Chapter 4: A Nerve-Wracking Explanation from Important People

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Riding in the carriage, they were shaken by jolts about twice as much as an ordinary cart for perhaps thirty minutes.

They crossed a plain, crossed a broad granary region like Hokkaido, and what lay beyond that was a castle town facing a lakeside.

The castle wall that surrounded the town in a ring continued even into the lake, and seen from above, the circle drawn by the castle wall and the circle drawn by the lake would overlap to look like the shape of “∞”.

Chloe said the name of this town was Haidra.

As the name suggested, a hydra had once lived in this land. But because the lord four generations before had driven it off and built the town, it was apparently named in commemoration.

Because this territory bordered another country, it also had a strong significance as a supply depot for the front lines, and along with people, all kinds of goods gathered here.

So if one considered only its size, it was one of the largest in even this southern empire.

They crossed the drawbridge hung over the moat at the entrance and passed through the stone castle wall.

What greeted Kazami was a row of brick buildings packed tightly together.

The ground was mostly gravel roads, made uneven by the passage of people. Only the single main street leading to the castle was neatly made and maintained with stone paving. In width, it was spacious enough for three carriages to pass.

Along its side were greengrocers, butchers, and general goods stores like a shopping street. And, surprising as it was, there were even shops displaying farming tools at the eaves alongside swords and shields.

Even in medieval Japan or earlier, such a sight would not have been seen.

“Whoa, so a world like this really does exist.”

He had been half in doubt, but now he had no choice but to acknowledge that this was another world.

After all, how could he deny it at this point?

Demi-humans with ears and tails were watching the carriage as if it were a curiosity.

People in hemp clothing, and knights carrying long swords, were clearing the way for the carriage.

A fairy that peeked into the carriage window was startled by them and flew off with a whoosh.

At the center of a crowd of people, fire and lightning magic were being performed like street entertainment.

—And when shown movements like that, no matter how much one doubted, one was made to realize that this really was another world.

Doni and Chloe’s plan to first show the real thing and make him accept it was exactly right. Even just passing the main street and reaching the castle, its effect was more than sufficient.

After passing through the gate, the cramped town gave way to a garden.

Lawn, green shrubs, flower gardens including a rose garden, and barracks built in a corner. Passing those and climbing a hill, a cylindrical watchtower came into view, and beyond it was the castle.

For that welcome, maids and butlers stood in rows waiting, and they bowed, perhaps saying welcome home in the language of the other world.

Doni really was the lord, and apparently the master of this castle.

After passing that, this time Doni took the lead in place of Chloe, and they were shown into what seemed to be a reception room.

“…My home looks like a doghouse.”

That was the inner voice of Kazami, who lived in a 1K (six-tatami) civil servant dormitory.

The ceiling was about four meters high. Paintings, statues, door trim, a chandelier, a plush carpet, a giant sofa, etc.

The luxurious furnishings were endless to list, and he was at a loss even as to where and how to stand. It felt as if he had been thrown into a no-entry area of a museum.

“And what even is that…”

Kazami was being looked down upon by a gaze so intense it seemed it might bore a hole through him.

The culprit was a life-sized painting.

Installed in a position overlooking the reception room, it depicted Doni, his wife, and in addition a young man who seemed to be their son.

The Doni in the painting had a gallant bearing, and was not of a metabolic body type. Whether this painting was flattery, or whether he had once looked like this, was a troubling question.

The son appeared as a sharp handsome man, and the wife appeared as a graceful blonde beauty, but if this painting had been reality, they would be a perfect family.

Or was it that thing where a man with power is matched with a beautiful wife, and naturally the child becomes handsome too?

While Kazami was left speechless in many senses, Doni sat on the sofa with a face of humility as if to say it was nothing special.

The fat on his chin was thick enough to form a double chin with a wobble, and it was indeed something special. Seeing this, he could not help but think that the painting was more likely flattery after all.

At Doni’s urging, Kazami and Chloe sat on the sofa.

This too was so soft that his body sank into it. Compared with a high-class sofa bought in Japan, it was an item not at all inferior.

“Juui-sama, I believe you were able to see along the way what kind of place this world is. Now then, allow me to explain once more.”

When they each sat on three sides of the sofa, several maids who had entered the room set down tea and sweets.

Kazami turned an observant eye on them, wondering if they too were real.

Every one of them was slender and fine-featured, with a facial deviation value far beyond that of any ordinary café.

Moreover, their attentive care and polite serving manners gave off a certain years of experience.

To put it in familiar terms, perhaps it was the difference between a waiter in town and a waiter at a high-class restaurant.

Incidentally, among them there was no one with animal ears or tails. Perhaps because the ruler was human, only ordinary people worked here.

In other worlds, one often sees racial discrimination between humans and demi-humans, but was there something close to that here as well?

Even so, with the knights, fairies, magic, and maids he had seen outside earlier, the bywords of another world were all assembled.

It could truly be said that the very world he had imagined was here.

Then, did monsters and spirits and such fantasy exist as well? Kazami wondered.

“Juui-sama was summoned by Doni-sama under the supervision of our Hadria faith. In our world, there are times when we invite Marebito-sama through summoning and use their different knowledge and heroic figure to aid in governance. There have been several examples of summoning in the past, and that is also why I know English and Japanese.”

While Chloe explained, staring fixedly at Kazami, Doni waited with an air of complete composure, sipping his tea.

Even so, it really was summoning, apparently.

He thought that the otherworld summoning stories he saw online and in books were exactly like this, but when told that it was indeed so, it was still somewhat hard to believe.

After all, it was “summoning.”

Other dimensions and warping. Such things were encountered only in manga and sci-fi movies. Even in university papers and such, it was still a topic being debated as to whether it could be realized.

For Kazami, who had no connection to paranormal phenomena, when it came to summoning, he could think only of games, the UFO summonings of dubious occult groups, and some light novels, anime, and movies.

Correction.

Perhaps, unexpectedly, he had heard of it quite often, he reconsidered.

“So if summoning exists, then as expected there are also magic, elves, demi-humans, and such?”

“Wha—, Keika-sama, are you not surprised? It is recorded that the other world has no such things, and that successive Keika-sama struggled to understand…”

“There’s a subculture that imagines such things. How should I put it, an adult pastime, perhaps.”

Not limited to light novels, otherworld summoning is common.

Hollywood movie aliens and extraterrestrials also had appearances like monsters, and because he had seen those in various forms, the impact was still on the lighter side.

Seeing it for real had surprised him, but having once been able to imagine it in pictures probably worked as immunity.

In contrast, Chloe turned eyes shining with expectation toward him.

Kazami had no way of knowing what kind of expectation she held, but he felt as if he had deceived her somehow.

A strange guilt pricked at his heart, and he wanted to clear up that misunderstanding early.

“I would be fortunate if you could understand it as such.”

“Um, by the way, Hadria faith, was it? What kind of thing is that?”

“It is a religion widely worshiped on this continent. There are multiple faiths concerning human activity, and at the same time, Marebito-sama, who brings knowledge from foreign lands and guides people, is called Keika.”

Marebito—if one said that, was it not something that visits from outside, spoken of in folk tradition?

He felt that in most cases it was regarded as something that brought a good influence.

In short, that seemed to be the reason why unconditional respect was directed at him.

She was apparently a devout believer of that Hadria faith—or rather, a priestess—so she sent heated gazes his way from time to time.

To her, a legendary being—a hero who had stepped out of a movie—was right before her eyes.

That was probably why even a single word Kazami casually directed at her made her heart tremble.

But to Kazami, who possessed not a single thing worthy of the expectations of a beautiful blonde, blue-eyed girl, it only made him feel tension.

Constantly exposed to Chloe’s gaze, he could not even casually sip his tea.

“Shall we get started soon?”

Doni set down his cup with a clink.

Chloe translated even this kind of thing in detail, so for Kazami, who could not understand the language at all, it was a great help.

“Keika, I am overjoyed that you have taken the trouble to come to a place like this. While you are here, I promise you the finest hospitality in all respects, so please make yourself at ease.”

“If you say that, then, well, I’m grateful.”

Doni’s manner of speaking calmly and unhurriedly called to mind a member of parliament or a high-ranking official of a ministry.

As a low-ranking person like Kazami, who had only ever been worked hard by others, he naturally felt overawed.

Among the places where veterinarians work is something called a livestock hygiene center. There, the job is disease prevention for livestock.

In times of emergency, as a frontline disease prevention officer, one had to explain to the police, agricultural cooperatives, public health centers, and the important people of each concerned party why the incident occurred, and it was a stomachache-inducing experience.

He had tasted that atmosphere not only during internships, but also several times as a professor’s assistant when going to support the field.

So stiffening up like this toward people who seemed like important figures was an occupational disease.

Because the sofa sank in so softly, Kazami straightened his back as much as he could while struggling with it.

“The reason I called for you lies in this territory.”

“The territory, is it? Is that, as expected, because you were entrusted with land management by the king?”

“Oh, you even know that! My, what a learned person you are. If you know that much, the talk will be quick.”

Doni broadened his face so much that wrinkles formed at the corners of his eyes.

According to Chloe’s supplementary explanation, a count was a person entrusted with land management by the king, and one who would raise an army for the king in times of need. A duke could be thought of as a local powerful clan with a noble title who originally held land.

For Kazami, who knew nothing at all of the common sense here, he was impressed by this small consideration.

According to what she continued to say, the rank of count was inherited by parents and siblings for generations, and a parent who handed over the seat would either retire or enter the senate and be involved in national policy.

Among such counts, one who held a territory facing another country and was entrusted with its defense was called a margrave, and Doni was apparently that.

“To my shame, at present, the management of my territory is not going well. From the time I was old enough to understand things, I was thoroughly drilled as a military officer to succeed to the position of margrave, and I made every effort to have those I could trust learn internal affairs and walk with me, but my younger brother, who aimed for the same seat, used various means to take my subordinates…”

He had faltered, but it was probably followed by something like them being done away with, as in a period drama. Or if it was poaching of talent, that was also a method used even by corporations.

In other words, summarizing what Doni spoke of so gravely, it was something like this.

There was a family dispute.

He won the seat of count, but the quarrel with his younger brother continued.

The interference continued even now, internal affairs were in shambles. There were also skirmishes with other countries, and he was struggling.

Legendary Keika-san, help.

From this, Kazami could guess the general flow.

Marebito also had the brand of the name, so it could inflate the expectations of the populace, and Doni probably thought that by relying on the advanced technology of another world, progress could be hoped for.

Doni showed a twitching expression at the long, drawn-out story, but Chloe listened intently.

Being a priestess, she was probably used to long sermons on a daily basis. She was fundamentally different from him, who was bad with old people’s long stories.

“I am already old, so I was thinking of having my son succeed me, but the emperor—”

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Doni spoke even more at length for a full ten minutes.

Kazami, who had already more or less read the situation, lent an ear with the feeling of having food stuffed into his mouth even though he was already full.

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