Volume 3, 3 - The Town of Beginnings Part 3

Volume 3, Chapter 3 - The Town of Beginnings Part 3

“T-This place is...”

Among all the buildings that lined the streets, that building in particular looked conspicuously old and run down.

From the outside, it appeared to be a church or a chapel, and in this town filled with tall structures, it was one of the rare buildings that was only two storeys tall.

They saw something that looked like a courtyard after passing through the rusted gates, but the ground was mostly bare with just a single seedy-looking tree growing on it. Overall, it made for an appearance that was not particularly inviting.

Catalina pointed towards what looked like a nameplate that had been nailed perfunctorily to the wall that surrounded the building.

“It says 『House of the Fireflies』. Do you know what sort of insects fireflies are?”

“Well, of course……”

“Since the insects are luminescent and there is no danger of them sparking off a fire or explosion, they are often used as a light source in deep coal mines.”

“Oh, I see…”

Didn’t Catalina mention a strange word just now?

“Of course, the light given off by fireflies is fairly useless. However, for the people who work in coal mines, that feeble light is enough for them to trust their lives to it. This is that kind of place.”

Yasuo unconsciously put himself on guard. It was almost purely on reflex.

Catalina just clearly mentioned the word 『coal mine』.

“This is one of the facilities managed by the Carnelian of the Coal Mine, the organization that works to assist displaced refugees.”

“...!!”

He went stiff and felt a chill run through his heart.

The wariness he had kept bottled up within himself until now suddenly rose up and forced his heart to beat faster.

Catalina’s intelligent eyes were looking sideways at Yasuo who was drenched in a cold sweat.

What exactly was it that lurked deep within her eyes?

Had Catalina guessed that Shouko was the 『Latch』 as he had suspected, and brought her here

to hand her over to the Carnelian of the Coal Mine?

Could he take Shouko and escape from Catalina, who appeared to be capable of using magic?

Just before Yasuo’s panicked thoughts were about to explode…

“...!?”

A shrill bell sounded within the 『House of the Fireflies』, and Yasuo, Shouko, and even Catalina unconsciously looked in that direction.

The next instant.

“““****!!”””

Where exactly had they been hiding?

A large number of children suddenly appeared from the various alleyways and ran towards the 『House of the Fireflies』 each one fighting to be the first one there.

“Eh!? Eh!?” “Uwaaaah!”

The children who darted past their legs all looked shabby and underfed.

However, they had a sharp and shrewd look in their eyes.

“Who were those kids…?”

Instead of replying, Catalina just pointed in a certain direction.

The children were sitting in a circle around that seedy-looking tree.

While Yasuo was wondering what they were doing, an adult person appeared from within the 『House of the Fireflies』.

It was an old woman who was wearing a long and threadbare robe.

The woman had a basket hanging from one arm with bread that looked similar to what they had received from Catalina that morning, and the children were all staring directly at that basket of bread.

One of the children tried to stretch out a hand towards that basket when the old woman was not looking.

“**!”

“Ah!”

Shouko unconsciously let out a small shout. The old woman kicked backwards at that child

without even looking.

The child who had been kicked fell flat on the ground, but didn’t cry, and instead just directed a sulky look at the old woman.

On the other hand, the old woman seemed to have good hearing as she head Shouko’s exclamation, and she appeared to glare in their direction for a second from under her hood.

Seeing that, Catalina bowed towards her.

“......”

The old woman appeared to notice Catalina as well, and she slightly raised her heavily wrinkled eyelids, but she immediately turned back towards the children and started to say something to them.

Yasuo could not understand a word of what the old lady was saying.

It was probably the language used by the people of this region.

Even though he could not understand the language, he could tell that her voice was not gentle by any measure.

However, the children appeared to still listen to her attentively, and after a few minutes, she distributed the bread among them, one loaf per child.

Of course, the child who had been kicked earlier also got a share.

After the old woman finished distributing the bread among the children, she moved toward a corner of the courtyard.

There was a well with a hand pump mechanism over there.

The old woman said something to one of the children who appeared to be older than the other children in the group.

The child she had spoken to finished eating their share, licked their hands as if unwilling to let

a single crumb go to waste, and went over to the pump and started to move the handle up and down.

Before long, water began to flow out of the mouth of the pump, and the children who had finished eating their bread rushed towards the pump, fighting to be the first one there, and drank the water while spilling it on themselves.

Only after all that had happened did the old woman properly turn towards Catalina, and walked over in their direction with slow steps.

“......”

Yasuo had started to feel very tense after hearing the name “Carnelian of the Coal Mine,” but the sight he saw before him differed greatly from what he had imagined.

No, perhaps this was the original nature of the organization……

“****, Catalina!?”

The old woman who eventually came to stand in front of them asked Catalina something, in a voice that was close to a shout.

“****”

Catalina also replied to the old woman in the same language that Yasuo and Shouko could not understand.

The two of them just waited while being tense and watched the conversation, and eventually the old woman turned to look at Yasuo and spoke.

“I see. I knew it the moment I saw him.” “Yes.”

“You are Hideo’s son, aren’t you?”

Her voice had some strange inflections, but she was still speaking clear Japanese.

What’s more, she declared that he was 『Hideo’s son』 without any doubt.

Yasuo’s panic born from suspicion once again flared up, but the old woman just sighed once and looked away from him.

“Hideo’s son has come here from the other world. I wonder if war is going to break out again. That would be bad. We’re already living on scraps as it is.”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Haa? Isn’t that obvious? The Hero, Hideo, was brought here by God because no human could stand up against the Demon King Kaul. And what is it exactly that is threatening to throw the world into chaos right now? It’s the Shii, right? It is obvious that God has summoned you here because, once again, the people of Ante Lande cannot hope to win on their own.”

It looked like this woman was fairly strange. The old woman seemed to have a dangerous

personality, but despite the fact that she had declared that he was 『Hideo’s son』, she did not raise a fuss about it, and despite the fact that she

was living in a facility run by the Carnelian of the Coal Mine, she did not attempt to hide her hatred of the Shii.

This was an attitude that was wholly incompatible with what he had heard regarding people affiliated to the Carnelian of the Coal Mine, based on the information he had heard from Khalija.

Yasuo, who was completely lost, looked towards Catalina, but she just spoke to the old woman in Japanese without even sparing him a glance.

“Are things really that bad?”

“It’s been thirty years since then, of course the support will dry up.”

The old woman answered the question with a twisted expression, turned back towards the『House of the Fireflies』, and looked at the children who had filled buckets with with water and had started washing their clothes.

“The House of the Fireflies that once took care of two hundred people is now struggling to even feed a bunch of brats like them.”

“......Umm, those children, just who are...”

Shouko, who had been silently observing the situation until now, muttered that question, and the old woman gave a concise answer.

“They are orphans.”

“Eh…...”

Shouko was unable to say another word at the weight of the truth contained in that short answer.

“They all have different circumstances. There are some children who were abandoned, and some whose parents died for whatever reason and they had no other relatives, and they all live in these back alleys. To put it in the same terms as Japan, this place is an almshouse.”

“Almshouse?”

It was not a word Yasuo was familiar with, so he was not able to understand what that signified.

It looked like the same was true for Shouko as well, as she showed a baffled expression after blinking a few times.

“This place isn’t an orphanage?”

“To be called an orphanage, the institution would need enough leeway to provide those brats with a place to live, right? This place has neither the beds for them to sleep in nor sufficient food for them to eat. Right now, this place is a gathering spot for those brats, but it was originally an office for the purpose of helping the the war refugees from Torjesso to somehow get settled in Galedeite. Even if I wanted to take those brats in, I don’t have the infrastructure required. And if I tried to make it official, I’d just get hit with taxes and such.”

“No way…...”

According to what the old woman told them, for ten years after the war with Demon King Kaul, the

neighboring kingdoms and the Gaz

Commonwealth themselves provided a considerable amount of support, due to which the Carnelian of the Coal Mine, including this House of the Fireflies, was able to provide a lot of help and support for the refugees.

However in recent years, the fact that a lot of the refugees had become permanent settlers caused the amount of support to dwindle, and once the Shii started to appear, the government had no leeway to support the poor people anymore due to rising social tensions, and support for such causes had gone down all over the country.

Due to the sharp decrease in the amount of support received, the Carnelian of the Coal Mine lost a fair bit of their organizational ability as well, and in the present situation, small facilities like this one were considered to be formerly associated with the Carnelian of the Coal Mine and communication with the main organization was

basically non-existent. The day-to-day administration was seen to by the people who were originally the caretakers, such as this old woman, and they were keeping the facilities running with just whatever support they could gather from the local area.

“What sort of relation do you have with this House of Fireflies, Catalina-san……?”

“This woman is a pretty strange one. She keeps trying to send us money that she earned from her incomprehensible job of being an artist that just sounds like a bored noble’s hobby.”

The old woman’s answer to Yasuo’s question sounded quite spiteful, but Catalina just smiled.

“Director Kelly here has always been a shy person, although she denies it vehemently. During the war with Demon King Kaul, she provided support for my family, but despite that, she refuses to take any but the bare minimum of support from other people. I for one just want to help because she is the person who saved the lives of my family members, but it’s so hard to even get her to accept my donations.”

Not knowing if they were actually praising each other or being spiteful, the two young people could only stare at the two older women.

The old woman, whose name was apparently Kelly, was not cowed by something of this level and she spoke as if spitting out something nasty.

“I have no intention of raising these children to have a mindset that someone will make it rain money if they are in a bad way. If all they do is to crawl on the ground and drink muddy water, then they will be shunned by society even after they

become adults. By giving them the bare necessary amount of food and a place to clean their clothes, these brats can keep their self-dignity. That’s good enough. These brats have already had a bad birth and upbringing, so they need to learn that the world won’t save them even they get sulky. Too much support will only bring them harm.”

From those words that Director Kelly spoke quickly, no matter how coarse her language was, her love for the children was easy to see.

From her manner of speech, there was absolutely no hint of her willing to do something like controlling the Shii and misdirecting the self- respect of people.

“So, that’s why...”

Director Kelly one again looked at Yasuo and grabbed his shoulders with her thin arms.

“This is my request to you. Please, save this world.”

“Eh… Ah…”

“Don’t worry. I won’t do something stupid like going around and spreading word of your existence. However, in return, if you have come to Ante Lande to take up the same mission as your father did in saving this world, then please protect the future that these brats will live in when they grow up to be adults. That is my only request……”

Perhaps that was something that could be called an entreaty.

However, Yasuo could not bear to shoulder her feelings, even as a lie to make her feel better.

That was because he had been shown many times that he did not have the strength required to do so.

Perhaps she sensed his bewilderment, Director Kelly showed a surprisingly gentle smile.

“I see, you’re a honest kid. My bad.”

Saying that, she took her hands off from Yasuo’s shoulders.

“I heard that your father had a strong tendency to run away from things when he first came here as well. I get it, it can’t be a nice feeling to be told all of a sudden that the fate of the world is in your hands. I hear that people in Japan are not considered adults by the society until they are fairly old. No matter, I’ll just wait without hoping for too much.”

“O…Okay……”

All Yasuo could do was to give a vague nod. However, he got a more than adequate

understanding of what Catalina wanted to show him here.

It was one side of the reality of 『the other world, Ante Lande』.

Catalina should not have any idea that Yasuo and Shouko had ties to the the higher-ups in Resteria.

However, despite that, she had attempted to dispel their misunderstandings about the society of this other world by showing them this reality.

Of course, this did not mean that Yasuo and Shouko’s goal would change.

However, they were now acutely aware of the fact that this society in another world was still a fully-fledged society of humans that just had a different cultural background from Japan or any other country on Earth.

“......Your Japanese is quite good, Obaa-san.”

When Shouko said that in the atmosphere that had become slightly more relaxed, Director Kelly snorted.

“Back in the old days of Carnelian, there were many cases where knowing the language of Hideo’s hometown was a basic requirement to acquire the support of nobles and the like. There aren’t many people who can speak it in Gaz, after all. By the way, you look like you are from Japan as well. Don't tell me, are you Madoka Sugiura’s daughter or something?”

“Ah, no, I am……”

When Shouko shook her head, Yasuo felt a moment of indecision.

The name Madoka Sugiura had appeared in the conversation all of a sudden.

Should he just go ahead and reveal that that was his mother’s name? Just the fact that he was Hideo’s son was enough to make Director Kelly entrust the future of the children to him.

If she were to find out that he was the son of the Hero and the Sage, he might never be able to go back to Japan.

However, that moment of indecision turned out to be a blessing.

“*****?”

They suddenly heard the voice of a man who was calling out in their direction.

Yasuo suddenly lifted his head and looked in that direction, and Shouko unconsciously hid behind Yasuo.

He appeared to be in the first half of his twenties. He was one head taller than Yasuo, and had a robust body and gentle features.

Although Yasuo had never seen its like before, the thing the man had hanging from the belt of his well-ordered uniform was something even he could easily identify as a 『Techno Weapon』 that had the shape of a sword.

He was a Magitech Knight of the Gaz Commonwealth.

“** Catalina!”

It looked like the Magitech Knight knew Catalina, as his face lit up with a smile and he rushed towards her.

Catalina also smiled and gripped his proffered hand, and returned some sort of greeting to him.

Yasuo made sure that Shouko was hidden behind him just in case, and asked Catalina in a low voice.

“Who is this person…?”

“Ah, this man is a Magitech Knight of the garrison here in Galedeite. His name is Feigreid, and his rank is Sergeant Major.”

“Oh, I see we are speaking in Japanese now.”

After Catalina introduced the young Magitech Knight to Yasuo, the man who had been called Feigreid also suddenly began talking in Japanese.

“It is good that we ran into you here, Sergeant Major Feigreid. We had planned on visiting the office at Headquarters later. Will you be at the office today?”

“If you just say the word, I think even the Lieutenant Colonel would keep me in Headquarters until your business is complete. Is it important?”

Feigreid was speaking very politely to Catalina. That was not particularly strange, seeing as Catalina was older than him, but if the 『Lieutenant Colonel』 whom he mentioned was his superior or the person who was in charge of that place called the headquarters, then perhaps Catalina had far

more influence than Yasuo had suspected.

“I actually wanted to consult you about a request I have for the Knights Division. The matter is quite important, however, so I will explain the details later at Headquarters. I have some business I need to finish in the town first… let’s see, can we meet in the afternoon?”

“I understand. I will wait for you there. By the way...”

Feigreid looked at Yasuo and Shouko who were standing behind Catalina with their hoods pulled

low over their faces. “Ah, these two?”

Catalina turned around as if she just remembered that they were tere.

“They are actually relatives of a certain venerable person, so they are keeping a low profile while I show them around Galedeite. I’ll introduce them to you later when we meet at Headquarters. Is that fine, you two?”

“......Yes.”

“......T-Thank you.”

Yasuo and Shouko felt very uneasy because they could not introduce themselves right away despite the fact that they were standing right in front of him, but they were also discomfited by having a Magitech Knight staring seriously at their them in the middle of the town like this.

Feigreid didn’t seem to mind it much, however, and he straightened his posture and gave what appeared to be the Gaz Commonwealth’s salute.

“I am Feigreid Rubiz, a knight assigned to the garrison here in Galedeite. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

It was a self-introduction with an extremely refreshing and sincere attitude.

Due to the that, the two of them just grew increasingly discomfited, but managed a polite reply.

““It’s nice to meet you...””

They spoke at the same time and bowed deeply. “So, what business does the great Magitech

Knight have in a place like this?”

At that point, Director Kelly saw her opportunity and inserted herself into their conversation.

As usual, her manner of speaking was acerbic, however, there was an undeniable joy in her voice.

Feigreid also looked like he was used to it, and he pulled out a bag from inside his shirt and tossed it in Director Kelly’s direction.

As Director Kelly caught it, a fairly heavy sound of metal could be heard.

“I didn’t want my little brothers and sisters to go hungry.”

Saying that, Feigreid slumped his shoulders. “This mother of mine is as frugal as they come,

so if I don't give her an allowance she won’t even eat properly. Actually, I was finally promoted to Second Lieutenant recently so I have a fair bit of leeway in my finances now.”

In contrast to the straight-laced impression he had initially given, he now spoke in a very casual tone.

“Oh my. Congratulations!”

Catalina looked between Feigreid and Director Kelly and gave a small smile, and Yasuo and

Shouko understood that this was a standard conversation between these people.

“Feigreid-san, are you from the House of the Fireflies as well?”

“Hey, what kind of question is that. We don’t raise brats here, we just feed them.”

Director Kelly spoke as soon as Shouko asked that question as if trying to interrupt her, but Feigreid spoke over her as well.

“Yes, I am. Mother saw that I was particularly clever, so she zealously taught me what I would need to enter the Knights Division. Learning Japanese was a part of that as well.”

“......”

“Well, that’s just what I think. Mother doesn’t accept it.”

“I see she’s the same as ever.”

Catalina smiled once more, and Director Kelly made a face like she had swallowed a bitter bug.

“If that’s all you came here for, then hurry up and go back!!”

“Yes, Yes, I understand. Well then, Catalina- san and the two of you as well, I look forward to meeting you this afternoon.”

Feigreid said that with a wry smile and bowed to Director Kelly and the rest of them, and walked away towards an alley with a bearing suitable for a soldier.

“Seriously, that boy always talks too much! By the way, Catalina! What exactly did you even come here for!?”

“Didn’t I just say it earlier? I was showing these esteemed children around the town and just dropped by to say hello.”

“Hmmph. I see, so you want to paint a picture of these kids and make another fortune, right!?”

“That’s not a bad idea. If I can sell it for a high price, I’ll consider making a donation to the House of the Fireflies.”

“Isn’t that what is called 『counting your hippos

before they hatch3』 in Japanese?” ““Pfft.””

“What’s so funny!?” ““S-Sorry...””

Both Yasuo and Shouko couldn’t hold in their laughter at Director Kelly’s bizarre mistake, but they apologized in earnest when they provoked her wrath.

“Oh?”

At some point, the children had come to stand beside Director Kelly and were looking at the three of them with half-curious and half-fearful gazes.

“H-Hello...”

Shouko bent down a little and waved her hand while making sure that the flame in her eye could not be seen, but there children didn’t react.

“U-Umm, do these children not know Japanese…?”

“These brats can barely read the language of their own country, you think they’d be able to speak a language from another world?”

“I-I see, that’s right. Umm, we’re not suspicious people or anything...”

“““.........”””

“Hahaha… I guess that sounds pretty suspicious.”

Even though Shouko tried speaking to them in a cheerful voice, she only received expressionless faces or suspicious looks.

Moreover, since Shouko had let go of Yasuo’s hand, she had to ensure that her face was covered to prevent the flame in her eye from being seen and couldn’t make eye contact with them at all, so that result might have been unavoidable.

“If you want to appeal to the brats, bring them something to eat.”

“Something to eat… But the snacks and bento I have are nowhere near enough for all the children, and we’re basically penniless right now…...”

In contrast to the children’s cold response, Shouko was worrying about them earnestly.

“There’s no point worrying about it. To these children, the two of us probably just look like strange outsiders. I think at the most they just trust

that we are not bad people because they saw us speaking to the Director.”

Yasuo said that in a consoling tone, and Director Kelly also nodded.

“That’s right. Besides, if you underestimate them because they’re brats, you’ll regret it. Even I have no idea what sort of trouble they get up to in the town.”

“I’d really like to believe that that isn’t the case, though.”

Children who live on the streets after losing their parents have limited choices in what they can do to rebuild their lives.

Among them, there might be a few who take up criminal activities like pickpocketing.

However, Galedeite did not seem to be a town with such lax security, so it should be unlikely that they would actually do something to Yasuo and Shouko…

“Like I said, that sort of thinking is too naive. You there!”

When Yasuo was thinking that aloud, Director Kelly suddenly grabbed a boy who was standing a little away from the other children who had gathered around them, and forcibly dragged him towards her by the back of his neck.

“Eh? Wh-What...”

Yasuo was taken aback at Director Kelly’s sudden actions.

“Show me what’s in your pockets!”

The boy had washed his shirt using the well water, but his pants were still covered in soot.

Looking closely, they could see that the boy had something rectangular in one of his frayed pockets, and Director Kelly forcibly pulled it out of his pocket despite his resistance.

“Ah!?”

Yasuo’s eyes opened wide when he saw what it was.

What Director Kelly had snatched away from the boy was nothing other than Yasuo’s Slimphone.

“Oh my. I suppose he took it earlier when the bell rang and they came running towards us.”

Yasuo also remembered after Catalina said that. A large number of children had darted past their legs when the bell rang in the House of the

Fireflies.

So his Slimphone had been pickpocketed at that time?

“Hmm. What is this thing? It looks like strange slate, but is this one of the mysterious tools from Japan?”

From the way the boy was shouting at Director Kelly, he appeared to be angry that his catch had

been taken away from him. However, she just let go of his neck and delivered a blow to the top of his head, and returned the Slimphone to Yasuo.

“This is a one-time deal. The next time you let your guard down, I won’t help you out.”

“T-Thank you...”

“It would be too hard to bear if you lost interest in saving this town because that slate was stolen from you, after all.”

Director Kelly said that, and it appeared that she was already seeing him as a prospective savior who had come from another world, just like Hideo.

“I… don’t have the intention or power to do something like that… but…...”

Yasuo looked from the boy’s resentful gaze to the Slimphone in his hand, and gritted his teeth.

And then, he took a step forward, and bent down in front of the boy who had pickpocketed him.

“......?”

Yasuo brought his Slimphone closer to the boy who was looking at him suspiciously.

“!?”

All of a sudden, music started to issue from the Slimphone’s speaker, and the boy, the other children, and even Catalina and Director Kelly were taken aback.

“What was that? It didn’t sound like the music from a music box…?”

Catalina said that in a surprised tone. “It’s just that kind of tool.”

Yasuo gave a brief explanation, and beckoned towards Shouko.

While the others were still surprised, Yasuo showed Shouko the screen without letting any of the others see it, and after seeing what was on it, Shouko looked at him with a slightly surprised expression.

“I-I’ll give it a shot. It’s been a while, but I should be able to manage while looking at the lyrics. Yeah.”

Despite her face going a little red, Shouko understood what Yasuo intended to do and touched the replay button on the screen.

When she did that, the gentle melody of

『Hometown4』 started to fill their surroundings. On his Slimphone, Yasuo had downloaded a

large number of practice songs back when he was still in the Choir Club that no longer existed, and he had many recordings of practice songs as well.

That song was once loved by the people for its representation of Japan’s roots. However, in this day and age, there were probably not many people who spent their childhood, as the lyrics of the song went, 『chasing rabbits and fishing for carp』.

In the current era, Yasuo felt that if anything, the song served as a symbolic reminder that was different for everyone, and served to remind each individual of their own childhood.

Shouko took the lead, and Yasuo supported her by taking the bass line, and the two of them sang the relaxed lyrics of the song.

First, they sang of their childhood, then they sang of their memories of their parents and friends, and finally they sang about how the best kind of success is the success you bring back to your hometown.

The children of the House of the Fireflies were certainly not living a blessed life.

However, they still had adults who loved and cherished them, and there would be people like Feigreid who achieved success in life and cared for their juniors.

Yasuo felt that the song 『Hometown』 perfectly suited the children from the House of the Fireflies.

By the time the relaxing melody ended, the children had a slight, but definite, look of curiosity in their eyes about the mysterious tool and Shouko and Yasuo’s mixed chorus.

“***!”

“Eh?”

A little girl who kept looking between Yasuo, Shouko, and the Slimphone, shouted something

while tugging on Yasuo’s great coat. “***!” “***!” “***!” “W-What?”

After that, the other children also started to shout the same word one after the other, causing Yasuo to become confused.

“They are saying, ‘Once more.’”

“Once more? I wonder if it’s fine to sing the same song again.”

“Singing the same song would be fine, but I think a different song would make them even happier.”

After hearing Catalina say that, Yasuo took back his Slimphone from Shouko and started to search for a song that would not be too difficult for Shouko to sing.

“Find something which has the lyrics displayed, please.”

“Yeah, I know, but…”

Since they could not connect to the internet, Shouko would not be able to use her own Slimphone to confirm the lyrics of songs that she barely remembered.

However, the majority of the songs on Yasuo’s Slimphone were just audio files, so he was not sure what to do.

“Do you remember this one? The set piece from the chorus competition in middle school.”

“Ah, this one. Yeah, compared to the others, it should be fine.”

Completely different from the previous song, a rhythmic melody started to play and while the children, Director Kelly, and Catalina once again widened their eyes in amazement, Yasuo and Shouko lightly tapped their feet in time to the beat and started to hum the melody.

It was a cheerful ballad5 of a monster that traveled along with a human caravan because it wished to see the ocean.

The cheerful rhythm appeared to lift the spirits of the children from Galedeite as well, as a few of them started jumping up and down in concert with Yasuo and Shouko who continued to tap their feet.

Eventually, the boy who had originally pickpocketed Yasuo’s Slimphone also couldn’t resist, and he joined the other children as they started to either sing or shout in tune with the song from a foreign land which was in a language they had never heard before.

“They never say a word of thanks to me despite the fact that I give them bread every day, and now look at these stupid brats.”

Director Kelly snorted like she was displeased, but her eyes never left the group of children and Yasuo, who was at the center of them.

“They’ve just grown used to your affection. But they will remember it once they grow older, like Feigreid.”

“That sounds pretty aggravating in its own way.”

Catalina looked at the tool that was playing music using some mysterious ability, and the young boys and girls who were singing and dancing.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” “Hmm?”

“He possesses barely any mana. If not for that face of his, no one would believe that he is Hideo’s son.”

“Well, despite what I said earlier, I don’t really believe it either.”

“Even so… he is using his own power to make the children smile, as if it’s the natural thing to do. I wonder if it’s in his blood after all.”

“Don’t you think it’s just because he was brought up well? Still, I won’t deny that it might be a talent that is rare in this current world of ours. More than that, I am curious about that young girl.”

“......So you noticed it after all?”

“Well of course, given that we were talking while standing so close to each other. It keeps increasing and decreasing in size every time she

moves farther or closer to the boy, it just stands out even more that way.”

“I’ll make sure to warn them about that. What about the children?”

“The brats have never seen that before, so even if they catch a glimpse of it, they shouldn’t know what it means.”

“About that...”

“If I was going to make a fuss about that, I would have done it long ago. There must be some circumstances behind it, right? I’m not so young that I would go sticking my head into such troublesome things.”

“......Thank you.”

The two of them were looking at the hood that Shouko still wore low over her eyes.

No matter how much she tried to hide her eyes with a hood, from the angle that the children were looking at her, it should have been apparent at a glance.

The girl who had a black flame burning in her eye.

The children were not afraid simply because they didn’t know what it was.

“What are you going to do? If you take someone like her to Feigreid, you can’t complain even if he throws her in prison right away.”

“Of course, I will properly explain the circumstances to him.”

“Well, that’s fine and all, but even I’ve gotten a message from the Foreman after a long time asking me to send her any information I come across regarding the Shii, so that she can trade that information with the parliament of the Commonwealth in return for more support. That girl isn’t as safe as you people seem to think. The fear of the Shii is growing more tangible as the days pass, and there’s no telling when some bastard will find fault with the girl and stab her in the back.”

“......I’ll keep that in mind.”

Director Kelly slumped her shoulders like she found the whole matter to be boring, walked up to the group of children who were pestering Yasuo and Shouko to sing another song, and set about the task of forcibly pulling them away from the two of them.

“That’s enough, any more and they are going to start charging you money to listen. And you two as well, if you are performers, then stop putting on a show for free!”

“P-Performers?”

“You play music from some strange contraption, sing, and dance. What else am I

supposed to call you, if not performers? Ah! Which one of you brats just kicked me!?”

All the children unanimously shouted abuses at Director Kelly who barged in to interrupt their fun time, but Director Kelly just glared at the two of them… or rather, she glared at Shouko.

“You two, it’s not really a good time for you to attract attention, is it? If some strange person comes to see what all the fuss is about and makes a report to the guards, it’s not going to end well.”

Both Yasuo and Shouko were taken aback when they saw Director Kelly point at her left eye.

Director Kelly had realized it, and in spite of that, she had trusted Shouko for the sake of the children.

She had trusted that Shouko was really a human being.

“......I’m sorry. That was careless of me.”

Shouko immediately apologized, and once again adjusted her hood so it covered her face.

“You two are staying with Catalina right now, aren’t you? Don’t do anything that would cause trouble for her. Also...”

Director Kelly sniffled once and picked up a child who was sticking close to her legs.

“The next time you come here, make sure you are able to show these kids your faces. If you do that, I will at least serve you tea.”

“Y-Yes!!”

Shouko said that in a trembling voice, and Yasuo also bowed to her.

Catalina judged that it was an appropriate time and came to put her hands on their shoulders, and the three of them turned away from the House of the Fireflies.

Yasuo, who had once again picked up Catalina’s luggage suddenly turned around, and saw that the children were standing as a group near Director Kelly and were shouting something to him while waving their hands energetically.

“They are saying, ‘Come again.’”

Both Yasuo and Shouko felt tears rise up in their eyes after hearing Catalina’s translation and they pulled their hoods even lower over their eyes, but they did still properly wave back to the children and Director Kelly as they walked away from the House of the Fireflies.