Reunited in Haalga

Mao's castle towered over the center of the demon city, Haalga. The

city's layout was similar to Parnam's, with the castle sitting in the center of

the round city walls, and main roads extending straight outwards from it.

However, though they called it a castle, it looked like the trunk of a great

tree or a massive pillar. Souma would have described it as looking like, "A

colony that fell out of the sky, then got stuck in the earth, still standing

up..."

The castle itself was aptly named Mao Castle. Combined with the city

walls, it looked like a spinning top that was half-buried in the sand. Due to a

lack of construction materials, many of the houses were made of stone, and

though Mao had been able to use her power to secure a water source for

them, the ground was turning yellow with sand that had blown in from

outside.

If you weren't looking at it from the outside, instead peering down from

a vantage point that let you see the whole city, it would be difficult to

realize it had the same design as Parnam.

Looking at the group that had gathered in front of the entrance to Mao's

castle, Naden murmured, "Uh, wow... This sure is some adventuring party

we've got, huh?"

The group included the three Souma had sent ahead: Tomoe, Ichiha, and

Yuriga—along with their protectors Naden, Hal, and Ruby. These six were

joined by the kobold Garogaro, who the demons had sent as a guide—as

well as the vampire knight Lavin Gore, and Poco the human interpreter.

Incidentally, Kukudora, the lizardman who had been with them when

they greeted Souma, was a creature of few words—something that was true

both of him as an individual and his race in general—so he'd excused

himself from acting as a guide because he was ill-suited to the task.

"I don't know how we managed to get such a mishmash of different

races," Naden added with a sigh.

"Wait, you're one to talk," Ruby responded, unable to resist poking fun

at her.

There were three humans, a beastman, a celestial, two dragons (one was

a ryuu), a vampire, and a kobold—which made for a mishmash of races that

all looked quite different from one another. The group was even more

diverse than Souma's wives, a group that already included a lot of unique

members.

"○○○○, ○○○○," Garogaro said.

"●○●○, ●○●○!" Poco quickly corrected.

"○○○○, ○○○○?" Garogaro cocked his head to the side.

Everyone but Tomoe and Lavin Gore had no idea what they were talking

about.

"It sure is inconvenient not understanding each other's languages,"

Yuriga said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah," Tomoe agreed with a wry smile. "They're not saying anything

that important though. Poco was translating Naden and Ruby's words for

him. Garogaro said, 'It's certainly true that a lizardman with deer horns is

unusual,' and Poco said, 'That lady is apparently a dragon.' Cocking his

head to the side, Garogaro replied, 'A dragon? There are dragons like that

in the south?' And...that's about it."

Ruby, who was listening to Tomoe's explanation, smirked at Naden.

"Hmm. A lizardman, huh? That's what he called you, Naden."

"Hee hee, you haven't tried to provoke me like this in a while..." Naden

glowered at Ruby, who stared back at her with a bold smile. "If it's a fight

you want, I'm more than happy to give you one, you know?"

"Bring it. I'll show you what us military folks can do."

"Don't underestimate a working weather girl who is loved by the people

of Parnam, okay? If I talk to the folks in town, you'll never be able to go

shopping there again."

"Why are you so weirdly popular with the common people...?"

As Naden and Ruby glared at each other, engaging in a bit of their old

antics, Halbert hurriedly stepped in to stop them.

"Stop it, you two. The demons are watching," Halbert warned.

""Hmph!""

They both looked away peevishly.

When Lavin Gore heard what Halbert said (with Poco's translation) she

glared at him and said, "△△△△, △△△△."

"Huh? What? Did I say something to offend her?" Halbert asked,

looking to Tomoe for help.

Tomoe nodded with a wry smile.

"Erm... Lavin Gore says, 'Calling us demons is the same as calling us

monsters. It's insulting.'"

"Huh? Oh... Sorry. I apologize."

Halbert meekly bowed his head, and Lavin Gore looked surprised,

before angrily turning her head to the side. Halbert didn't seem to get what

that meant, so Garogaro explained it to him with some translation help from

Poco.

"○○○○, ○○○○." (Poco's Translation: She wasn't expecting an apology,

so she doesn't know what to do with her anger now. We were enemies until

just recently, and it was a delicate situation. She must be on edge, feeling

she can't let herself be taken lightly.)

"I see... That was even more thoughtless of me then," Halbert replied,

scratching his head awkwardly.

Ichiha, who had been listening, got a pensive look on his face and said,

"It's a thorny issue. We don't know each other's languages, and we don't

know what the other side will be offended by. We're so used to speaking

our common language that we don't have any experience speaking foreign

ones."

"Most countries' languages are just dialects of the common language,

like merchant slang. That makes it convenient when we negotiate though,"

Yuriga added.

"The only real foreign language we hear is Big Brother's," Tomoe

chimed in. "But the hero's mysterious translation ability makes it so

everyone can understand him."

Ichiha nodded. "For now, let's report that being called demons upsets

them. Could you ask them, 'What would you prefer we call you instead?'

Tomoe?"

"Sure. I can do that."

Tomoe asked Ichiha's question, and Lavin responded with pride.

"△△△△, △△△△." (TL: Our homeland in the north was a world with

vast seas and many islands, big and small. So we called ourselves the

people of the sea, or Seadians.)

"Seadians...?"

"△△△△, △△△△." (TL: We were told by Mao that this world,

unlike the world of the north, has one large continent, so we call you the

people of the land, Landians.)

"""Landians?!""" Tomoe, Ichiha, and Yuriga all cried out in surprise at

once.

Naden, Halbert, and Ruby looked at the three of them sideways.

"Is it that much of a surprise?" Naden asked.

"It's a huge one!" Tomoe exclaimed. "What's the name of the continent

we live on?"

"Landia?" Naden replied with a dubious look. "Ohh, yeah, it is similar,

huh? Or exactly the same?"

"Yes. The etymology must be the same," Tomoe said, sounding

emotionally affected by this discovery. "Our parents and teachers taught us

that this continent is called Landia. But no one knew where the name came

from. Now, after talking to the de—Seadians, I know that our continent's

name means land."

"When information is unclear, there can be all sorts of interpretations,"

Ichiha noted. "I'll bet there've been many countries that used that for

political ends or propaganda. This pulls back the veil of mystery just a

little."

"And the scary thing is, there's probably more to come," Yuriga added.

"I'll bet there's a lot of things we could piece together by combining what

we know with what the Seadians know. Both good and bad."

"""O-Oh, that makes sense..."""

Naden, Halbert, and Ruby all nodded, very impressed with this

explanation.

They could see why the trio from the Royal Academy had been

surprised. Intercultural communication didn't just face the language barrier

—there could be issues like this too.

Those of the Kingdom party nodded, realizing they'd need to submit a

thorough report to Souma.

"For now, we can call them Seadians, and ourselves Landians, okay?"

Naden suggested. "Those words don't seem so bad."

Everyone agreed with her suggestion.

Then Garogaro, who had been watching this exchange, spoke up.

"○○○○, ○○○○?" (TL: Excuse me. It seems to me that you understand

our language, young lady?)

"Oh, yes. My magic lets me communicate with people and animals,"

Tomoe explained, causing Garogaro's eyes to widen.

"○○○○! ○○○○, ○○○○?" (TL: My word! Come to think of it, you have

wolf ears and a tail... Have you spoken to a kobold before, perhaps?)

Tomoe's eyes widened before Poco could finish interpreting for the

others.

"Yes. It was a kobold who saved us when we were in danger many years

ago... Do you happen to know him?"

"○○○○, ○○○○." (TL: So I was right... Young miss, I have a request.)

"A request?" Tomoe asked, tilting her head to the side.

Garogaro gave a deep nod of his head.

"○○○○, ○○○○." (TL: Yes. Please come to our village and meet with our

baatar.)

◇ ◇ ◇

While Tomoe and the others were heading to the castle town, we were in

a room aboard the beached island carrier Souryuu.

"So, that's more or less the situation, I guess."

The projected images of Liscia and Hakuya were speechless.

Aisha, Juna, and I had used the jewel aboard the carrier to call Liscia in

Parnam and give her a report on the situation. Hakuya was there too,

because we'd had him come from the Euphoria Kingdom in case anything

unexpected happened.

It was hard telling them about what happened to Carla, as well as the

partial destruction of one of our island carriers, but there was no point in

hiding it, so I relayed that information straight.

"Well, if we consider the damage to the Souryuu the cost of it protecting

you and the rest of the fleet, I suppose you could say losses were kept to a

minimum," Hakuya said, recovering faster than Liscia.

Then, coming back to her senses as she heard him speak, Liscia got up

so close to the jewel that I thought she was going to jump out of the

projection.

"Forget about that! Is Carla okay?!"

"Y-Yeah! She is..." I nodded, wincing a little as Liscia shouted. "They're

treating her now. Mao tells me her life's not at risk."

"Oh... Thank goodness..." Liscia looked relieved, then quickly shook her

head. "No, this isn't the time to be happy about it. There are people who

really did die out there."

She was right. It wasn't okay to be happy just because someone close to

us survived. Carla and the others Mao had taken survived, but there were

many who weren't as fortunate. There were many who didn't get off with

just heavy wounds; a number were atomized by the beam weapon, and

many sank to the bottom of the sea. Their deaths were my burden to carry.

"This was all my fault... I let Fuuga's momentum make me put our fate

in his hands. If I'd handled things better...maybe we wouldn't have lost all

those people."

"Souma..."

"But there's no time for regrets. We need to hurry and decide how to

handle things from here on."

"That's right," Hakuya replied with a nod. "We must decide on how to

deal with the demons and Fuuga before there's any more unnecessary

friction between us. Save your regrets for after that."

"Yeah, I know..." I agreed. "Liscia."

"What?"

"When I get back, I want you to really tell me off," I said, a serious look

on my face, and Liscia smiled a little.

"Yes, of course. Just make sure you all come home safe."

"Okay."

It was reassuring just to know there was someone at home waiting for

us.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Is...this the place?" Tomoe asked.

They were on the northern outskirts of the castle town.

"Yes," Garogaro replied to her, nodding. "This is the district we kobolds

live in."

Looking around, the women standing out in front of the houses talking,

and the children running around on the road all had dog ears and tails. The

women's exposed skin was covered in sleek fur, and the men had doglike

faces on top of that.

The group from the Kingdom was used to seeing Tomoe and Inugami,

so they weren't put off by any of this. However, they were confused by how

hard it was to tell the difference between kobold, dog, or wolf beastmen.

It's hard to tell the Seadian kobolds from Landian dog beastmen. If you

set those concepts aside, it's difficult to identify them by sight alone... Is this

what His Majesty was concerned about? Ichiha thought to himself. Souma

and Hakuya had told him and Yuriga about all the potential problems they

expected might arise when they eventually met the demons. That included

the lack of distinction between beastmen and demons.

"Garurun Baatar!" Garogaro called out as they stood in front of one of

the stonework houses. "○○○○, ○○○○!" (TL: Are you home?! It's

Rugaruga's son, Garogaro! There's someone here I want you to meet!)

A deep voice from inside the house responded, "□□□□? □□□□, □□□□."

(TL: Garogaro? You can come in.)

"○○○○, ○○○○." (TL: We'll do that then. Come on, guests, I'd like you

to come in with me.)

Tomoe and the gang went inside at Garogaro's urging.

It was a little dark in the stonework house, but a soft light shone in

through the open holes that served as windows. In it, they could see an

elderly kobold in a rocking chair. His long, overgrown hair gave away his

age and hid his eyes and chin. If Souma were around, he would have said

the elderly kobold looks like a Yorkshire terrier.

The old kobold lifted the hair out of his eyes with one hand to look at

them.

"□□□□, □□□□." (TL: You've come with a rather large group today. It's

not just you and the wife?)

"Huh? Wife?" Naden cocked her head to the side in confusion,

following the translation.

Poco hung her head shyly, explaining, "Um, you see...Garogaro and I

are married."

"Wha?! You are?!" Naden blurted out.

"△△△△, △△△△," (TL: There's nothing strange about that.) Lavin

said, crossing her arms. "△△△△, △△△△." (TL: We took Poco in after

she was attacked by monsters. There are many Landians like her living here

in Haazar, and it's been nearly twenty years since our arrival. It's only to be

expected there would be some intermarriage.)

"But I heard mankind and you, um...Seadians fought an intense war.

And that there were massacres, rapes, and more," Naden said.

"△△△△, △△△△." (TL: I'm not going to deny those things

happened. But Landians committed atrocities against us as well. It was a

war, after all.)

"It seems this is an example of the problems that can arise from seeing

monsters and Seadians as the same, like His Majesty told us," Ichiha said,

summing things up.

He was talking about the theory that mankind had seen the Seadians as

no different than the monsters, and had been eliminating them like they

would dangerous animals, then stumbled into a total war situation without

realizing it. Considering what had happened so far, it appeared that mankind

had ended up attacking the Seadians while they were fighting monsters, and

then Mao's super weapons wiped them out.

"△△△△, △△△△." (TL: It's true that some of us massacred

Landians... But they were held to account for their crimes after the war.)

"Oh, I see... Umm... Sorry."

"△△△△, △△△△." (TL: No, it's nothing you need to apologize

for...)

Naden and Lavin Gore both had awkward looks on their faces.

The elderly kobold, Garurun, looked out the window and murmured,

"□□□□, □□□□." (TL: We were all so desperate to survive, but so were the

Landians. Perhaps we should have stayed in the lands of the north. Did we

only extend the path of destruction into the south?)

"○○○○, ○○○○!" (TL: What are you saying?! A baatar like yourself?!

You've stood at the vanguard, leading us to survival all this time, haven't

you?! Don't deny your own accomplishments!) Garogaro shouted, unable to

listen any longer.

Yuriga whispered in Poco's ear, "Hey, I've been wondering, but what's a

'baatar'?"

"I'm told it means 'hero'... Garurun Baatar is retired now, but led the

kobolds for a long time."

Garogaro stood tall and proud.

"○○○○, ○○○○." (TL: And you didn't just spread misfortune around.

Didn't you say, 'Once, long ago, I warned those with wolf ears and tails

about the coming danger.' You helped them to escape a monster attack.)

"□□□□, □□□□." (TL: Even when I did that, it was self-serving...to make

myself feel better. It's not as though I stayed with them until the end. I can't

even say for certain that they survived.)

"○○○○, ○○○○, ○○○○!" (TL: Baatar, you can be proud! This girl here,

with the wolf ears and tail, is one of those you saved! And she says that

understanding the kobold language is what saved her life!) Garogaro said,

pointing at Tomoe.

When he heard that, Garurun was shocked, and was silent for a moment.

But then his jaw dropped, and his eyes widened so much that you could tell

even behind his thick fur.

"□□□□, □□□□." (TL: Her...? The one I spoke to was a much smaller girl,

but... No, it's been that long, hasn't it? It's true, if she were alive today, she

would be about this girl's age...)

"○○○○. ○○○○, ○○○○." (TL: Baatar. This is the very same girl that you

saved that day.)

"□□□□, □□□□?" (TL: But why is she here? Did she not escape to the

south?)

"○○○○, ○○○○." (TL: You must have heard an army came from the

south. The one who Lady Mao told us of—who had the authority to close

the gate. That gate which tormented us all this time is now closed. And she

is that man's honorary little sister who came to this land at his side.)

"□□□□, □□□□?" (TL: Young lady, would you come over here?)

At Garurun's beckoning, Tomoe went over and knelt in front of him. As

she did, he reached down, cupping her face with both his hands as he sat.

"You're the young lady from back then?"

"Yes."

"Ohh! You understand our language. There can be no doubt then."

"Yes. Thank you...for saving me, my family, and the entire mystic wolf

race."

Tears in her eyes, Tomoe gently put her own hands on the furry ones that

were touching her face.

"All this time... I've wanted to say thank you. It's because of you that I,

my family, and everyone is okay. Because you saved us, we were able to

meet Big Brother, and I'm able to be here today."

Tomoe had played a major role in Souma's reign. She had helped set up

an environment for raising rhinosauruses for the rhinosaurus train, and with

increasing the number of wyverns that they could load on the island

carriers. She was also the one who discovered Ichiha in the Union of

Eastern Nations, and it was questionable if Yuriga would have come to the

Kingdom if Tomoe weren't there.

If not for Tomoe, the Kingdom of Friedonia might not have grown into

the great power that it has become. It might not have been able to travel to

the Demon Lord's Domain as an equal to the Great Tiger Empire of Haan.

If Tomoe hadn't made it to the Kingdom, this future might not even have

been possible. Without a doubt, Garurun was the one who had helped make

it happen.

Garurun's beady eyes moistened. "Oh, I see..." he murmured. "Then

everything I did was not in vain."

"Not at all! I'm happy and healthy thanks to you!"

Tomoe gave him a smile more radiant than the sunlight streaming in

through the window.

◇ ◇ ◇

"□□□□, □□□□!" (TL: Ga ha ha ha! Come on, drink up, young'un!)

Garurun said, raising his cup.

"S-Sure... Here goes."

Halbert was in a pub drinking with Garurun, who had his arm around his

shoulders. When they first met him, Garurun had seemed old and infirm,

but meeting Tomoe seemed to have given him a new lease on life, and he'd

turned into a jovial old man like Owen. He was now cheerfully drowning

himself in alcohol.

He had wanted to drink with Tomoe to celebrate, but she, Ichiha, and

Yuriga had chosen to forgo any alcohol, citing that they had to make reports

to their king later, so he'd captured Halbert as a substitute.

Ruby was watching them with concern.

"H-Hey? Is that really okay?" Ruby asked Garogaro, but the kobold was

tearing up.

"○○○○, ○○○○." (TL: Our baatar was exhausted after his long struggle,

but now he's so cheerful... Ohh, what a joyous day this is.)

"Ah... I'm so happy for you, Garogaro." His wife, Poco, had been

moved to tears too, and was wiping the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.

There was a real difference in how emotional the Landians and Seadians

were. Lavin Gore, the only Seadian who was still keeping a level head,

sipped away at her drink as if she wanted no part of this. Naden furrowed

her brow at the vampire.

"Hey, are you sure you should let them carry on like that?"

"△△△△, △△△△." (TL: Kobolds are known for their strong

emotions... Honestly, I can't keep up with them.)

"Right, yeah... I know how you feel."

"Ah ha ha... But you're a human, right, Poco?" Ichiha asked, smiling

wryly.

Poco nodded, tears still in her eyes. "Yes. I was originally from a

nomadic tribe in the wastes, but I was separated from my family and tribe

when the monsters attacked... As I was wandering, I was eventually

attacked by a monster, but Garogaro and his people rescued me. I hope my

people are okay..."

Poco lowered her face, looking a little lonely. Garogaro put a reassuring

hand on her shoulder. They seemed like a good couple who cared for one

another.

Then, Tomoe had a realization. "Poco, you have rather dark skin. It

reminds me of some people I know, like Jirukoma and Komain. Maybe

you're from the same tribe?"

"Oh! You know our chiefs?!"

Poco leaned in closer. Tomoe backed away, intimidated, and nodded

repeatedly.

"Yes. They led the refugees south and arrived in the Kingdom of

Friedonia...or rather, the Elfrieden Kingdom, which was its name at the

time. I was a member of their refugee group, and they took really good care

of me... So you're saying they were the chiefs of your tribe?"

"Yes. I am from Jirukoma's tribe. Um, were there other people with dark

skin in the refugee group?"

"Erm... It was a really large group, so I'm unsure how many there were,

but I did see a lot of them."

Poco looked relieved to hear that.

"Oh, I see... So they managed to make it south..."

"○○○○, ○○○○?" (TL: Isn't that great, Poco?) Garogaro asked.

"Yes!" Poco replied with a smile.

As things were calming down a bit at this unexpected but happy news,

Ichiha opened his mouth to say, "His Majesty asked us to find out more

about the world of the north and how the Seadians live. Could you tell us

what you know?"

"I guess the first question should be if there are any Seadians other than

the ones living in this city, right?" Yuriga said, but Garogaro shook his

head.

"○○○○, ○○○○." (TL: We don't know that either. All we know is that

we're the only ones who made it here...)

"Hm? What does that mean?" Ichiha asked.

"△△△△, △△△△," (TL: I already told you. The world of the north,

which we came from, was a world of islands and the sea.)

Lavin Gore answered on Garogaro's behalf.

"△△△△, △△△△." (TL: There were hundreds of medium- and

large-sized islands in our world, and countless more small ones—both

scattered across the sea and clustered close together in some places. They

could be so close that the sea between them looked like a river, and

sometimes there were vast stretches of water. That's the kind of world it

was.)

"It sounds like our Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago," Yuriga

commented.

"Yeah." Tomoe nodded in agreement.

"△△△△, △△△△." (TL: The endless monster attacks forced us to

flee from island to island. There's no way to know how all the other

Seadians are doing. It's possible some were left behind, and they've shut

themselves away somewhere. With some luck, there might even be islands

that have been spared from the monsters' attacks.)

"In a sense, the Seadians are refugees too, huh?" Yuriga wondered.

"Yeah," Ichiha agreed. "What can you tell us about your lives in this

city? Have you been able to support yourselves?"

"○○○○, ○○○○." (TL: Thanks to Lady Mao, we've been able to grow

crops inside the city. We eat those, our livestock, and any edible monsters

that attack us.)

"Are you able to tell which monsters are edible without an identification

system like Ichiha's?" Yuriga followed up. "Or are your stomachs just so

hardy you can eat any monster?"

Lavin Gore gave an exasperated shrug.

"△△△△, △△△△." (TL: Just how long do you think we've been

dealing with monsters for? It's simple for us to tell which ones are edible

and which aren't.)

"You must have accumulated far more experience with them," Ichiha

said, sounding impressed. "It was only around twenty years ago, when the

Demon Lord's Domain appeared, that we first faced the threat of monsters

outside the dungeons. But you Seadians have been facing them far longer

than that. The knowledge has been passed from parent to child, master to

apprentice, and naturally been refined over time. Which means..."

"They're on a different level than us, huh?" Yuriga said, satisfied with

the explanation. The Seadians had likely already developed a monster

identification system based on their own experiences.

Lavin Gore smiled boldly.

"△△△△, △△△△." (TL: The monsters were a threat, but they were

also exciting to hunt. After every hard-won battle with new types, we'd

think about what to do with their remains. Although, when our losses were

heavy, it was hard to think that way. Those with the power to fight could

enjoy it, but those without were in a constant state of danger, after all.)

"Hold on... That sounds like..." Yuriga had a look on her face like she

had realized something.

"Yuriga?"

Tomoe was about to ask her about it, but Ichiha spoke first, asking

Garogaro, "I wanted to check. Do the Seadians want to go home to the

world of the north, or is it your hope to settle here permanently?"

"○○○○, ○○○○." (TL: If we can go back, we want to. The world of the

north is our true homeland.)

"△△△△, △△△△," (TL: But even if we returned now, it would take

a lot of work to rebuild in the areas overrun by monsters. Pathetic as that is

to admit.) Lavin Gore said with a mocking laugh at herself. "△△△△,

△△△△." (TL: If you say your king's closed that accursed gate, then the

people of Haazar will know peace for a time. Assuming no Landians

attempt to steal this last city from us.)

"Ohh... Yeah. I guess so, huh?" Yuriga looked like she'd bitten into

something unpleasant.

She must have been remembering her brother. If Fuuga meant to

continue the war, that would close off the path to reconciliation between the

Landians and Seadians that had finally opened.

After a moment, Yuriga let out a long sigh.

"Well, we're going to have to rely on negotiations between my brother

and my reliable husband at this point. I'll do what I can to make

reconciliation possible too, of course."

"Yuriga..." Naden looked a little miffed. "I appreciate the sentiment,

but...just remember, he's my husband too, okay?"

Realizing Naden had been annoyed at hearing her use the word "my,"

Yuriga hurriedly shook her head.

"I-I know that, Lady Naden."

"Well, we're good then."

Everyone chuckled at that little exchange.

They could feel the heavy atmosphere that had been starting to settle

over the room lighten. But...

"□□□□, □□□□!" (TL: Booze! We're gonna drink 'til the cellar's empty!)

"Don't overdo it, old-timer! Oh, jeez, someone help me stop him!"

There was one person who was already totally sloshed. They all looked

at one another, exchanging wry smiles as they listened to Halbert's pitiful

cries for help.