Chapter 3 — Is It Normal to Say Weird Stuff Like That in America?!

Tomochika returned to their hotel room near the palace by herself. It was the room they had first secured upon reaching the capital. Being a fairly tall building, it had survived the bulk of the sea of flesh, so she had gone back to get their luggage.

"I wonder if coming here by myself was a mistake."

Her guardian spirit Mokomoko was the only one with her.

It is certainly a little dangerous, but being alone makes getting around much easier. It would have been more challenging to bring the boy along.

Tomochika had been able to navigate the city despite the sea of rotting meat covering it thanks to her battle suit. It allowed her to move at high speeds and jump distances that were otherwise impossible for humans. It could also transform to allow her to stick to walls, and she could even extend it like a rope for a short distance and use it to pull herself up.

Not that I understand why you're here in the first place. Do you really need your luggage that badly?

"We could buy most of this stuff again, but not if we're broke." The idea of trying to get by on what was left in her wallet made her uncomfortable. If they were going to continue their journey, they'd need more money.

Tomochika confirmed the contents of the backpack sitting in the corner of the room. The treasure they had received from Hanakawa was mostly still intact. Explaining how they had acquired such massive wealth seemed like a pain, so they had kept it here to hide it from their classmates.

"And then there's her." She looked at the girl lying on the bed. It was a robot, but you couldn't tell that just by looking at her. She was designed to have the appearance of Yogiri's friend, Enju Sumeragi.

Hm. If we're just bringing a single person back...

"Couldn't I carry her?"

Unnecessary. I may have an idea.

Mokomoko stared intently at Enju's face, deep in thought. Suddenly, one of the android's fingers moved.

"Huh?"

"Good. It seems it is possible," Enju said, sounding exactly like Mokomoko. She then sat up, looking around. "I've successfully hacked Enju's body. I can control her freely now."

"Is there anything you can't do? Did you possess her or something?"

Not at all. I'm controlling her remotely. This time, it was Mokomoko herself who spoke.

"Right, because you can send out those electro waves or whatever?"

Her family guardian could send and receive electromagnetic signals, which presumably made it possible to control the robot remotely, but Tomochika had given up on trying to understand how.

"Since I can move using her own power, it should make things a little easier. Did you find everything you were looking for?"

"I did, but...there might still be people up here." The meat hadn't made it up to the top floor of the building, so there was always the possibility that some locals had managed to survive.

"Shall we check?" asked "Enju" as she stood up from the bed. "Of course, even if we find them, we can hardly bring them with us."

"But we can't just leave them here, can we?" Tomochika couldn't hope to save every person left in the capital herself, but if there was someone nearby, she felt like she should at least try to help them. Abandoning them felt a little heartless.

Hm. Allow me to take a look. If you were to simply appear before them, things might get complicated. Sitting Enju down on the bed, the ghost slid through the wall and into the next room. It seemed she couldn't control Enju while she herself was moving.

"Enju, was it?"

Tomochika timidly touched the robot's cheek. The soft and flexible skin didn't feel like anything that could be made in a lab. As hard as it was to believe that such an elaborate android existed, it must have looked exactly like the real girl. She appeared to be a little younger than Tomochika, but her almost artificially good looks were enough to make her jealous.

"I mean, I guess it is artificial. Man, that's weird."

"Hey!"

"Whoa!"

Enju had suddenly cried out, taking Tomochika by surprise. And then Mokomoko slid through the wall back into the room.

"Was there any reason to make her yell like that?!"

I just wanted to scare you.

"Now's not the time for pranks! Did you find anyone?"

Yes, well. There were a number of survivors, but I don't think we need to concern ourselves with them. Someone has already arrived to rescue them.

"They've been rescued? Who could save them from this?"

You remember the Divine King we met in the tower, yes? She is here. So there is no need for us to get involved.

"Oh, really?" The Divine King was the one who had been responsible for sealing away the Dark God Albagarma. She held a position above that of the Swordmaster. It seemed reasonable that she'd show up to start helping people, and she would likely be able to do so on her own.

"I should go and say hello."

Don't.

"Why not?"

It's hard to explain. But it seems something is wrong with her. She has a strange aura about her.

Given Mokomoko's unusually somber tone, Tomochika decided to comply.

"The Divine King is below us. Let us escape from the rooftop," the robot suggested.

Following her companion's guidance, Tomochika grabbed her luggage and made her way upstairs. They would escape in the same way they had before, gliding across the city. "Enju" put the luggage on her back and clung to Tomochika.

"It's not that I don't trust you about this battle suit, but this is still a bit terrifying."

With that, Tomochika jumped as hard as she could off the edge of the roof. Wings grew from her back, quickly catching the air. Before long they were gliding smoothly over the capital.

Tomochika glanced back. Between her wings, she could see the hotel behind them. The Divine King was standing there, looking out at her from a window. They had only met briefly at the tower, but even so, the woman's sublime aura of nobility had been clear at a glance. One could feel unconsciously she was some sort of saint just by looking at her.

But now the sight of her made Tomochika uneasy. This was indeed the Divine King; that was clear even at their current distance. But she also seemed wrong, like something vital was missing from her.

◇ ◇ ◇

When Tomochika returned with their belongings, Yogiri was still asleep. The group sitting inside the softly rocking carriage was silent. Although they had heard a summary of Risley's situation, it seemed the real meat of the discussion would have to wait until Yogiri woke up. From Ryouko and Carol's perspective, Risley and her two attendants were total strangers, so there wasn't much for them to talk about.

"So, where is this carriage heading?" It suddenly dawned on Tomochika that she had no idea where they were actually going.

"Well, first of all, we're just getting away from the capital. We're a pretty large group, so we want to avoid any potential conflicts with the refugees," Theodisia explained.

"What do you mean, a large group?" The only ones there were Risley, Euphemia, and Theodisia. Beyond that, she supposed there was at least the person driving the carriage, but that was it.

"I told you we were traveling while searching for our people, right?"

Per the sisters' stories, Yuuki Tachibana had attacked their village of half-demons, taking away the most attractive women for himself. After his death, the remaining half-demons had been lost.

"We actually managed to find a surprising number of them. They're riding in other carriages."

Since their group had become so large, the sisters had gone ahead with Risley to make contact with Yogiri.

"Are there really that many of you?"

"We haven't found many people from our own village, but we found more captured half-demons than expected." Theodisia had a troubled look on her face. She wanted to save the people from her home village, but she couldn't just abandon others of her race, strangers or not. "At present, we have about a hundred people with us, and we expect that number to continue growing."

"A hundred?!"

"Euphemia's detection abilities are truly incredible. And once we find them, we can hardly walk away."

Whether or not the half-demons they came across were the ones they were specifically searching for, they couldn't simply leave them to their fates. However, the more people they gathered, the harder it would be to keep everything under control. At least, that was Theodisia's concern.

"Lain left behind a lot of money, and I'm pretty rich. So we don't have any problems with finances, but if we keep growing, it'll be hard to move around..." Risley also seemed troubled. Half-demons were feared and hated. A hundred or more of them working together would be seen as a threat even if they were doing nothing wrong.

"We've been attacked a number of times already. It hasn't been anything Euphemia and I can't handle so far, but..." Their race was naturally stronger than humankind but not to an insurmountable degree. If a dedicated group came together to get rid of them, it was quite likely they would succeed.

"Well," Euphemia said, "now that we have met Sir Takatou, we have achieved Risley's objective. We'll have to think about what comes next. Oh, I've found one."

"Found what?"

"A hot spring."

"Why were you even looking for one?!"

"You wanted to visit one, right?"

"Huh? Uhh, I don't know. It's not like I'm not interested, I guess..." Tomochika looked out the window. The trees were moving. As the carriage pressed forward, the plant life was literally sliding out of the way, forming a path for them.

"What the—?! Where are we going?"

"Hot springs are in the wilderness, right?"

"Wait, wait, wait! This is too ridiculous for words!" A carriage like theirs shouldn't have been able to move through such a densely wooded area, but they continued to ride on as if the trees weren't even there.

"Since becoming a vampire, Euphemia can control the trees," Risley offered.

"Is there anything vampires can't do?!"

They soon made their way out of the woods and entered a valley. A river flowed through the space between two mountains, creating a small clearing there. Gouts of steam plumed into the air from various points along the banks.

They had found a secret hot spring.

◇ ◇ ◇

"So, now we have to compare our bust sizes, right?"

"Is it normal to say weird stuff like that in America?!" Sensing danger from Carol's gaze, Tomochika instinctively covered her chest with her arms.

"What? I see it all the time in anime. The girls are always doing things like that."

It was evening. Tomochika, Carol, and Ryouko were all in the hot spring. There was a collection of springs near the river running between the mountains, so they had decided to set up camp there. As it was far away from any human settlements, it was best for the half-demons as well. The other carriages had rejoined them, and they were now setting up their tents. As the three girls had nothing in particular to do at the moment, they had decided to take a dip.

"But seriously, what's so fun about it?"

"Oh, is that supposed to be the dignity of a girl who's sure she's already won? Or do you just hate Ryouko?"

"Don't drag me into this."

"Hey, Tomochika, do they really float in water?"

"Can't you tell with yours?!"

"Oh, well. Now that I finally have a chance, let's try rubbing them!"

"What do you mean 'finally'?!"

"Seems like you're having fun," Risley commented as she arrived.

"Oh, did you finish setting up already?"

"Not yet, but I don't really have anything to do."

"Right?"

In your case, even if you wanted to help, you wouldn't know how, Mokomoko remarked.

"Well, sorry!" Tomochika replied. She couldn't help but feel guilty about not being very useful to the others. "Anyway, are you sure you should be wasting time here with us?"

"My objective was to meet Yogiri. I'm not in a hurry to do anything else. Maybe Euphemia and the others have some things they need to do, though."

"You mean about being attacked from time to time?" Ryouko asked curiously. Obviously, sitting around relaxing in a hot spring while their party was being attacked wasn't something she would allow herself to do.

"Oh, that's not a problem. Euphemia put up a barrier to keep people away."

A barrier spell was cast on the surrounding land to prevent one's presence from being detected from the outside. In this case, it surrounded the entire hot springs area, so no one should have been able to tell that there was anyone there.

"Well, I suppose it's fine, then," Tomochika answered. "I thought this place was so open that it would be good for an open-air bath, but I was worried about other people showing up."

The hot springs dotted the banks of the river that cut through the valley. The material that Tomochika used for her battle suit could have formed an enclosure for them, but she had felt it would ruin the aesthetic and had decided not to use it.

"Anyway, if anyone comes here, it would only be Takatou, right?"

"That would be the biggest problem!" Tomochika looked around nervously just in case, but figured it would be pretty out of character for him to do something like that. While he would certainly enjoy such a situation if it happened by accident, he wasn't the type to intentionally barge in on a group of women taking a bath.

"I wouldn't really mind." Risley sounded disappointed.

"If he was happy to see you naked, I'd have to hit him." No matter how you looked at it, Risley was about elementary school age. Tomochika wouldn't put up with such behavior.

"I see. You don't want him looking at her; you want him looking at you! So, that's the kind of girl you are!"

"That's not what I'm talking about!"

"Rather than being an intentional perv, isn't he the type to just walk in without thinking about it?"

"No, even Takatou has that much common sense."

"I don't know if I can grow anymore, but...if I became like Tomochika, maybe he would be happy with me..." Risley muttered, staring at her.

"All right, I think I've had enough!" Starting to feel awkward, Tomochika got up and left the spring. After changing behind a nearby rock, she headed back to the camp.

The others had more or less finished setting up. Numerous tents were arranged around the banks of the river. They all seemed designed to be used on the move.

"I kind of feel bad for goofing off in the hot spring while they were working."

You have no obligation to help them set up. I don't see anything wrong with you taking time to relax.

"Are you sure we're hidden from the outside?" The crowd of tents certainly stood out. Even from a distance, someone would be able to see that there was an impromptu settlement in the area.

Perhaps it's thanks to the vampire's power, but that barrier is really something. From the outside, it appears as if there's nothing here.

"All this talk of vampires and barriers makes this really feel like another world, doesn't it?" Tomochika murmured, looking up at the sky, realizing it was a bit late to be saying that. Far overhead she could make out a floating rock, on top of which she could faintly see buildings. She hadn't thought about it before, but there were people living up in the sky.

There were plenty of barriers and vampires in our own world, you know.

"Wait, seriously?!"

The hospital near our residence was run by a vampire. Their daughter turned seven people of her own. She was a proper vampire princess.

"Was I living in the middle of a light novel or something?!"

There are many things about your world that you are unaware of.

"Well, if guardian spirits exist, and people like Takatou exist, I suppose it's not that hard to believe." The most surprising part was that something so strange had been so close to her. She couldn't fully accept the idea that she had been living in the same neighborhood as a vampire her entire life.

Hm. It seems no one is around, so this may be a good chance.

"A chance for what?"

To talk about what we'll do next. You seem quite content to let yourself be pulled along by the current.

"You're right, there." Ever since coming to this world, Tomochika hadn't done much in the way of making her own decisions. Even the thought of returning home wasn't something she was sure was possible, so she had just been going along with Yogiri's plan.

First of all, there's no reason for us to work with these half-demons.

"You think so?" She considered them something like friends, but now that Mokomoko had brought it up, that wasn't necessarily a reason to stay with them.

Also, Carol and Ryouko. I believe you should be a bit more on guard against them.

"Really?" The suggestion surprised her.

Their original role was to monitor the boy, remember? Can you really trust them?

"They don't seem to have any bad intentions, though."

Intentions are irrelevant. If their objective is different from your own, then your paths will ultimately be different as well.

"Hmm. I guess I never really thought about it."

Still, what could she do? Crossing her arms thoughtfully as she walked, she suddenly noticed something that made her feel a bit uneasy. There was movement in the distance. Looking closely, she could see that something was approaching, heading towards them along the riverbank.

"Something is coming!"

Oh? Are they looking for us?

The encampment was in a secluded area. Euphemia had manipulated the trees to allow them to come this far into the woods, so it was unlikely that anyone would come across them by chance.

It was a group of people mounted on horses.

"Her barrier didn't do anything at all!"

They couldn't have been heading anywhere else. The mounted group was galloping straight for them.