After-Story Chapter 35: Souma Goes to Yumuen (Part 6)
“It works best if you talk to them by saying ‘Nyaa.’ Just like that, ‘Nyaa.'”
As Tomoe-chan made paws with her hands and meowed “Nyaa,” An timidly made cat paws of her own.
“Nya, nyaa…”
“That’s good. Now, try talking to the cats with that.”
“H-Hello, nyaa. Are you doing well, nyaa… Um, is this actually getting through to them?”
“Of course, without the power of magic, actual words won’t get through.”
“Ehh…”
When Anne shot her a look of reproach, Tomoe-chan giggled.
“But the feeling that ‘this big sister is trying to talk to us’ will get across. Once they understand that, these little ones will answer you, so don’t be discouraged and keep talking to them.”
“Y-Yes. …Ah, Chloe-chan is…”
The black cat that had been sitting on An’s lap abruptly stood up, walked away from her, scampered up a dresser, and curled up on top of it. I suppose you could say as expected of Master Cat; she was incredibly capricious. Seeing Anne look a little lonely, Tomoe-chan smiled and said, “It’s alright.”
“I told you earlier that Chloe-chan is cool but actually loves to be spoiled. Right now, her cool side is just showing. I think because you’ve cheered up a bit, Anne-san, Chloe-chan decided you were okay now and moved away. Although… I imagine she’ll get lonely after a while and come back.”
“Me… cheered up…”
An seemed surprised by the change in herself. It was true; compared to when we first entered this room, Anne’s expression had softened, and she even seemed to look a little healthier. The Mofumofu (Fluffy) is majestic. Anne, who was likely spending a peaceful time surrounded by fluffiness for the first time in her life, was probably soaking up the healing power of these adorable puppies and kittens with her entire body. The Mofumofu is majestic (This is important, so I’ll omit the repetition).
“How should I put it… this is a heartwarming sight, Your Majesty,” Aisha said with a beaming smile.
Indeed, the sight of two beautiful girls playing with fluffy animals really made for a picture-perfect scene. I felt like I was being recharged with healing energy just by watching.
“If we broadcast this scene to the world, I wonder if the world would have become peaceful a lot sooner.”
“I don’t think that would happen… but I understand why you’d want to say that.”
The atmosphere was so relaxed that Liscia even abandoned her usual retort to my comment. An seemed like she would be fine now. Leaving her in the care of Tomoe-chan, Brad, and Ludia-chan, Liscia, Mary, Souji, and I quietly left the room.
We had to fulfill the other objective for coming to Yumuen.
◇ ◇ ◇
Guided by Mary and Souji, Liscia, Aisha, and I were descending a dimly lit staircase leading beneath the main church. The only light sources were the lanterns Aisha and Mary carried. To get here, we had been made to walk back and forth through a sprawling network of stone floors and walls that crisscrossed in every direction. It was like a maze. Furthermore…
“I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel like this resembles the underground waterways of Parnam.”
“Really? I only know of them from reports.”
Liscia tilted her head at my mutterings. I nodded with an “Ah.”
“I explored them once with Juno and the others inside the Little Musashibo doll. Before those waterways were filled in and repurposed for the water and sewage systems, they were shaped like a maze just like this. If I recall, they were originally an escape route for the royal family in times of emergency, right?”
“Yeah. But we don’t know when they were built. The stories say they were already there when the kingdom was founded and the capital was established in Parnam. Besides, considering the magic circle large enough to cover the city where you were summoned, Souma, it would be strange if at least the magic circle and the summoning room didn’t exist back when the First Hero King, the founder of the nation, was summoned.”
“…Well, no matter how you look at it, the Old Humanity must be involved.”
As Liscia and I discussed this, Souji looked back at us.
“Ours is probably the same sort of thing. From what I hear, this ‘Old Humanity’ you talk about would be the ‘People of the Moon, Lunarians’ mentioned in our scriptures as migrants from the moon. If the People of the Moon built this Yumuen, and the same people built Parnam, it wouldn’t be strange for the structures to be similar.”
“…Though that is a story we certainly cannot let the believers hear,” Mary said with a sigh.
The existence of me, an ‘Old Human,’ and the information regarding the authority my bloodline might possess carried the risk of being deified by the Lunarian Orthodoxy, which worships the Moon People (Old Humans). Therefore, we had disclosed information as sparingly as possible to Souji and Mary, our collaborators within the Orthodoxy, while seeking their counsel. That was why these two knew about the existence of the Old Humanity’s civilization.
Mary moved her lantern to illuminate the surroundings.
“I have heard that this underground passage was also used as a route for priests and believers to evacuate or escape when the church was attacked by foreign enemies. …However, parts of this passage were also utilized as rooms for the Inquisition or as prisons to confine political enemies.”
“S-Stop it. You’re giving me the chills.”
“Y-Yes, she’s right! No scary stories in a place like this!”
Liscia and Aisha clung tightly to my arms from both sides.
“Huh? Are you two bad with this kind of thing? Aisha fought a Zombie Ogre, and didn’t you enjoy the Ghost Festival just fine, Liscia?”
“I-If it has a physical form, I can fight it. Be it a zombie or a skeleton. But there is no way to fight against human malice or curses. Hearing what she just said makes it feel like people’s regrets and grudges are accumulating here.”
“Liscia-sama is exactly right!”
“I-I see.”
I see. Perhaps precisely because they are used to monsters and other oddities, they find things like curses scarier. for Liscia and Aisha, a place with a dark history like the Tower of London would likely be more frightening than a haunted house where things physically jump out to scare you. If anything, they would probably be more afraid of traditional ghost stories like the Vengeful Spirit of Masakado than urban legends like the Slit-Mouthed Woman or a killer under the bed (since they could probably turn the tables on a killer of the level found in my previous world).
Their senses were the opposite of a modern person’s. It might be closer to the sensibilities of ancient people who built shrines and shrines to deify defeated enemies so they wouldn’t be cursed by them. As I walked down the eerie passage thinking about this, the scenery around us suddenly changed.
Unlike the stone scenery up until now, it shifted to a view of smooth, seamless floors and walls. Furthermore, “lines” running here and there across the floors and walls were glowing with a faint, pale blue light. Liscia and I recognized this scenery as well.
“Genia’s Dungeon Workshop…”
“It’s a little different, but the atmosphere is exactly the same.”
That wall texture, which looked somewhat like the interior of a spaceship, was identical to the walls of the workshop Genia used, which had been a renovated abandoned dungeon. Souji then tapped on the wall—making a surprisingly metallic clank clank sound.
“The lower levels of this underground passage are like this. Since we don’t know the material, it’s been called a divine work… but I suppose this belongs to that Old Humanity guy, too.”
Souji then looked around.
“Originally, the ‘Lunar Inscription (Lunaris)’ was located on a slightly higher level, but it seems Fuuga Haan moved it down to this floor. According to what we got out of young Anne, he was apparently afraid to let King Souma, who might be able to decipher the contents, make use of it.”
“……”
“This way. Follow me.”
Following Souji’s lead, we eventually arrived at a space that looked like a small room. Amidst clearly unnatural scattered debris of wood and stone stood a black, board-like object emitting a faint glow. Its appearance was exactly that of a monolith weathered by time. That object, which looked like something seen in a sci-fi movie or Monster Film, stood there with cracks running through it and its corners crumbled away. Looking at the object, Souji spoke.
“It seems Fuuga moved the Lunar Inscription here and then blocked the entrance with stones and timber. Well, as you can see, the surrounding walls and floor are metal-like, so rather than hiding it, it feels more like he just made it so it couldn’t be easily taken out. He might have heard the story about Merula breaking in and stealing a look at the inscription.”
“I see. If he left it as it was, my Black Cat Unit might have been able to infiltrate and copy the text, so he made it so it couldn’t be easily seen. Well, we hadn’t even considered doing that, though.”
We advanced through the cluttered room and stood before the Lunar Inscription. Then, countless characters floated up on its surface.
(These characters are…)
