

And so we drank, listening to our noisy companions and the sea shanties

from port. From what I could see here, it was hard to imagine there was a

monster called Ooyamizuchi out in the waters, and we were about to fight

an intense battle against it. In more peaceful times... I might have been able

to enjoy drinking with Shabon and Kishun more—together with Liscia and

Roroa, who we'd left behind in the Kingdom.

"This really is good booze."

I swallowed the drink along with those bitter feelings.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Halfway through that night, an alarm bell began

ringing.

"It's here! It's here!"

"Men, hurry to the island chief! Women and children, don't go outside!"

Hearing the hubbub, we rushed to our feet in the large room where we

had been taking a nap.

Looking at Souma, Kishun said, "Sir Souma. Head to the watchtower.

You will be able to see it from there."

"Got it."

Following his suggestion, we hurried to the mansion's watchtower. I

squinted at the sea and could make out a massive object moving near the

Twin Islands at a relaxed pace.

"Use this, Your Majesty," Aisha said, offering me a telescope.

"Thanks."

I brought it up to my eye and peered into the distance. Fortunately, the

moon was bright that night, and the moonlight reflecting off the surface of

the sea gave me a full picture of the creature.

Looking away from the telescope, I asked Shabon, "Is that

Ooyamizuchi?"

"Most likely. It is difficult to imagine any other creature being so

massive," she confirmed with a nod.

I passed the telescope to Ichiha. "I knew we could count on you," I told

him. "It looks exactly like your drawing."

Based on the fragmentary witness reports, Ichiha had come up with a

sketch. It looked similar to a sea dragon from its head down to its neck,

with a bivalve shell on its back, and thick, octopus-like tentacles for arms

with crustacean-like pincers on the end. The key point here was the theory

that the reports of a "many-headed snake" came from misidentification of

the tentacles and pincers. The accounts of victims being cut in two didn't

indicate being bitten by something with the head of a snake, but rather were

the result of being snipped in half by pincers the witnesses mistook for

heads.

In addition, the supposition that, "It might be releasing mist to keep its

body moist," led to the idea that some part of its body might be a mollusk.

The reports of it being "like a little island," and me telling him, "there's a

legend that mirages are created by a bivalve-like monster," led him to depict

it as having a bivalve shell on its back. There were some parts that only

matched by pure chance, but to be able to draw it so accurately based on

what little info we had showed what a genius Ichiha was. They say innocent

children always see the truth, after all...

"I'm glad you're here, Ichiha."

"Y-You flatter me," Ichiha said humbly as he looked through the

telescope.

I plopped my hand down on top of his head.

"Take pride in it. Thanks to you, we can prepare countermeasures."

"Huh?! Okay!" Ichiha responded enthusiastically.

I hope repeated successes like this can help the shy kid develop a sense

of confidence, I thought. If it did, he would grow into the sort of person who

could help lead our country in the future.

The other members of the group took turns with the telescope, each of

them gulping when they saw it.

"It doesn't seem to be putting out mist now," Aisha muttered.

"That's likely because it doesn't plan to attack," Ichiha replied. "Maybe

we should think of the mist as something it emits right before it goes ashore

to catch prey?"

I asked him the most important question: "It won't come ashore on the

Twin Islands, then?"

"That's right. Considering how unalert it appears, I think it's 'just

passing through.' Though, if any small island or boat were to cross its path,

I'm sure it would still be a disaster."

"It's big, after all. Bigger than even the largest ships the Kingdom has."

"Even in my ryuu form, I'm nothing next to that."

Juna and Naden let out sighs of awe. You could tell, even from a

distance, that it was massive. Like something out of a kaiju movie. It just

had to be what we're up against, eh?

~~~~~~~~!

There was a sound like the wind rushing between the buildings, only

amplified several times. Was this Ooyamizuchi's cry?

I backed away a little, then whispered in Tomoe's ear, "Can you tell

what Ooyamizuchi is thinking, Tomoe?"

"I could only pick up a little, but..." Tomoe whispered back. "It's

looking for an 'enemy' and 'food'... is what it sounded like."

"An 'enemy,' and 'food'?" I whispered back, and Tomoe nodded.

"It seems like they're one and the same to Ooyamizuchi. Big enemies

are big food, and will make it even bigger... It's a little different from the

feeling of starvation the lizardmen from the Kingdom of Lastania had. It's

like this is what Ooyamizuchi lives for... Or so I understand."

Devouring enemies to grow... Was that what it did every day? This was

definitely different from the lizardmen and their starvation. If anything, it

made me think of a battle junkie, obsessed with proving their existence by

defeating powerful rivals.

When I passed what she'd told me on to Ichiha, he got a pensive look on

his face. "Maybe... This is a monster that grew up in a closed space like a

dungeon, eating other monsters to survive? Normally, once it grew to a

certain degree, it would leave the dungeon on its own, but for some

reason... like perhaps because the dungeon was underwater, it was forced to

keep feeding on other monsters..."

"So the monsters fed on each other, and this Ooyamizuchi was the last

one left? I could see why that would make it see enemies and food as the

same thing... I guess."

Though this was just speculation from Ichiha, it was just like the ancient

Chinese practice of creating gu: they stuffed a bunch of disgusting creatures

in a pot, and the last survivor was used as a tool in black magic. If that was

how Ooyamizuchi came to be, that meant it was a voracious eater, emerging

as the most powerful thing inside the dungeon it came from.

Ichiha frowned and said, "If the creature was born inside a dungeon it

couldn't escape from, then normally it would have died inside it. But if the

dungeon was destroyed, or maybe Ooyamizuchi happened to gain an ability

that let it escape... Whatever it was, I believe this is an incredibly rare case

of such a monster appearing on the surface."

"...That makes sense, yeah."

I had witnessed first-hand what sort of mess an undiscovered dungeon

can cause back in the Republic of Turgis, but there was no telling when a

monster like this might appear.

~~~~~~~~!

Feeling Ooyamizuchi's cry resound deep in my gut, I became newly

aware of the dangers lurking in this world.