Chapter 129

Chapter 129

Emotion

In the end, I could not obtain any information about the statue.

There were only statues standing silently in the ruin, and there were no letters or patterns there.

I asked Zepetti, but she only made guesses similar to mine.

Unable to resolve the lingering unease over it, I ultimately had to turn back.

“K-ke... Krrng...”

Shady, who had disguised himself as me through “Shadow Mimicry,” rubbed his own neck.

Beside him, Ishmir could be seen sleeping with soft snores.

This was the situation after I left the ruin and secretly returned to the tent.

Judging by Shady’s reaction, it seemed that after I left, Ishmir had come in to sleep, and her “rough” tossing and turning had given him a difficult time in its own way.

“He held out well...”

Ishmir’s strength must have been fairly difficult to withstand, yet thankfully, Shady seemed to have endured stubbornly without anyone discovering his true identity.

I immediately released Shady’s Shadow Mimicry.

Soon, the form that had been human gradually shrank, and he returned to his fluffy “usual Shady.”

—Whump!

At that moment, the sleeping Ishmir kicked.

—Crunch!

And Amon at the end of it was struck by Ishmir’s foot in his sleep, flew off, and slammed into the corner of the tent.

“Uh...”

A single sound of fluster escaped me.

Was it because Amon was so sturdy?

Curled awkwardly in the corner of the tent, he did not wake despite the impact.

Watching this, Shady looked at Amon and me in turns with a somewhat resentful gaze.

“...Does that mean he was subjected to something like that too?”

Perhaps Lucia knew Ishmir had this habit well, because she was lying at the far end of the tent, as far from her as possible, sleeping peacefully.

—Slip.

Someone pushed their face into the tent.

“Uh... Zeto, you were awake? I heard a loud noise, so I came in to check...”

Her red eyes rolled as she looked around the tent.

“Yes, well...”

“Ahaha... Instructor Ishmir’s sleep talking is a little rough, right...?”

Having looked around the tent and grasped the situation, Yuri gave an awkward laugh.

“Are you not tired? I think I could stand watch.”

“Mmm, I can endure this much.”

Yuri shook her head.

There was not much to do inside the tent anyway.

I followed Yuri out of the tent.

Countless grains of sand glittering under bluish moonlight entered my eyes.

Over there, a platinum-haired girl stood alone on the sandy ground, looking this way and that.

It was Eisel, diligently standing watch.

“No matter how much she searches, she will not find any otherworld species...”

Soon, Eisel sensed our presence, turned her head, and found me.

I approached her together with Yuri.

“What about the otherworld species?”

“There were none.”

“We did not see a single one, let alone encounter one. Even though the ruin is this close...”

Yuri sighed as she glanced at the ancient ruin visible nearby.

The command I had given the otherworld species was working properly. As a bonus, I had removed the “virus” implanted in Zepetti, so humans would no longer lose their lives to them.

“...Something is strange.”

Eisel voiced doubt with a serious expression.

“Well, from Eisel the regressor’s perspective, it must be strange.”

She had even shown signs of hating the otherworld species intensely.

Strictly speaking, it was not only Eisel. There were no people who liked the otherworld species.

Especially not Delgradans who had lost family to them.

So it seemed best to absolutely hide the fact that I was something like the king of another world, who could command the otherworld species.

The fact that there was more to hide did not make me feel very comfortable, but I thought it could not be helped.

“Zeto, I’m cold.”

Eisel said this and stared steadily at me.

When I tilted my head, Eisel strode toward me, lifted my robe, and slipped inside.

Watching this, Yuri’s eyes grew round.

“I-I’m a little cold too...”

Then Yuri also quietly approached me and slipped into my robe. However, because Yuri was not as short as Eisel, the robe lifted slightly.

“It is cramped.”

“Wouldn’t it be warmer if there were more people? You said you were cold.”

Eisel and Yuri began bickering inside the robe.

“Um... Am I the one standing watch now...?”

At my quiet question, Eisel’s voice came through the robe blocking her.

“Zeto finds them better than we do anyway.”

I thought that was not something one should say to a person whose eyes were covered in bandages, but I could not particularly argue.

“...And desert nights are cold. We are... right, acting as heaters.”

“...What do you mean, ‘we’? I alone am more than enough as a heater.”

In the end, Eisel picked a fight with Yuri, and the sound of their bickering rose again.

“Heaters, huh... Yes, I suppose it is warm...”

As Eisel and Yuri clung to me on either side, I felt warmth... no, heat rather hotter than that.

“...Miss Yuri, no matter what, perhaps you should not use magic...? My robe will burn.”

At my voice, Yuri, who was inside the robe, flinched.

“Mmm... Eisel, he says not to use magic. Uh, uh...! I am sticking to Zeto right now, you know? If Zeto gets electrocuted along with me, can you take responsibility?”

Yuri, who was inside the robe, said this while tightly hugging my arm to her chest.

“Tch.”

Soon, Eisel clicked her tongue, and the very faint crackling sound disappeared.

...Had they been about to hold a spar inside the robe?

Wearing a robe swollen compared to my body, I quietly listened to their voices.

In any case, there was no real need to stand watch.

They must have been tired in their own ways too, so it would be good for them to rest even like this.

“Well, perhaps this too will all become a memory.”

Now that the memories of the existence called “me” as an Earthling had vanished.

I was now “Zeto.”

Zeto as one human being, not a game character.

I decided to accept this fact fully.

Whatever else happened, the fact that I was “Zeto” would not change.

So I wanted to create as many happy memories as possible. I decided to remember each and every moment preciously.

Had she said intense emotions could slow the wearing away of emotion? It was obvious, but if possible, positive emotions would be better.

As I took into my eyes the beautiful night sky embroidered with brilliant stars, and the voices of those dear to me settled in my ears, what emotion did the current “me” feel?

It was not intense, but it was certainly “happiness.”

***

“Hmm...”

Ishmir, who had a hawk flapping its wings perched on her shoulder, carefully examined the note the hawk had brought.

After reading the entire note, Ishmir scratched her head.

“They say the other groups cannot see otherworld species either. We are returning to Delgrad too.”

At Ishmir’s words, life returned to Amon’s face.

Due to the unprecedented situation where all the otherworld species had vanished overnight, the order for all students in the desert to return had been issued.

Ishmir’s expression was somewhat serious.

Perhaps it was because no one knew why the otherworld species had disappeared.

Soon, Delgrad would likely dispatch an investigation team to determine the cause.

Their destination would naturally be the “ancient ruin,” but I had heard from Zepetti that there was a perception-inhibiting device at the entrance, and they were located deep underground, so far down they could never reach it unless the elevator operated. I did not think there was much need to worry.

If the otherworld species continued not to appear, Delgrad’s state of alert would probably be lifted within a few months.

“Though in the end, they will never discover the reason.”

We headed straight for Delgrad, moving without rest, and managed to arrive there late at night.

The city was quite restless.

Beside an empty cart on one side of the road, magical engineers and warriors were conversing.

They had not caught a single otherworld species.

The otherworld species had not appeared.

They needed materials, so what were they supposed to do?

Conversations of that sort went back and forth.

If the otherworld species continued not to show themselves, would the development of magical engineering, which used their remains, slow a little?

Well, it was not something I needed to worry about.

Not long after entering the city, we were able to meet Edward, who had been waiting for us.

It seemed we were the last group.

Since we had gone so close to the ancient ruin in hopes of catching a humanoid otherworld species, that made sense.

Edward said it was unfortunate, but it seemed the field trip would have to end here.

Since the otherworld species we were supposed to defeat had disappeared, in one sense, it was only natural.

Following Edward’s words telling us to rest well for now, we headed to the inn where we had stayed on the first day.

I did not know how many more days we would stay in Delgrad, but it seemed the field trip had ended with this.

“So joint combat has ended up going out the window.”

Personally, a great many things had happened, but as a student, had I done anything besides crossing the desert?

It was funny.

***

Meanwhile, Zepetti was sitting on the snow-white floor of the virtual space she had opened, “learning.”

It was learning absolutely necessary to assist her master and king, and it was an order given to her.

The order Zeto had given her was to learn about “younger sisters.”

She understood Zeto’s intention.

That it was for the sake of pursuing “naturalness.”

Zepetti herself knew very well that her way of speaking was far removed from humanity.

That was why this learning was necessary.

However, the problem was the data on “younger sisters.”

Zepetti primarily learned from media from two hundred years ago that would be familiar to Zeto.

Through this, Zepetti learned that there had existed countless “younger sister” characters.

She could not understand why there were so many younger sister characters, but the fact that a great deal of data remained was good news for her.

“A younger sister often creates the situation of waking before her ‘older brother’ and climbing onto the older brother’s body as he lies in bed.”

Zepetti murmured as she continued learning.

Beneath Zepetti’s legs was a “dummy” that looked exactly like Zeto.

Since this was her virtual space, such a thing was possible as much as she wished.

“Here, it divides into two types.”

Zepetti pretended to shake the dummy beneath her legs, the one covered with a blanket, to wake him.

“Brother, wake up! It is already morning, you know?”

Zepetti was an artificial intelligence.

Thus, “acting” was not a problem for her. She could imitate voice tone, expression, and manner of speech all exactly.

After loosening her facial muscles, Zepetti decided to reproduce the next type of younger sister.

This time, Zepetti lay down, leaning against the body of the dummy.

“Dear Brother... to think you handled me so roughly last night...”

This too, she successfully acted out.

“...This data may be somewhat inappropriate. However, since I do not know Lord Zeto’s ‘preferences,’ it seems correct to learn as much data as possible.”

Zepetti continued learning various types of “younger sisters.”

This time, through contact with Zeto, Zepetti had been able to acquire one emotion.

It was the negative emotion that Zeto had displayed before her: confusion, unease, and the like.

She had not yet realized what kind of error this emotion would cause within her.