Chương 58: Chapter 30:”Orclock”

Aln was truly fast. He zoomed past grasslands, over trees, and across mountains. The view from high above was exceptional. Looking down far below at a world that looked like miniatures, the ark named Aln cut through the wind, drifting through the sea of the sky. This sense of dynamism and floating... even if one were to fly in the same sky, one could never taste this while riding inside a sealed airplane. The air was clear and chilly. It felt pleasant at first, but gradually it became cold.

Alice must have felt the same; after confirming with Milia and me, she used the Thermal Fire Magic, [Volake]. Immediately, the cold vanished, and it became comfortable. We took a light lunch in the sky on the way, and while a train ride would have taken us until nightfall, we ended up arriving before the sun went down. Still, we had been sitting still for quite a long time without moving much. When we landed on the ground, there was an indescribable sense of relief.

The sky is nice, after all, but humans feel more secure with their feet planted on the ground.

"Good work, Aln."

"Thanks to you, we arrived early. Thank you."

"Your back was fluffy and comfortable." As each of us offered words of appreciation, Aln cried out cheerfully, seemingly satisfied with having fulfilled his job.

"Go relax in the forest for a while. If you sense my Magic Power in this area again, come back then, okay?" When Alice conveyed that, Aln lowered his head lightly as if to say he understood, then flew away. Aln is a type of bird that can sense the Magic Power of living things. Especially if he detects his master's power, he will come immediately no matter how far away he is. Aside from his size making him hard to care for, he was such an excellent child that I'd want one for every household.

Now then, the training exercise will take place over four days and three nights starting tomorrow morning. Today, which was mostly spent on travel, is not included in the schedule. We were supposed to stay at an inn of our choice in Orclock today. It is the school's policy to leave these arrangements to the students' autonomy. Since it was a good opportunity, I researched this town a little before coming. According to that, Orclock thrives on forestry, as expected of a town adjacent to the Great Orir Forest.

The timber produced from the Great Forest is of extremely high quality and is shipped to Sacris and the capital, Dandama, as a specialty product. Since the town's economy stands solely on forestry, it is a laid-back town with no other particular features. I see. Looking around, it was indeed a place with a nice countryside atmosphere. Unlike Sacris, where stone buildings stand out, all the houses around here are made of wood. Perhaps they are using the local specialty timber luxuriously for their own homes as well.

"It reminds me a little of my hometown," Alice said deeply. If I recall, her hometown was a rural place called Nabok. I've never been there, but I wonder if it's a place like this. We walked for a while as a trio looking for an inn. We found a place with a sign that read"Dappled Sunlight". It was large and the atmosphere seemed good, so after discussing it, we decided to stay there. We proceeded with the check-in procedures.

It seemed that renting one room for four people was cheaper per person than staying in individual rooms.

"What should we do? There will be one extra space, but I'd be happier if we were together."

"Naturally. It's a sleepover party with the three of us."

"No objections here." After a brief consultation, it was decided to have a sleepover in the four-person room. Milia, who usually lives in a different room in the dormitory, seemed quite happy, saying, "Starting today, I can sleep with you two for a little while." Just as we received the key and tried to head to the room, we bumped into an unexpected person. Noticing us, she came toward us while waving her hand widely." Yoo-hoo! Long time no see!" It's Karla-senpai. Why is she in a place like this?

Just as I thought that, Alice voiced the same question.

"Why are you here?" Then, Karla-senpai puffed out her chest proudly.

"Well, I'm a supervisor." It seems she is one of the fourth-year training supervisors who are assigned every year. I see. That makes sense.

"Is that so? We'll be in your care then."

"Nice to meet you all again~." Karla-senpai, having finished greeting Alice, now turned toward me and edged closer. She said long time no see, and that's certainly true. I feel like I haven't seen her for about a month.

"We haven't been able to meet much lately, have we?"

"Our lab has a conference presentation coming up, so it's a busy time~. In the end, none of you guys came to our lab, so we're slightly short-handed too." Since she looked at me with a glaring, sarcastic look, I muddied the waters with a polite smile. Karla-senpai laughed brightly, as if thinking "Well, whatever."

"But, I forced Guief-sensei to let me come despite the busy schedule! I was looking forward to interacting with my cute juniors~! This is what you call a reason for living, or something. Ahahaha!" The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Karla-senpai laughed loudly while slapping my shoulder hard enough to hurt. Honestly, there are times I can't keep up with this occasionally bizarrely high tension. Come to think of it.

I noticed that the person who usually reprimands Karla-senpai immediately when she gets like this was missing.

"Huh? Is Ketty-senpai not here?" Karla-senpai laughed abruptly.

"It's just me this time. Ketty wanted to come too, saying things like 'I'm worried you'll go on a weird rampage,' but I told her I'd do it properly so it's fine."

"Ahaha... Is that so." Urgent recruitment: One stopper.

"Good grief. Treating a person like a bomb or something. How rude!" She made a tight fist in front of her chest and struck a light pose of anger. It was a spectacle fitting for a bomb where you never know when the fuse will be lit and explode. I'm super worried too. Please let no troublesome sparks fall on me. As I looked away in a slight escape from reality, I noticed Milia making a strangely difficult face.

"What's wrong? Milia." When I just called out to her, Milia immediately returned her expression to normal.

"Nothing. It's nothing."

"Really? Are you perhaps tired from the long trip?"" That might be it." Karla-senpai, who was watching the exchange between Milia and me, attacked Milia this time.

"Milia-chan. If you make such a tired face, Onee-chan will eat-you-up~." Faced with the joking pretense, Milia replied with a smile as if dodging it. While casually intertwining her arm with my sleeve.

"Fufu. Unfortunately, I don't have a hobby of doing that with you, Senpai."

"My. Even though you look like you'd make a nice cry." Of course, this is probably a joke too, but the glossy expression Karla-senpai made when saying that had something that could make one endure the illusion that she really meant it. Huh. Is she looking at me too...? Is she inviting me!? While I was flustered, Alice suddenly raised her voice as if she came up with something.

"I know! Since it's a rare occasion, why don't we spend the night together as a group of four? There's exactly one space left in the room." That's a good idea. But maybe a little, no, quite dangerous. In that sense. While I braced myself with half happiness and half fear, Karla-senpai clapped her hands together pan and refused apologetically.

"Sorry~. I have business from now on. We have to gather all the supervisors and hammer out the actions for tomorrow." Hearing that, Alice dropped her shoulders slightly in disappointment.

"Is that so~. If you have such important business, it can't be helped. Good luck with the meeting."

"I'll accept your feelings gratefully. Well then, I'm off!" Perhaps because we bumped into her while she was originally trying to move, Karla-senpai left quickly. After seeing her off, Alice clapped her hands.

"Okay. Then, let's pull ourselves together and go to the room."

"Yeah."" I feel unnecessarily tired somehow," Milia muttered as we walked holding hands with the flow.

"She was a person like a storm as usual, wasn't she?"

"Really, exactly that." I agreed and winked. Milia giggled and whispered in my ear.

"If it's with Senpai, I prefer Yu."

"Fue!? W-what are you saying!?"

"It's a joke." J-jeez. Don't say weird things. Alice grinned broadly and grabbed my and Milia's shoulders firmly with her left and right hands respectively.

"My, my. How close you two are."

"Geez. Even Alice."

"Fufufu. You are cute, Yu." While feeling my cheeks becoming hot, we somehow arrived at the room. After putting down our luggage, we all headed to the bathhouse to wash off our sweat. The bathhouse is on the first floor of the inn. Living as a woman for a year, I had become able to behave as a woman relatively naturally without being so conscious about it. After my identity was revealed, I was told to act more like a girl when I was a girl, and Alice and Milia drilled various things into me thoroughly.

Don't spread your legs! Don't bare your skin immediately! Eat more modestly! Etc. Really, various things. Yeah. It was tough. In exchange, as long as I am a woman, the two treated me truly as a girl. They associated with me without changing anything from before my identity was revealed. I don't know how much that saved my heart. I feel like I've gradually come to be able to affirm my true self. Not a half-baked self who is neither man nor woman, but a single human being who is both man and woman.

I've come to be able to accept myself as such. I vaguely feel now that the changes in appearance and the accompanying heart are surely not serious problems, and I should just live as myself as I wish. I take off my clothes in the bathhouse. Starting with my chest of a moderate size, roughly a D-cup, my naked body which shows no growth or change even after a year is revealed. Just as Thomas said, it seems time has completely stopped since that day my ability awakened.

On the other hand, Alice was happy saying her chest grew just a little bit. Though, it only became something like the difference between a loose fit and a slightly tighter fit. Well, it must be a significant difference for the person herself, so I rejoiced together with her. As for Milia, she went from an E originally to the upper side of F, and she was no longer a hidden big-breasted girl. Alice sometimes looks resentful at the chest disparity society.

"Really. No matter when I look, you have such a beautiful body that one wouldn't think you were originally a man."

"I'm envious. That good figure." Alice and Milia sigh admiringly while looking over my body intently. As far as looking in the mirror provided in the bathhouse, I certainly think it's beautiful. I nodded without being strangely humble.

"Yeah. I wonder if I resemble my dead mom." Then, Alice took the bait.

"That's the first time I've heard that. What kind of person was Yu's mother?"

"She was strong, kind, and cool. In a sense, she had parts that were way crazier than Karla-senpai or anyone."

"Heeh. Is that so. Tell us in detail!"

"I want to hear too."

"Sure." I talked about Mom, mixing in metaphors skillfully so that the two could understand Earth, which is another world to this world. The two listened with great interest. Mom was a quite crazy person. Like being an agent of something, brandishing a gun legally even though it was Japan. Trying to drill how to handle that gun into me when I was still small. Threatening a man who persistently hit on her by saying"Shall I make your crotch unusable ever again?" and scaring him off.

Raiding a crime syndicate office while carrying small me on her back. Donating about a million yen just because she felt like it. It seems Dad also acted together sometimes, and I myself have been taken along. Anyway, she flew around the world. I could understand China or Canada, but I was surprised when she brought back souvenirs from the Middle East, South Africa, Brazil, and Greenland.

What surprised me even more was when she dashed out saying "I'm going to meet the President," and when I watched TV, she was seriously shown briefly next to the US President. Moreover, wherever Mom went, usually some kind of incident occurred at that time. I didn't understand in the past, but I vaguely understand now. It seems Mom was doing work related to those incidents. Especially, the famous TSG Incident on Earth. Well, let's leave it at that.

Numerous legends created by Mom, which have a scale totally unsuitable for narrow Japan, are still burned strongly into my heart. For me, Mom was a mother I could rely on more than anyone, and at the same time, an existence I admired. Since even such a Mom died all too easily in an accident, I think you never know about life.

Well, even though I intended to live normally, before I knew it, I'm mastering magic in a different world and moving with a disproportionate purpose of trying to save the world; I might be quite legendary in a sense too. I don't think our personalities are very similar, but I guess blood tells after all. Finished talking, I stared at the mirror in front of me again somehow. I felt like the depths of my eyes shone just a little. Whether as a man or a woman, only this defiant look inherited from Mom doesn't change.

I think myself it's the part that resembles Mom the most, and I was often told by others that we looked exactly alike. Thanks to that, there were times I struggled because I was thought to be cheekier than necessary. For me who was always weak, pathetic, and a crybaby, it might have been something that didn't fit well. But now, I think I want to become a strong human who suits these eyes.