Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 127
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Chapter 57: To tell, to be told
“Good morning, Rion-sama.”
“… Good morning… Eh!?”
When I woke up, Fricka’s face was covering my field of vision, and I’m sorry for it, but I made a strange noise.
I was so surprised that I fell down, but Uru caught me just in the nick of time… Sorry for the inconvenience.
No, well, you see, it was just unexpected, I’m not saying I hated it or anything… Huh, you understand? Ah okay.
“Um… How long did I sleep??”
“Well, around two hours. As expected, my legs became numb, so I asked her to replace me.”
When I asked Uru while scratching my head, it turned out that I had been sleeping for quite some time. What’s more, how shocked I was to not notice that I was moved to change the person who was giving me a lap pillow
… Actually, I was quite shocked.
I know from the beginning that I couldn’t go home… Or maybe, I just didn’t notice it and actually wanted to go home really badly. I don’t really understand even though it’s about myself.
Although I came here with only my soul, I am not causing any trouble to anyone in my original world, and It’s not like I am a duplicate or a fake. Let’s just think that knowing that is a plus.
Sighing inwardly, I moved to the table, prepared some tea, and took a drink.
“… By the way, Rion-sama. If you don’t mind, I would like to ask you what happened…”
Fricka, who was looking at the teacup, looked up and asked.
Although my head felt refreshed due to a good sleep, It’s obvious that I had been crying because my eyes were swollen while I was sleeping, and apparently she used magic to cure it.
I expressed my gratitude with embarrassment and while I was wondering how to explain it, Uru meekly urged me to do so.
“… Rion, even if you can’t talk about it to anyone else, you should definitely talk to Fricka.”
H-Huh……? I feel like there’s some kind of pressure into it…? Why……?
… Aside from Uru’s opinion… Well, I guess it would be better to tell Fricka as well. Although it was more than half-way a guilty confession, there is no reason to reveal it to Uru and hide it from Fricka other than my own shyness, and I would rather do it now than to accidentally reveal it in the future. I feel like saying that now would cause less damage, probably.
With that in mind, I started talking.
“…… Is that so.”
She easily believed me.
“Huh, you don’t doubt me?”
“Rion-sama may keep secrets, but you never lied to me.”
… I wonder if my daily behavior was good…?
Furthermore, a while later, I talked about it to Regulus, Liese, and Fin, and at first they looked at me like, “Are you serious?” but they believed me when I said that’s not a joke.
… Maybe I could say that my daily actions were good, but in the end, it might just be that ‘I’ didn’t trust everyone enough.…… Let’s be more careful.
“… I have to ask you something, but how old are you, Rion-sama?”
“It’s quite sudden, isn’t it? Well… I’ll be twenty-one next winter.”
I tried to say December*, but since Asteria doesn’t have a calendar, I rephrase it.
There are four seasons, and there is also the concept of age, so I think there is a frame called year… Next time I’ll ask the God of Creation or the Earth God. If there is a New Year’s festival, I would like to do it as a miko.
“… That’s lower than I expected.”
“That’s right.”
“… Eh…”
I don’t remember doing anything that seemed so old-fashioned, but… I’ve been told that mikos are ageless, so they’re often older than they look, so that makes sense.
“I don’t need to think about it, when Rion-sama is making things, she was like a child facing a treasure. Isn’t it appropriate for her age?”
“But on the other hand, I think she has a big heart for someone at her age.”
I don’t really know if I’m being praised or not!
However, I get itchy when people say that I have a big heart. I don’t remember doing such a big deal… Hmm, is it about Zephyr?
As I was tilting my head, Uru gave me a shocked look.
“… What’s with Rion’s low self-esteem…?”
“Let’s fix it in time.… I don’t know if I can say thankfully, but it looks like we have a long time to do it.”
‘We have a long time to do it.’
When Fricka said that, my heart jumped.
… Yes, that’s right. From now on, I will live in Asteria until the day I die.
Up until now, all I could think about was `save the world’ (Well, yeah, I took detours to do other things as well, but that’s aside), except for the case if I die in the middle of my goal. Even after saving this world, Asteria, my days here will continue.
There’s a saying that says, `Don’t count your chickens before they hatch’ and maybe I should focus on saving the world now and think about what happens after I save it, but ??
Fricka interrupted me, as I was thinking about future things.
“Rion-sama.”
“… Yeah? What?”
Fricka straightens her posture and looks at me with a serious look??She was originally serious, but now she’s wearing an even more serious air.
I also straightened my posture and waited nervously for her to continue.
“I don’t want to see you cry.”
“…”
“I don’t want you to keep it all to yourself, to endure it silently.”
I didn’t feel like I was enduring it that much, but I couldn’t say anything back after crying so much.
While I was listening silently, Fricka started saying lines like that makes me question asked me where all the serious stuff went. Well, she is saying that with a serious face though.
“It seems like I’m older than you… So I don’t mind if you treat me like an older sister, okay?”
“Huh!?”
“Come to think of it, you seemed happy when you were being patted on the head by the Creator God.”
“No, huh, wait?”
Isn’t she going out of control in some strange direction!?
Well, being patted… I don’t hate it, but if someone asks me if I’d like to be patted, I find it too embarrassing to answer…!
Fricka acted as if she had just come up with a great idea, but then she suddenly stopped and started to look downhearted.
“… No, I guess it’s a problem if you started to treat me like an older sister. As someone who wants to be your bride.”
Ah, ah… That’s right… There was that problem as well…
… One of the hurdles to that, was removed just before…
When I glanced at Uru, our eyes met, and all she did was tilt her head.
No, wait, why am I looking at Uru here?
I don’t really see Uru ‘like that’, should be, but if I am being conscious of her… That means, It is ‘like that’.
No, wait, even if I start to think that way even though Uru hasn’t said anything to me in the first place, aren’t I being overly self-conscious?
… Well, if you look at it from another perspective, saying something like “I’ll stay with you forever.”, might be something like a confession… Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…
I want to hold my head and roll around, and apparently I was actually holding my head in agony. They both asked me if I was okay. Unuuu…!
After intentionally clearing my throat to regain my composure, I asked Fricka again.
“Ah… Fricka-san… Are you really that good with me…?”
“In fact, If It’s not you I won’t accept it.”
… It was so direct that I was at a loss for a reply.
I looked at Uru again while muttering my words.
Since she didn’t say anything in particular, I guess there’s nothing wrong with Uru in this regard.
… I don’t know how say it, but even if it’s about myself, I can only feel like the worst type of person
When I managed to muster all my strength and open my mouth to speak.
“Onee-chan, are you here?”
I heard a knock and Fin’s voice, and immediately shut my mouth.
Fricka blinked several times, turned towards the door, and said as if she remembered something.
“… I came to ask Rion-sama about the dinner menu.”
“Mu, that not good. It’s almost time for dinner.”
That destroyed a lot of things.
The conversation ended with the tense atmosphere suddenly being cut off, and perhaps because of the concern, it was never resumed that night.
… I-It’s not like I’m relieved to have postponed it, okay…?
*TN: In japanese december(???) is literaly the 12º month. So in this context she tried to say ‘My birth day is in the 12º month of year’.