Ch.155Learning About NPCs. (4)

After arriving at “his house” with two graves, I immediately brushed off the devil’s flesh that was clinging to my body.

Damn it, this is a trial, but couldn’t we skip this part? Do I have to manage cleanliness too?

“Grrrr~”

“Yes, eat slowly. Try not to use this front paw too much.”

“Chomp chomp!!”

“……”

Watching him feed the rabbit I had hunted earlier to the white tiger lying in front of the table, while stroking it and treating its wounds, I wonder what exactly I’m looking at.

Sigh, what’s the point of continuing to watch this?

Turning my head to look inside the cabin, I see the room where I used to stay. And another room with its door firmly shut.

The room where I stayed looks like it could be opened at any time, but the firmly closed room, judging by the state of the doorknob and the wood, hasn’t been opened for several years for sure.

I don’t know what clearing this trial entails, but why do I feel like I need to open that room?

I quietly approach the door and…

“If you’re done cleaning up, get out.”

“First you attack me calling me a devil, and now you’re telling me to leave after I’m done?”

“Seeing that Miho isn’t reacting, you clearly don’t have any demonic energy. So I won’t attack you, but…”

Did he notice that I was interested in that room? He tilted his head, gesturing me not to approach, and I decided to back off for now.

Of course, backing off only means not opening the room where [little sister] might have been.

“Why are you sitting? Didn’t you hear me say get out?”

“I get that you’re excited seeing the same face, but let’s talk first. I’m busy, you know?”

“If you’re busy, go be busy elsewhere. Go about your business.”

“That business is you, you idiot.”

I don’t even know why I’m dealing with this guy who has my face. If the status window would just tell me to take him down, I’d at least fight, but the status window that usually appears so readily shows no response, and my skills won’t activate either.

If I go outside alone and get into a fight with devils and fail the trial, there would be problems in [reality].

I’m not the brightest, trying to solve a puzzle with no hints or answers, and if I fail, it’s not just my survival at stake—there are too many people who can’t afford for me to die.

I casually gestured with my finger for him to sit in the chair across from me, and though he clicked his tongue, he complied.

“What exactly are you? Why do you have the same face as me?”

“My name is Adventurer Jack. Unlike you, I quit being a mountain keeper.”

“…What? Quit being a mountain keeper?”

“Yes, I left Ponia and I’m traveling.”

“That’s crazy, what are you talking about? I’ve never thought about leaving this mountain, nor have I ever left…”

“That’s what I’m saying—in ‘the world I was in,’ unlike you, I left this mountain.”

“For what reason?! And your world? Are you saying you came from another world…?!”

“Yes, I’m you from another world. The life and path I walk are completely different from yours.”

After hearing my explanation, he opened his eyes wide as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and I shrugged and continued.

“And now, the reason I came here is to get something I need for my journey. Originally, I had no intention of returning to Ponia.”

“…I can’t believe it.”

“I understand it’s hard for you to believe, even I would find it difficult to accept talk about other worlds…”

“No, I can’t believe that ‘I’ would quit being a mountain keeper.”

Huh? Not that it’s hard to believe talk of another world, but that he can’t believe ‘he’ would quit being a mountain keeper in the future? I found his words difficult to understand and just stared at him, and he slowly continued.

“…In your world, did you have nothing to protect?”

“What bullshit.”

His words made me curse involuntarily.

What to protect? What exactly does he mean by “something to protect”? The safety of the mountain? The safety of Ponia? Or the survival territory of those fucking bastards in Jolleolyip Village? Is any of that more important than my sister’s life?

No, not at all. Not even a little.

Nothing compares to the value of Ira’s life. I can confidently say that even if I combined everything I just thought of, it wouldn’t come close.

“I ran away because I had something to protect. Being here meant I had a lot to lose and nothing to gain.”

“…Then why are you using mountain keeper techniques?”

“What?”

“Who taught you those techniques?”

“My father, of course.”

“…What’s your father’s name?”

“Your father and my father should be the same person, so why…”

“Answer me. I can’t understand what you’re saying right now.”

He looked at me seriously as he asked, and feeling like I was being interrogated by my own reflection, I answered.

“Mountain Keeper Setan.”

“Haa… This is truly hard to believe.”

What’s his problem? This guy has been steering the conversation when I was trying to ask questions, and now he’s sighing and holding his head.

This is ridiculous. Is your dad’s name different? Are you acting like you heard a different name?

“…Yes, my father’s name is different.”

“Of course it can’t be diff… Huh? What?”

What did I just hear? His dad is different? What nonsense is this now?

I stared at him blankly in disbelief, and after confirming my reaction, he slowly spoke.

“My ‘adoptive father’s’ name is Seinon. He spent his entire life as a mountain keeper, dedicated his life to the mountain, and was a true mountain keeper who instilled in me the life and pride of being a mountain keeper.”

The conversation ended there.

I felt my mind stopping at his unbelievable words, like my recently well-functioning brain was breaking down again. He just quietly observed my state without saying anything.

And then.

“…Hey. Don’t you have a little sister?”

I blurted out the topic I had been avoiding, knowing it would clearly be a landmine for this guy.

*

“…Little sister?”

“That’s impossible.”

A little sister? I was the only child of my adoptive father, so is he saying that’s not the case for him?

As if I had violated some taboo, his expression contorted, and I tilted my head in confusion.

“…Outside, the two graves. Who are they?”

“One is my father, and one is my close friend.”

“…That’s impossible.”

“What do you keep saying is impossible?”

“Ira, you don’t have a little sister?”

“Ira? Little sister? I don’t even know my birth parents, how could I have a sister…”

“Fuck!! How could she not exist?!!!”

He shouted, jumping up from his chair, startling Miho who had just finished eating the rabbit. I placed my hand on Miho’s head to calm her down.

What is he talking about? He said himself that his world and this world are different, so such differences could exist.

“I don’t care about anything else, but Ira not existing makes no sense. No little sister? Your father isn’t your biological father? What is this? This world is wrong. Wait, close friend? Who? Did I ever have a friend?”

“Apparently not in your case. I had a close friend.”

“What’s your friend’s name?”

“…You’re asking too many personal questions.”

I frowned involuntarily at him asking about my deceased friend’s name, but he ignored my reaction and pressed forward, insisting I answer immediately.

What is this guy thinking?

“Is my friend’s name important to you?”

“It is.”

“…Cheonma. My friend was a flying horse…”

“Shit, fuck.”

He suddenly cursed and collapsed back into the chair, clutching his head, and then began firing random questions like a broken machine.

Where did I get Cheonma from, what happened to the golem there, did I know names like Rey, Ragni, Chikuyo, Goru, and so on… Honestly, most of it was incomprehensible, so most conversations ended with “I don’t know,” and he eventually started talking to himself while staring into space.

“It’s my trial, but not by my standards? A world without Ira? A world where I exist but with a different father? Cheonma as a close friend? No Goru, and doesn’t know Ragni or Rey. Has Miho but no Chikuyo? So this world isn’t based on my memories?”

“Why are you acting like this? And Ira, Rey Sol, Ragni Bluemoon, Chikuyo. They all sound like women’s names. Do you have connections with many women over there?”

“One is my little sister, and two are girls who followed me because they liked me and became my women. Chikuyo is… Miho’s sujin older sister.”

“…What? Miho has a sujin older sister?”

“And Miho herself was a sujin.”

“Hmm, that’s hard to believe.”

I unconsciously shook my head at his story and stroked Miho, who doesn’t understand our conversation or the atmosphere and is just rubbing her head against my leg, happy to see ‘me’ talking with myself.

For a while, he muttered to himself, saying things like “Then this might not be a world within the trial…” and “If it’s not just different from my memories but completely wrong, it could be parallel…” Eventually, he stopped talking altogether and sank into thought.

Hmm, I have nothing more to ask him.

“I need to go on patrol now. I’ll leave Miho at home, so don’t touch her.”

“…What?”

“From what I’ve heard, you seem to have been promiscuously involved with various women in your world, so I’m telling you this.”

“Are you crazy? She’s a tiger. What, are you worried I’ll try to become her cat butler or something?”

“Grrrr?”

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at his words.

Just from what he mentioned, there’s his little sister, plus a wandering swordswoman, a slave who was an imperial princess(?), a golem(?), and two sujin.

It clearly sounds like he has more complicated relationships than me, but he’s talking as if I’m the one saying something strange. I spoke to him with irritation.

“Let me tell you in advance, this Miho is my ‘female.’ If you touch her while I’m gone…”

“Wait, stop, what the hell? What did you just say…?”

“I said! If you touch her while I’m gone…”

“No, before that?! Your f-female…? What the fuck!! What are you saying?! Don’t tell me you and this tiger?!!”

“Hmm?”

His face contorted as if he’d just heard that the devil’s invasion had succeeded and the world was collapsing, and I realized there was a gap between his common sense and mine.

Could it be.

“In your world, is there no culture of marrying the animals you love…”

“AAARGH?!! Are you insane?!! Don’t talk nonsense with my face!! Please shut up!!!”

“Grrrr?”

He jumped up in horror, just like when he heard his sister didn’t exist.