Arc 2 - Chapter 15: Intestines (1/2)

Their group gathered to find Sony von Bishory had grown to six, with Satoshi, Raul, Sivina and Ana joining Yu and Yurine a few days earlier.

They would meet Lylphia, who was waiting for them when they arrived at Redchapel, and the search for Sony would begin with their new group of seven.

Yu had another duty besides looking for the missing son of the headmaster of the Wizarding Academy. That was to deliver the letters he had brought with him at night to the houses he had predetermined. They would have to wait until nightfall and work late into the night.

Yu was afraid to go out at night, as the Redchapel was a dangerous area. Yu would ask Lylphia to accompany him, it would increase his sense of security.

Apart from these, an important event for Yu was the epileptic seizure that came shortly after the founding of their party. When they returned to their inn from the police station, Yu first sensed the attack and then it came.

Because the seizure came during the meal and not when they were alone, everyone present witnessed Yu lying on the floor and shaking.

Fortunately, thanks to Yurine's intervention, Yu quickly recovered from the moment and returned to normal.

Lucia, who was with them at the time, was so flustered that when Yu came to, he could see tears in her eyes. She then gave him a good scolding for not disclosing his illness.

At this moment, their group was approaching the harbor of Redchapel on a ship.

"How did you get here?" asked Satoshi.

Sivina and Ana had come up on deck for air. Satoshi and Raul sat opposite Yu and Yurine. Yurine had fallen asleep with her head resting on Yu's shoulder, just as she had done on the expedition from Urta village to Redchapel.

"When I opened the door of my house, there was this city."

"WHITOUT DEAD?!"

"Don't shout!" Satoshi's reactions were irritating. "Please stop these contrived, exaggerated reactions. It's extremely irritating."

"I'm sorry," Satoshi bowed his head.

They'd had the chance to talk a few more times since they met at the guild, and Satoshi's reactions were always the same, always contrived and exaggerated. He must have thought he was an anime character.

"Satoshi does this obnoxious behavior so often that I began to wonder if he was normal and it was abnormal that I felt uncomfortable with him, and the fact that others were bothered by him reminded me that it was this idiot who was abnormal."

Raul folded his arms, closed his eyes and leaned back. "And what do you mean by without dead?"

Yu wouldn't have made a gaffe like Satoshi did.

"He's just bullshitting about something." He didn't want to tell everyone about the existence of other worlds. Raul didn't need to know. Of course, Satoshi could have run his mouth and told everyone.

"Did you get hit by a truck or something?" Yu asked.

"How did you know?"

"Because you have to get hit in the head to be like that." Raul made fun of Satoshi, as he does every chance he gets.

"You bastard!"

The relationship between them was exhausting. Sivina and Ana were nice girls but he didn't want to be friends with these two, he didn't have the energy to argue all the time.

"I hope the truck wasn't too badly damaged." Yu accompanied Raul, though Satoshi was not one to ingratiate himself.

"You bastard!!"

"So he was dead before he came."

Satoshi possessed light-type magic that could be used as a healing spell. This meant that Satoshi had the core that Yu did not, reinforcing Yu's earlier theory.

Yu was not summoned or reincarnated into this world; he passed into this world. During this transition he gained a soul, but the soul did not have a physical form. The core for casting spells was an organ and existed physically. Yu could not acquire a core during the transition.

Satoshi was reincarnated in this world and was able to obtain a core and the ability to cast spells.

"How long have you been here?"

"Three months, while crossing the street at night."

"It must be the best thing that ever happened to you."

"So..." Satoshi lifted his head as if to look up to the sky, but a ceiling greeted him. "I didn't have a very good life. I'm glad I came here."

"Deep down... Me too..."

What would have happened if he had not come to the Second World? He was at university, popular among the people and his grades were always high. After the loss of his sisters, his grades had dropped, but if he tried, he could have gotten better grades than before, and after graduation he could have found a good job and prospered with a high salary.

Was this what Yu Valarfin desired? He did not see happiness in the possible future he would have had if he stayed in the First World. Because happiness only existed when there was someone to share it with.

Yu had no one to share the happiness of any success he might achieve.

Of course, he was never one to say 'it's all over.' Even though the death of his sisters hurt him deeply and he stopped enjoying life, he still had awareness. If he focused on the future, he could be happy.

But he didn't want to. Because he didn't believe he deserved it.

"How long have you been here?"

"It'll be three weeks."

"What could have happened in three weeks to make you want to have a child?"

Yu didn't answer, he didn't like to talk about his troubles.

"Well, how did you get the things you're wearing? You dress very well, they must be very expensive. I've been broke since I got here, even though I'm working."

"I sold my phone. It's a smart phone, do you know what that is? What year are you from anyway?"

"Of course I know what a smartphone is, I have one! I'm from two thousand twenty."

"Two thousand twenty? There are one year between us but we are the same year… He came from future. How?"

He thought this information would please him, but what he got was discomfort. He had come from two thousand nineteen, a year earlier than Satoshi. Yet the fact that they were in the same year in this world showed him that time flowed differently between the two worlds. The idea of going back was frightening enough, but he was more than afraid that if he somehow returned, he would find himself fifty years in the future. In that case, the only thing he could do would be to commit suicide.

"But selling the smartphone? God, I didn't think of that..."

"It's no wonder you didn't think of it."

"Again!" Satoshi gritted his teeth. He was being made fun of again and again. "How much did you sell it for?"

"Fifty gold pieces."

"Whoa, that's good! I haven't made that much money since I got here."

"Wait a minute..." Raul interjected. "I understand that there is something called a 'smart phone' and that he made fifty gold coins selling it. And you have the same jewel and you still haven't sold it? Fuck you in the head."

"Watch your mouth when Yurine is here." Even though Yurine was asleep, he didn't want her to somehow wake up and hear bad words.

Raul didn't say anything.

"Unfortunately, I can't sell my phone anymore, the battery is dead."

"I say what Raul said," Yu said. Satoshi's was another level of stupidity.

Satoshi smiled as if he had come up with a brilliant idea. "Can't we charge it with electric magic or something?"

"No, there's a volt and ampere value to the power they can take. If you give them too much, you'll blow it up. Also, is the electricity produced by electrical magic direct current or alternating current? These are also important, but in the end, no."

Disappointed by Yu's explanation, Satoshi's smile disappeared from his face and the corners of his lip drooped down.

"I'm not sure if he is going to be a burden or if he is going to be useful. I'll try to get as much information as I can."

"Have you thought about the language?" Yu asked. Even though he was not hopeful about Satoshi, he wanted to know if the language they spoke was the same or different, and for that he needed to get to the point.

"No, why should I?"

"You come here from a foreign country, you are surrounded by foreign people and you can communicate with them. Don't you think it's strange?"

"They speak Japanese, they just changed the name to Rolderish."

It was a possibility, but Yu believed it wasn't so. Why did these people speak Japanese of all languages?

Yu studied the alphabet and realized that the number of letters in the Japanese words he knew from anime did not match the number of letters in the language they spoke here.

"Raul, you listen to what I'm going to say now." Raul opened his eyes and focused on Yu. Satoshi was also listening to him. "First word, arigato. Second word, thank you."

"So?" said Satoshi.

"Satoshi, repeat the first word and the second word I said. Say what you heard."

"Thank you, thank you."

"Are you deaf or stupid? Wait, you are stupid." Raul was surprised. "He said two different words."

"Don't make fun of me, the same word repeated."

Yu's guess was right, what they were saying was being translated to Satoshi in his native language. 

"Raul, you tell me, what did I just say?"

Raul repeated Yu correctly. "Arigato, thank you."

"You're saying the same thing."

"To you it's the same, to us it's different. The language you speak is different from the language of this world, Satoshi." Yu, careful not to disturb Yurine, took a pen and paper out of his bag. He wrote 'arigato' and then 'thank you' in the alphabet of this world and showed it to Satoshi. "Read these two words."

"Thank you, thank you." Satoshi's answer was the same.

"Now compare the number of letters in the words."

Satoshi must have perceived both the same, Yu wondered how many letters he saw in the two words.

Satoshi looked and looked and looked at the writing. He seemed to be in a trance, not saying anything. After a few seconds of trying to read the writing, his focus wasn't even on the writing anymore, he was just watching the paper in Yu's hand, drooling.

"Hey, Satoshi?" Raul put his hand on his shoulder and nudged Satoshi.

Satoshi didn't react. When Raul shook him again, he moaned, then shuddered and vomited on Raul.

"God damn it! Fucking idiot!"

When Satoshi fell on Raul, Raul pushed him and knocked him down. Satoshi did not react, he fell and continued to tremble with his eyes open.

"Yurine, Yurine!"

Yurine opened her eyes slightly, the way Yu was used to seeing her do. She had slept through the night and had had a good afternoon nap, but she kept having trouble transitioning from sleep to wakefulness.

"What happened?"

Yu gestured to Satoshi.