Volume 2 - CH 190

Me and Reizen were making eye contact with Houen as he walked in.

Maria did not seem to know what kind of relationship we had, and a question mark was floating in her head.

I was a little surprised because I didn’t expect Houen to work here still, but I guess it was the same for the others.

Houen recognized me a beat later and held up a red spear that looked like it was on fire …….

“YOU BASTAAAAARD!”

“The hell?”

Houen is not that fast, so I confront his attack with KageOrochi that I still carry at my waist.

But before I could do so, Reizen stepped forward and blocked Houen’s attack with one arm.

“How the heck?”

“Hmph! If you want to attack aniki, you’ll have to defeat me first!”

“If you want to make a ruckus, do that outside!”

When Maria said that, Reizen and Houen looked at Maria with a startled look on their faces.

Maria, for some unknown reason, had developed a mirage of a shimmering black aura behind her.

No, it wasn’t actually there, but the impression was that it was very frightening as if you can imagine that was coming out of her.

They quickly pulled back their fists and spears and quieted down.

Well, this is Maria’s office, …… and she wouldn’t want any trouble to be made in this place.

“Well, calm down, Maria. Can I have a word with you?”

“If you make any more racket, I’ll throw you out the window.’

At any rate, I was able to get Maria’s permission, so I’d like to get my story straight.

First of all, …… why is Houen angry?

I think he is angry with me, judging from the direction he pointed his spear at me. ……

“What are you mad about, Houen?”

“You asking me that?! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten?! That voice! That was definitely your voice!”

“And what did I ever do to you?”

“You forced me to drink the mana potion!”

…… Oh?

………… hmm?

No, I do remember forcing Houen to drink the mana potion at that time.

As I recall, that was when I was going to defeat the Bedlock, and I ventured onward in a snake form.

I happened to see Hounen on the course, and since I was still bitter about the mana potion I was forced to drink, albeit indirectly, I restrained him and forced him to drink two bottles of mana potion.

But that was in the form of a snake.

When I’m in snake form, I can’t talk to people.

Besides, there was absolutely no way that Houen could have seen me.

I was hiding in the water, and Houen would never have seen me in my snake form.

So …… how could he know that I was there?

“C’mon …… how the hell do they know?”

“I knew it was you!”

“Eeeeh! Aniki did such a thing?! That’s awesome!”

“The fudge, man. What’s that supposed to mean?”

Hoen sharply plunged into Reizen’s words.　

Hol’ up,…….. is Houen someone always talk like this?

That….. makes him more…… errr- annoying than before.

“Holy shit, man. You’re really rude and loud, huh.”

“Yea, like a certain lousy woman I know.”

“Well, I’m a man-… Heck, that’s not it! I distinctly heard your voice! Your voice!”

“…… My voice?”

A voice ……?

Is it a voice from heaven or something?

“I remember you laughing at me! That voice was certainly yours!”

“But think about it for a moment and see. You made me drink the mana potion, albeit indirectly, because of you. Thanks to the person who set the village on fire, remember?”

“Wait a minute, Ouren-kun. I cannot ignore that statement.”

“”Ah!””

“GODDAMNIT! You of all people would say that in front of the guild master?”

Oops, my mouth slipped.

No, but this would be a good opportunity for Houen.

If Maria didn’t know about this, it means that this guy hasn’t atoned for his crime yet.

It was only because I managed to put out the fire that he was saved, and he didn’t seem to have done anything himself.

I’ll let Maria take care of this.

“Houen-kun. What is the meaning of this?”

Maria, the guildmaster.

You have a scary smile on your face.

“Err, no,…… I mean,…… it’s just a youthful blunder or something …… How can I say this? It was before I learned how to control myself…….”

“The report itself, however, has not been submitted. You did something about it, didn’t you?”

“Well, thanks to …… the two of them over there ……”

“…..Donate one hundred gold coins to the village where you burned it.”

“Holy shit!”

Well, that’s a pretty reasonable line.

I think it’s a lot higher than we thought it would be…..

What is this guy?

Is he having negative luck or something?

That is very bad luck.

Houen seems to be very depressed, but I’m sure he’ll be able to handle it.

For some reason, he looks like he’s going to stay alive.

Okay, ……, now that we’re done talking about that ……, let’ s get down to what I’ ve been wondering about.

“Houen. How did you …… get to hear my voice?”

“…… Eh? …… I could hear you just like normal?”

“I was in a state where people couldn’t hear me for some reason. Yet you could hear me. , and you could hear me. Why?”

“Eh, I don’t know why?”

Well, even the person in question doesn’t understand …….

It’s just somehow he could understand …… hmmm.

“Reizen.”

“I had no idea what you were talking about.”

“Of course.”

Why did I try to rely on this guy even for a moment?

I wish someone would punch myself just a few seconds ago.

“I’m sorry ……, but it’s a coincidence that we met here. May I ask your name?”

“For real?! You didn’t even ask them for their name?”

“Cause they interrogated me and I was the only one they asked for my name!!”

Come to think of it, we did.

He didn’t have time to ask me my name because we were asking questions and confirming things.

“Then again, ……, I’m Ouren. this is Reizen.”

“Aye.”

“Ou-ren(おうれん) …… Rei-zen(れいぜん) ……. Hm? Ouren(応錬), Reizen(零漸)?

“Oh? You pronounce it so well for nothing.”

I think it was the first time someone called our names properly.

The people I’ve met up to now also have good pronunciation, but this is only because I’m adapting to the language of this world, so it just sounds that way.

However, Houen called our name correctly …….as if he called us by our name in Japanese.

‘Ma, master! Give me a pen and paper!”

“? Okay.”

Houen took the paper and pen handed to him by Maria, spread them out on the desk as if to take them away, and began to write something.

It seemed to be done quickly, and he showed it to me.

“C-can you read this?”

“Hm? Houen, right?”.

“Eh!? Aniki!”

“What is it, Reizen?”

“T-this is Japanese! It’s Kanji!”

“…..AAA.!”

I didn’t notice it for a moment because somehow I had been able to read the letters of this world until now.

Sure enough, this is a Kanji character.

I immediately picked it up to take a closer look.

The writing order and number of strokes were neat and clean, and it was a very beautiful writing style.

I never thought I would see such characters in a place like this, and I was moved only by that.

“You ……, don’t tell me you’re a ……!

“Ye- YEEEEEEAAAAAH!! It’s a Japanese person other than me!”

Saying that, Hoen jumped at me, held me and Reizen together, and hugged us strongly.

I could hear him sobbing from time to time, but I knew he had lived this long alone from the beginning.

How happy he is to see someone from his homeland.

Reizen knows that, and so do I.

I’ll just stay like this until things settle down.

“What kind of sobbing story did I just witness here?”

“Don’t say that, KY.”

(TN : 空気が読めない= Kūki ga yomenai)

“Kee- wai ……?”

“It means you can’t read the air.”

“HA?!”