Vol-08 Ch 3 – Ouma’s Wish

Part 1

"Hmm… Un?"

"Wake up. Yuuya, are you okay?"

"Yuti…?"

"Woof."

"Buhi?"

"Pii."

When I woke up, Yuti was looking directly into my face. Night and the others are also near her. I mean, was I asleep…?

I tried to get up, but my body was too weak. Then Ouma-san, who was sleeping near me as well as Night and the others, opened one of his eyes.

"Don't push yourself too hard. Your life force consumed by the [Holy King's Authority] has returned to normal, but your physical strength is still exhausted. You can rest for a while."

"Ouma-san? [Holy King's Authority]…?"

Just as I was about to say something, I remembered what was going on!

"Oh, yeah, the house… is…?"

I looked around, but it was the same old house… filled with memories of my grandfather, my precious home.

"H-huh? If I recall, the ceiling of the house was…"

Due to the fierce battle between Merl-san and the Dragonia aliens, the ceiling of this house was supposed to have been blown out or suffered some other disastrous incident, but there is no sign of that.

"If it's about the house, don't worry. I had the little girl there fix it."

"Little girl?"

I asked back, and Ouma-san gestured to a certain spot with his face. There, in the corner of the room, was Merl-san sitting on her knees in seiza.

"Me-Merl-san?"

(…I'm terribly sorry.)

She slowly placed her hands on the floor and bowed her head deeply. It was a form of apology known as "Dogeza." Eh ─ Dogeza?

"Merl-san!"

When I panicked at her sudden dogeza, Merl-san continued in that position.

(In my haste to achieve my goal, I damaged something important to you. I apologize for that. As an apology, I've used my nanomachine to restore it perfectly.)

"Nanomachine?"

I was just amazed by Merl-san's words. C-can nanomachine does such things too…?

"Speaking of which, where are those people?"

"They've retreated. So you can rest assured," said Ouma-san.

"I-I see… but Merl-san, please raise your head! As long as you restore it to its original state, I don't really mind about it anymore!"

(…Thank you very much…)

After my words, Merl-san finally raised her head. Waking up like this is not good for my heart. Rather than that, I didn't know there was a concept of dogeza in space as well…

I breathed a sigh of relief when Merl-san raised her head, but then I remembered that I hadn't told her my name yet.

"Ah yes, I haven't told you my name yet, have I? My name is Yuuya Tenjou. This is my family: Night, Akatsuki, Ciel, Ouma-san, and Yuti."

"Woof."

"Fugo."

"Pii."

"Hmph."

"? Greeting?"

The four of them, Night, Akatsuki, Ciel, and Ouma-san, seemed to understand what Merl-san and I were talking about, but Yuti couldn't understand what Merl-san was saying. When I pointed out to her, she seemed to sense from the atmosphere that she was being introduced to Merl-san and bowed her head.

Merl-san bowed like usual to Yuti and me, but for some reason, when she saw Night and the others, she cowered. I wondered if something had happened. I was a little concerned about her reaction, but I decided to tell her about the blueprint, which was Merl-san's original purpose.

"T-then, the blueprint, isn't it? There's no problem in giving it to you, and I'll have it ready right away."

(I appreciate it, but I can't return to Amel even after receiving the blueprint.)

"Eh?"

I froze at her unexpected words.

(They… My spaceship was destroyed in an attack by the Dragonia aliens. The exterior and other parts of the ship can be repaired with the nanomachine that I have, but when the engine was destroyed, all of the fuel energy that was in the ship flowed out and disappeared. So, there was no way for me to bring back the blueprint right now.)

"I-I see… have you contacted your friends?"

When I asked that, Merl-san shook her head feebly.

(…I overused this device in the battle just now. It would be no problem to manipulate the information on this one planet, but I have lost the ability to communicate across spaces…)

Manipulating the information of this single planet is no problem? Space technology is terrific, isn't it?

"So, what are you going to do then?"

(I've been trying to find out if there is any energy on this planet that can be used as a power source, so-called magic power… This planet is a rare planet in the universe where magic power does not exist, and I am in serious trouble…)

"Magic? If you have magic, can you go home?"

Then… I have a lot of magic power, thanks to my leveling up in the other world and the magic circuits I inherited from Sage-san.

(It's not enough to just have magic power as energy. I need a device to store the magic power… However, no material on this planet can hold magic power.)

It seems that it is not going to be that easy. Nevertheless, it would be a problem for Merl-san if she couldn't do anything about it.

When we were both pondering, Ouma-san, who had been sleeping indifferently, opened his mouth while yawning.

"Fuwahh… What are you worried about?"

"Eh?"

"If there isn't one on Earth, why don't you go to that world to get it?"

"Ah!"

(That world?)

Merl-san doesn't seem to understand what Ouma-san is talking about… It's true that if there is no such thing in this world, it can be found in the other world. Come to think of it; the [Magic Stone] seems to be a mass of magic power.

Once that was decided, the sooner, the better, so I guided Merl-san to the warehouse where the [Door to the Other World] was located.

As we approached the warehouse, Merl-san was staring at the device attached to her arm while breaking out in a cold sweat.

(W-what's this force field…! No matter how I feel it, the amount of power that one individual can release… or even one planet, exceeds the amount of power that can be released by one universe!)

"H-huh… Even if you say so… but I also have Merl-san's blueprint here."

(What kind of place would you place it in?)

I don't know if this room is that dangerous. The only thing I'm aware of is that it's a place with a certain atmosphere…

But it seems that I'm the only one who feels that way, and even Ouma-san nodded in agreement with her.

"Your behavior in front of a place where so much power is swirling about is beyond dull, Yuuya."

"I-is that so?"

But everything in this place was collected by my grandpa, and I didn't feel anything about it. Because I'm sure my grandfather had never been to another world, and unlike me, he was probably a normal person.

But since we were at the warehouse, I gave Merl-san the cubic object she was looking for.

"This is probably the blueprint that Merl-san was talking about, right?"

(…It really was stored in such a ridiculous place. In addition, the signal was so complicated… that it was impossible to identify the detailed location. If it was placed in such an overwhelming force field, our equipment would be blurred.)

"Eeh? But t-that blueprint can destroy a planet, right? How can a mere house have more power than that?"

(…If we convert the force swirling around this room into energy, it could easily wipe out tens of thousands of universes.)

"No way!"

I instantly became afraid of this room. H-how could this room be so dangerous? N-no, this is absurd. I've never had any problems before, so it must be Merl-san's imagination. That must be it. No, that's what I've decided. Yes, this conversation is over!

To distract myself, I walked deeper into the warehouse and arrived in front of the door.

"This is the door that leads to the other world."

(…The material and source of power are both unknown… It's not even dark matter… I can't believe something this incomprehensible exists…)

She said a lot that I couldn't understand, but from my perspective, Merl-san's device is also incomprehensible enough, so I guess we're even.

As soon as I opened the door and moved to the other world, Merl-san's eyes widened even more.

(Space… no, the movement between worlds! What's more, what's this abundance of magic power…!)

"U-um… I think this world probably has what you're looking for, Merl-san…"

(…Yes, that's right. If the environment is such that I can feel the magic power so strongly, the possibility is high enough. Do you have any idea what it might be?)

"Let's see; I think that the magic stones that you get when you defeat the monsters in this world are really a mass of magic power… What do you think?"

As I said this, I took out one of the magic stones from my item box. I've forgotten what kind of monster I got it from, but since it's an S-class magic stone, there's a chance that this one might even be enough.

I didn't know what to do with the magic stones until now, so I've been using the door function to exchange them for cash, but lately I've been saving some of them.

After receiving the magic stone from me, Merl-san began to operate the terminal and look into something.

(…Indeed, this material seems to contain magic power, but it's not enough to be used as fuel…)

"Eh, that's not enough?"

(It's not enough at all… From what you've told me, this is something you can get from a single life form, right? There's no way a mere lifeform can carry enough energy to travel through space…)

"T-that is also true."

When I thought about it again, that might be true. I'm not sure. However, there's nothing that can contain more magic power than an S-class magic stone.

I've heard of SS, SSS, EX, and L class monsters from Master Usagi before, but I've never fought one.

For me now, I think I might be able to defeat an SS class or so, but… Avis has wiped out the depths of the Great Devil's Nest, so I don't even know if there are any such monsters. Speaking of which, Master Usagi said that Evil is the L-class, and Avis is the ultimate perfection of that Evil… so I wonder what class he will be?

Just when I thought I had found a solution, another problem arose. However, Ouma-san, who presented the idea of going to this world, did not seem particularly bothered by it.

"What, Yuuya's magic stone is not enough? If that's the case, you'll have to go get that thing."

"That thing?"

I tilted my head, not knowing what the heck Ouma-san was talking about, but Yuti, an original inhabitant of this world, didn't seem to know either and tilted her head as well.

"Question. Yuuya's magic stone, the high purity one. If it's more than that, it would be SS-class or something. Do you know where they live?"

"I know. Well, we won't be targeting SS-class or EX-class monsters this time. If it's still not enough, it would be too much trouble. But if it's something I know, I can certainly get it. It's a bit of a pain in the ass, but it's just right… for Yuuya's training."

"Eh."

I have a bad feeling about the word "training" that came out of Ouma-san's mouth.

I-it's strange… after we've defeated the ultimate enemy of this world, the Evil Avis, I still have to train…

But it seems that I did not mishear it, and Ouma-san grinned.

"Hmm. I don't normally have anything to tell you, but… it's for the sake of my master. I'll be glad to teach you something special. However, even so, it's important to remember that no one was able to go back and forth between that place except for the Sage, and most importantly, no one had the ability to reach there… Well, I'm sure Yuuya will be fine."

"Do you have any proof of that?"

Where's that place that only someone of Sage-san's level can go? Probably, the atmosphere of that place alone is more dangerous than Avis.

"Are you sure it's safe? I don't want to go anywhere too dangerous…"

"Hou, is that okay? If you don't go there, that little girl will never be able to return to her home planet, you know?"

"Ugh…"

(…..)

When I looked at Merl-san, she was looking at me with a somewhat anxious look.

I was very reluctant to do anything dangerous, but when I thought about Merl-san, I couldn't say so, and all I could do was open my eyes wide.

Part 2

Believing in Ouma-san's words about an energy source he knew of that could run Merl-san's spaceship, I wanted to go there right away, but I couldn't right now.

Tomorrow was the first day of school since the summer vacation. While the summer vacation itself would continue for a little while longer, there was homework to be submitted on this day so there was no way I could miss it.

Fortunately, I had finished my homework early so that I could hang out with Kaori and the others at the beach, so I didn't have to worry about that.

…It feels like it's been a while since I've seen everyone. Before the summer vacation, we used to see each other every day, but with the summer vacation, that stopped, and I felt a little sad.

So when the school day was over, I asked Ouma-san to take me to the place where the energy source was located… To my surprise, Ouma-san made a bargain here.

"I can tell you about it, but if that's all there is to it, there's no benefit for me. So, therefore, if you want the energy source for that little girl, you'll have to do me a favor."

"F-favor? What exactly is it…?"

As I involuntarily tensed up at the mention of a favor from Ouma-san, the Genesis Dragon, Ouma-san's eyes snapped open, and he said.

"──Take me out of the house on Earth! "

"…..Eh?"

At Ouma-san's unexpected words, not only I froze, but Yuti and the others as well. Without paying any attention to our situation, Ouma-san began to complain like a child.

"Because it's not fair! Night, Akatsuki, Ciel, and Yuti! Besides, I'm sure that little girl there can enjoy the Earth too! And yet, I'm the only one who is staying at home… It's not fair, not fair!"

"Not fair, you say…"

"Woof…"

"Fugo."

"Pii."

"…Confused. The dignity of the Genesis Dragon is ruined."

As Yuti said, Ouma-san was like a spoiled brat right now, no matter how I looked at him. Night and the others were also confused and dismayed by Ouma-san's behavior.

Then Ouma-san noticed our gaze and gave us a look of disapproval.

"What is it? You guys. Do you have a problem with that? I can never walk around outside of Earth's house as you do, can I? Hmm?"

"That's…"

"While you are enjoying yourselves on Earth, I am spending my days in this house just sleeping… This is no different from my old life!"

That's a problem for me too. If possible, I would like Ouma-san to take a look around the Earth, but no matter how I look at him, Ouma-san's appearance is that of a dragon.

"E-even if you put it that way, Ouma-san is a kind of creature that doesn't exist on Earth, so your appearance is just…"

"Appearance? What's wrong with that?"

"I-I mean, your wings?"

If he didn't have wings, wouldn't he be more like a monitor lizard…? No, huh? I don't know. There's no one around me who has a monitor lizard, so I don't know!

I've been thinking about this for a while, and then I suddenly realized something.

"R-right! The main reason why Ouma-san can't go out of the house is that he looks like a dragon because of his wings."

"Hmph. I'm a Genesis Dragon. It is natural for me to look like a dragon, isn't it?"

"But if you can hide those wings… m-maybe we can fake it…?"

"Why are you becoming less and less confident?"

No, it's okay to come up with an idea, but I don't know if it's a good idea at all.

"P-please wait for a moment! Then, I'll prepare something for you."

After telling Ouma-san, I rushed out to buy something. My destination was the pet store where I had purchased Night's collar before.

Thirty minutes later.

"I-I have bought it!"

"Hou? I didn't know that there were things on Earth that could disguise my appearance."

"Y-yes. Here it is!"

I held out the item I had bought to Ouma-san.

"…..What's this?"

"…..It's clothes."

"…What?

"U-um… It's pet clothes."

Yes… what I gave Ouma-san was a small piece of clothing meant for a pet dog or cat.

This way, Ouma-san's wings could be hidden by the clothes…! No, there might be a great deal of discomfort in his back area, but there's nothing more I can do about it!

In order to at least minimize the discomfort, I chose the thick hoodie-type clothing. However, Ouma-san started to shiver in front of the clothes I offered him…

"D… don't be silly! Why do I have to wear something like this? And it's for pets!"

"B-but, I can't think of any other way to disguise Ouma-san's appearance… Ouma-san wants to look around by yourself, don't you? You've probably figured it out."

"Of course!"

"Or at least… If you just want to take a look at the outside scenery, you can use the cloak of disguise that I gave to Akatsuki, or maybe I can put you in a bag or something and carry you around while you stay quiet."

"Ugh… that's not enough to enjoy as much as I want…"

Yes, there were many ways to hide his appearance.

However, Ouma-san did not want to do that; he wanted to take a walk and enjoy the Earth normally. He might have wanted to go out for a bite to eat, but if he were to hide away, he wouldn't be able to eat what we bought immediately.

Ouma-san was troubled by my words, but he growled in front of the pet clothes before him.

"Ughhhh… but… there's no way I'm going to wear this no matter what!"

"I-is that so?"

What I bought was a pet hoodie – it was pink and had a cute heart symbol on the back.

"It's not something that would look good on me, no matter how you look at it."

"I don't think so. But, look, since we have it here, why don't you try it on?"

"What? N-no, I don't want to wear something so cute!"

"But you won't be able to go out without it, you know?"

"No, a different color or pattern would be fine!"

"Well, well, you should try putting it on first."

"H-hey, stop it! Whoaaaaa!"

I held the struggling Ouma-san in my arms and dressed him in the clothes I had bought.

Then…

"It's a humiliation… for me, the Genesis Dragon, to be dressed like this…!"

Ouma-san was now dressed in a pink hoodie. The size seemed to be just right, but the wings on the back were still pushing against the costume and looked a bit uncomfortable, but it was… acceptable.

"You don't have to be so gloomy about it… It looks good on you, you know? Right everyone?"

As for me, I'm delighted with the new cute side of Ouma-san, so I asked everyone that──.

"W-woof…"

"Bu-buhi…! Fugo, fugo!"

"Pi! Pii!"

"…Silent. I'll refrain from mentioning anything about it."

"H-huh?"

Night and Yuti looked somewhat bewildered while Akatsuki was laughing, and Ciel's eyes were shining as if to say, "Ouma-san, that's great!." Hmm, I thought it looked good on him. I guess I don't have any sense of style.

"W-well, that's okay. The purpose is to take a walk around the Earth. Clothes are just a trivial matter."

"…I feel like I'm being swayed, but so be it. Sigh… I never thought I would end up wearing something like this… I'm not sure if I should be impressed with Yuuya for doing this to me without fear…"

Ouma-san let out a sigh and then continued as if he had regained his composure.

"Well, okay. I can go out in this outfit, right?"

"That's right. Well, there are a few other things you should be aware of, such as talking outside, using magic, rampaging, flying, etc… But as for the most important issue, I think your appearance is fine."

"Hmph. If you say this is not good enough, I will not guide you to the place where the energy source I know is."

"T-that would be a problem…"

Currently, Ouma-san was the only one who knew where an energy source for Merl-san's spaceship might be located. It would be difficult for me and Yuti to find it in the other world by ourselves.

Then, Merl-san, who had been quietly watching our exchange, raised her hand.

(Um, I know I shouldn't be using it too much, but since Ouma-san is guiding us to the location where the energy source is… if your identity is discovered on Earth, I can use my terminal to erase all records of you from Earth.)

"…The more I hear about it, the more amazing it sounds."

Merl-san's own existence, including everyone's memories and electronic records, were erased just by operating the terminal on her arm.

"But if Merl-san is willing to go that far, then we can go out with Ouma-san more safely."

"Oh, that's great! Then let's go immediately──."

"Ah! But we can't go right now, you know? Tomorrow is the first day of school, so I have to prepare for it… Besides, Ouma-san would like to go out in the morning, wouldn't he?"

"Mmm. That's also true."

I've decided to go out with Ouma-san, but first I have to prepare dinner. Then Ouma-san wanted to eat curry, so I decided to go shopping for the ingredients.

At this time, Merl-san expressed interest about Earth, so she decided to take a walk around outside before Ouma-san.

…Well, Ouma-san complained at the time, but it was indeed difficult to take Ouma-san with us to the supermarket, so I asked him to stay at home once more.

＊＊＊

"H-hey, look…"

"What is it, what is it?"

"What happened? Huh…"

"Um…"

(Hmm? What is it?)

When I thought about it, I realized that Merl-san was dressed in a way that didn't look like an Earthling, and her hair was all shiny. Especially now that it was nighttime, the shine of her hair stood out even more, drawing the gaze of many people on the street.

I wonder if it's a good thing that I brought her along…? She definitely stood out, and… her clothes look like full-body tights, so I think it's pretty dangerous.

However, Merl-san herself didn't seem to be particularly concerned about the stares from the people around her and was totally unaffected.

"Um, are you okay? You're standing out…"

(I wonder what makes me stand out?)

"Eh? Um… I mean, the way your hair is shining…?"

(Huh… It's a very common phenomenon on the planet Amel… You're right; Earthlings don't glow. Why is that?)

"Why, you say?"

I never thought I'd be asked that! W-why aren't we glowing…?

Since the question was asked so seriously, I couldn't help but think seriously, but I couldn't come up with an answer. Space is amazing.

As we went towards the supermarket, attracting the attention of the people around us, I was suddenly approached by a voice.

"Oh my? Yuuya-san?"

"Eh? Ah, Kaori!"

And then I met Kaori, who was probably on her way back from shopping. But unlike before, Kaori was surrounded by a group of women who had some kind of mysterious presence.

"Um, who are these people around you?"

"Oh… these are the guards that my father prepared for me."

"Guards? Is there something that happened?"

When I asked her that, Kaori looked gloomy for a moment and then immediately smiled vaguely.

"N-no, not particularly… But my father has been experiencing some disturbances lately, so he assigned them as my guards."

"I-I see…?"

If you ask me, the Earth has also been dangerous… recently? Well, because of me, aliens have been visiting the Earth, so it was indeed a mess. I'm really sorry for everyone on Earth.

Besides, for rich people like Kaori, there might be dangers lurking in their daily lives that I didn't understand. There would be threats, kidnappings, ransom demands, and so on… That's just to be expected. This is not a drama, though.

The strength of a person can not be known without using my [Identification] skill, but the women who were assigned as Kaori's bodyguards seem to have… a strong presence.

Then Kaori approached me a little confusedly.

"Then, um… who's that woman?"

"Ah… this is Merl-san."

"Merl… um, she's not from this world, is she? Is she from the other world?"

Kaori sensed something and asked me that in a low voice, but I answered with a wry smile.

"That's… She's neither from Earth nor from the other world; she's an alien."

"Eh?"

Kaori rolled her eyes and stared at Merl-san as if she hadn't expected that answer.

"S-she's indeed dressed in a somewhat sci-fi design… B-but, is she really an alien?"

"Yeah. To be honest, I don't really believe it yet either… but apparently, she is."

Kaori was taken aback by my explanation.

Then, Merl-san, who had been looking around while I was talking to Kaori, tilted her head and spoke to me.

(Why don't you finish your shopping early? I think your family is waiting for you…)

"Ah! That's right. See you later, Kaori!"

"Eh? Y-yes…"

After saying goodbye to Kaori, I hurriedly headed to the supermarket.

"…Yuuya-san, your circle of acquaintances has expanded to the universe…"

Kaori, who was watching us from behind, muttered a few words, but they did not reach my ears.

"Ojou-sama. I think it's time for you to go back. There's also the matter of the threatening letter…"

"…Yes, that's right. Now that I've done my business, let's go home. Sigh… I hope Kasumi is okay too…"

＊＊＊

(! T-this is… so delicious!)

"T-that's good to hear."

"Comprehension. Even if I don't understand a word of what you just said, I understand. Yuuya's cooking is delicious."

"Good grief. The food in this world is really exciting. Refill, please!"

"Yes, yes."

As I prepared a refill of curry for Ouma-san, I reflected on today's events.

The day after tomorrow is the day I'm going to go to the other world, so the question came up as to what to do with Merl-san from today. Originally, she could have stayed in the spaceship she came in, but the Dragonia's attack had disabled the engines, so she had to stay in my house until she returned to her planet.

Fortunately, my house was big enough for me alone, and I have plenty of room, so it's not a problem.

I wondered if there were any differences between Merl-san and the people of Earth in terms of eating and sleeping, but it seemed that she could eat the same meals as everyone else and had the habit of sleeping on a futon.

Well, it seemed that the futons were not the same as the beds and mattresses that she was used to, but with the drop item, the [Paradise Futon], anyone can get a great night's sleep, so there's no problem.

So with that being said, they were still eating the curry I made for them, and Merl-san was bringing the curry to her mouth with a twinkle in her eyes.

(I've never eaten anything as delicious as this before. Earth… may be a remote planet, but it's really a wonderful place.)

"Haha… Um, what kind of food do you usually eat, Merl-san?"

(Me? That's right… Well, if I were to compare it to what we eat on our planet, I'd say it's more like a block of nutritional food or supplement.)

"Eh… is that really what you're eating?"

(Yes. Despite the taste, they provide all the necessary nutrients and calories.)

What a disappointment; I was kind of interested in space cuisine.

However, as I could somehow imagine from the tight-fitting tights like the ones worn by Merl-san and the Dragonia aliens, the more science and technology advances, the more everything would change into a more efficient form.

As a result, cooking became just a way to prepare nutrients…

"Let's see… There's still plenty of curry to go around, so don't be hesitant to eat it."

(Yes!)

Just like I thought when I met Ouma-san, Japanese food companies are truly amazing. That's what I thought.