114. Gestures and Confusion
We headed back to kitchen after watching the festival’s main event come to a conclusion. Naturally, the trip back, like the trip there, was accompanied by Fran purchasing what could only be described as an unnecessary amount of food.
『Alright, I’ve got all my energy back, so I’m about to kick myself into high gear. You guys should probably start getting ready for bed.』
「It’s fine. Will help.」
「Woof.」
『Well, if you’re sure, then I’ll take you up on that offer.』
「Nn. Can count on me.」
「Bark!」
『Sweet. Alright, I guess you can keep working on prepping up the vegetables and stuff then, Fran.』
「Got it.」
『And as for you Urushi? You’re… also going to be doing the same thing you were before.』
「W-Whimper…」
I handed Urushi another barrel so he could go back to headbanging. Luckily, that would be the last time I needed to have him do it. We needed about six kilograms of butter in total, and the first barrel had managed to produce half of that, so yeah.
Butter was honestly more of a luxury than anything else in the first place. Its market price was way too high for it to be worth it, and to make matters worse, the stuff you could buy didn’t even taste all that great. The butter Urushi made was salt free, fresh, and much more delicious than anything else we could get, so making it ourselves was pretty much resulted in us obtaining a higher quality product for a fraction of the cost. It was one of the ever so desired two birds one stone type situations.
『Do your best. Don’t be giving up on me now.』
「Woof!」
The large black wolf ultimately resigned himself to his fate. He lifted the barrel above his head and moved over to room with a bit of a higher ceiling before finally starting to swing his neck up and down with as much vigour as he could muster.
『I guess I’ll get started on the dough next.』
And so, I worked on the task for about two odd hours.
Naturally, both Fran and Urushi needed sleep, so they’d already headed back to the inn. I, on the other hand, was an object, so I used my lack of a need for rest in order to continue working throughout the night.
『Woah, it’s already past midnight.』
I felt the urge to go outside and look upon the night sky. I wanted to stare at all seven gleaming moons as they illuminated my darkened surroundings, just as I’d done on the day I reincarnated. But I couldn’t. We were in the middle of the city, so there was a chance that someone would spot me as I basked in the moonlight. It was a bit of a shame, but I was honestly still quite content just knowing that they were there.
Well, I could’ve easily just created a doppelganger and had it look instead, but that was flat out just a waste of the skill’s cooldown.
Man, I can’t believe I’ve been here for three whole months already. My life back in Japan had been rather stagnant, and time seemed to move at a snail’s pace. Here though, it almost seemed to fly by far too quickly. I guess this is what it means to live out a fulfilling life.
The moment I entertained that thought was the moment everything went back.
『Huh?』
W-Wait, what the hell just happened!? Why couldn’t I see anymore? Is this some sort of like bug or error? Wait, how did I see in the first place? I had no idea, which meant I also had no idea as to whether or not I was supposed to retain the ability see in the first place. Maybe this is something that’s supposed to happen? Please no.
The darkness was suddenly overridden by its opposite right as my thoughts started strolling down panic lane. Everything around me had suddenly been dyed in a shade of pure white.
It looked like there wasn’t actually any issue with my sense of sight. Whew. Wait, not whew. Where the hell am I? I can’t tell. I looked around, but I was met with the same result regardless of where I cast my gaze. My surroundings seemed to have transformed into an infinite expanse of white. It almost looked like I’d been transported inside the Hyperbolic T*me Chamber or something. Wait, isn’t this like totally what you’d normally see in the first chapter of a novel centered around the theme of reincarnating into another world? Am I about to meet some sort of God so I can reincarnate again or something? Wait, wait, wait, did I just jinx it? I’m pretty sure I did. Fuck! Fuck no! I like this world, I’m not about to let myself get ported over to a different one. I’ve even got unfinished business here. Fran and I are still in the midst of our journey together and I absolutely refuse to leave her side at least until she grows up. I don’t care what happens, I won’t budge on that at all, regardless of whether or not I’m speaking to some sort of God.
I panicked a bit more while taking in my surroundings. I couldn’t actually find anything at the first, but someone suddenly rose out of the ground about ten meters in front me right as I came to the conclusion that the place was empty.
His form was exactly like that of a refined middle aged man’s. His shimmering silver hair and laid back robed appearance really served to exemplify the fact that he was in the prime of his life. He looked a bit thin at first glance, but further inspection led me to understand that he was actually jacked as all hell.
The appearance he had really left an impact on me, but despite that, I couldn’t really sense his presence at all. It was like he was some sort of phantom, or a mere illusion. Either way, he didn’t really look like a God. Whew.
I tried to approach him so I could inspect him in a bit more detail, but…
『I can’t move.』
My body had been completely frozen in place, and it didn’t seem like he intended on coming any closer either so I guess that plan was out.
『Who are you?』
The man started to act out a series of gestures instead of answering my question.
『Why do that instead of just talking?』
「――――」
『Huh? I can’t tell what you just said. I couldn’t hear you.』
「――――」
『Oh! Are you perhaps mute?』
Apparently, I’d the nail on the head. The man immediately pointed at me and smiled while nodding, as if to say “spot on.” However, he soon transitioned back into making more gestures. It was evident that he was trying to tell me something.
I started him down as he continued to with his odd gestures. I was having a hard time deciphering them, but I at least managed to grasp that I wasn’t about to be stuck reincarnating again, at least.
Seriously though, what the hell was he trying to tell me? All he kept doing was moving back and forth whilst drawing an upside down triangle.
『Is that supposed to be La Pyramide Inversée?』[1]
「――」
He shook his head in response, so I guess not.
The middle aged man seemed to understand that I found his actions incomprehensible, so he changed them up a bit.
His next course of action was to half open his mouth, raise both hands and slowly walk forward whilst making a sort of a zoned-out expression.
Oh, now that, I understand.
『So it’s something to do with zombies?』
The man responded by giving me two thumbs up.
He then proceeded to alternate between his previous two patterns. That is, he’d start drawing triangles, switch to being a zombie, start drawing triangles again and so on and so forth. Hmmm… zombies, zombies… You know what I think of when I think of zombies? The freaking floating island we were on, that’s what. Wait, is that what he’s going for?
『Is that upside down triangle you’re drawing supposed to be representing the floating island that one dungeon was on?』
「――」
Sweet, looks like I hit the nail on the head. He responded with another thumbs up.
『Alright, I get that part, what’s next?』
The man took a lowered battled stance with his fists by his hips. He then began to tremble whilst giving off a magic-like glow, as if letting power course throughout the entirety of his body.
『Kaiouk*en?』
「――」
Yeahhhhh, I figured that wasn’t it.
『Wait wait, are you trying to imitate Krill*n?』
「――」
Okay yeah, I figured that one wouldn’t be right either. That said, I honestly couldn’t really see his actions as anything other than him imitating a character straight out Dr*gon Ball or Huntsman X Huntsman.
I hoped he’d change his approach, but didn’t and just kept repeating the exact same action.
『Hmm.. are you trying to say something along the lines of someone using an incredible amount of power?』
He stuck out a hand so it pointed straight towards me before wobbling it from left to right, an obvious indication that I was kind of on the right track, but not really all the way there yet.
『Are you supposed to be… releasing some sort of secret trump card?』
He gave me a point and a nod, so apparently that was the right answer. Let’s see… secret trump card… floating island dungeon…?
『Oh! Latent Potential Release!』
The man gave me an excited thumbs up since I’d finally manage to give him the answer he wanted. Immediately afterwards, he raised his hand to his face and started to flap his fingers as if to imitate a pair of lips.
Something about talking through latent potential release…?
『The lich?』
The man formed an X with his forearms.
『Let’s see… what else fits… The system announcer?』
Wrong again, apparently.
『Oh, wait! I remember now! You must’ve been the one dude that started talking to me telepathically out of nowhere! I remember you telling me a bunch about the System Announcer.』
It seemed like I’d gotten the answer right? The man responded with a curt nod, but quickly transitioned into a light bow with his hands pressed together in what seemed like an apologetic manner.
He again started going back and forth between a pair of actions. He’d bow and then do the talking motion and then repeat the whole cycle ad infinitum.
Looked to me like he was trying to apologize with regards to something he’d said to me back then… Hmm… What did we talk about anyways…?
『Who are you anyway?』
『Wellll, I was planning on telling you eventually anyways. And I was planning on meeting up with you in about a monthish, something around that, iunno. Well, telepathically meet up that is, if you count that. Buuuuuut, eh, whatever. Might as well tell you now minus all the pretentious nitty gritty junk anyway.』
『You sure sound laid back…』
『Welll, that’s cause we don’t really count as strangers n stuff anyway. Whatever, whatever. Might as well say it. My name is….』
And that was when our conversation had come to an abrupt end. So if he wanted to apologize for something, it’d probably be because….
『I’m guessing we aren’t able to meet up in person like you’d been planning?』
The man responded with a nod.
『I guess you must’ve run into some sort of blocker or something along the way then?』
A pair of nods.
『And you can’t tell me who you are either?』
A group of three nods.
Ahhh, I get what this whole thing is all about… but why can’t he talk this time? I mean, he did last time.
The man made the power up pose, pointed at himself, and then got on both knees and pretended to wheeze.
『So what I’m getting is that you can’t talk anymore because I used Latent Potential Release?』
Apparently Latent Potential Release had affected this guy the same way it had with the System Announcer.
『Wait, so that means you’re a part of me?』
Nod.
『Are you the guy whose voice I heard right when I reincarnated?』
Nod.
I knew it!
That said, learning this had given rise to a question that I simply couldn’t ignore or set aside for later.
『So… Just who are you then?』
I couldn’t resist asking him that. I was so curious about the answer that I’d almost felt as if it’d been eating away at me.
The man frowned and shook his head from side to side. It didn’t like he was going to be able to answer me.
『Hmm… Are you going to up and vanish too, or are we going to be able to end up being able to meet with each other like this some time in the future as well?』
The man drew one large circle overhead and dotted it with six smaller ones. An easily understood answer.
『The thing you just drew would be the full moon and its six smaller counterparts, right?』
But why only then of all times? Actually, now that I think about it, Latent Potential Release aside, the only time I’d ever spoken to him was when I was first reincarnated exactly three months ago. In other words, the moons had been full back then too
『Can you only appear during the Lunar Banquet or something?』
Apparently I was right.
『So I’m guessing I’ll see you again in three months time?』
The man smiled a shit eating grin whilst energetically raising both thumbs. For some odd reason, the action had seemed to cause him to start to fade away.
『Wait a second! I’m not done asking you stuff!』
My words prompted the man to once again take his apology pose before vanishing altogether. I guess he ran out of time.
The world around me underwent the same thing it had earlier; it faded out into black before going back to normal.
『Seems like I’m back in the kitchen.』
Everything was exactly as it had been just before I faded out. In fact, no time seemed to have passed whatsoever. It was like I’d been momentarily spirited away or something.
『I guess I won’t be able to see him for another three months, but I’ll definitely have a tonne of questions prepped for when I do.』
I wonder if he can hear me right now. I mean, he did claim to be a part of me after all.
[1] It’s an interesting French tourist attraction located in the Louvre. You guys might recognize it if you read western literature / watch western movies, as it’s known for being a part of The Da Vinci Code. Image below.
I was a bit busy this week, so releases weren’t as quick as usual. I’ll be going over to some chick’s house for dinner tomorrow too, so I’m not actually sure if I’ll manage a release before the time I listed in the next chapter thingy. I’ll try though.