The Girl with Animal Ears
Yunoa found himself speechless before the overwhelming majesty of the merchant vessel Achbari.
Manned by a full two hundred and forty crew, the trade ship boasted four masts, fifty-two cabins, and a mana propulsion engine capable of sailing even in a dead calm. Twelve ballistas stood ready to fend off pirates and sea monsters alike.
Yeah, real impressive.
Lacking only cannons, the Achbari held its own against most military warships — and it possessed a vast, sturdy cargo hold besides.
A masterpiece born of shipbuilding fused with magecraft. Opportunities to not merely look upon such a vessel, but to step aboard one, were vanishingly rare.
You're taking a dig at me right now, aren't you?
I've built up an immunity to you tearing into me outright, so now you're going the scenic route?
I stood on the deck of the merchant ship Achbari with cleaning tools in hand, a look of utter desolation on my face, and let out a long sigh.
Marching up to the captain out of nowhere and asking for work had paid off — I'd landed a cleaning job. Clean the whole ship, and I'd earn one goldra. Not bad at all, for what was essentially just mopping. The problem was the sheer size of the thing.
I'd been desperate enough for money to say yes on the spot, but standing on the actual deck, I couldn't even begin to imagine finishing it. Could I actually pull this off by myself?
"What a life..."
Not that I had a choice. If I wanted to get paid, I had to do the work. I took a rag in each hand and started wiping down the deck from one corner.
The sun went down, and night fell. I was still cleaning the Achbari. The captain and the entire crew had gone off to a tavern, leaving me alone on the ship, and the vessel was so enormous I hadn't had a moment to spare.
How much was even left? Every stretch of deck I could see was done, and I'd finished the masts besides. But I hadn't so much as touched the cabins — all fifty-two of them. I was putting every cleaning trick I'd picked up at the church to work, and I still hadn't cleared half the ship. And the deadline was the day after tomorrow.
"Aigoo, my back..."
Did that captain actually think I could clean this thing by myself? Or did he know perfectly well that I couldn't, and figure he'd stiff me on the pay later...?
No. He didn't seem like that kind of man. He'd been ready to turn me away at first — then, the moment I mentioned I needed the work to survive, he'd gone and invented a job that hadn't even existed.
Once I'd finished the bow, I stretched out spread-eagle on the deck I'd just wiped clean, catching my breath and looking up at the night sky. A full moon hung enormous above me, washed in pale blue light, and countless stars burned around it.
"I come to another world and all I do is suffer."
Still, the night sky was prettier here than in the world I'd come from. That much was nice. An adventurer... when would I actually get to start? I let myself soak in it for a moment, then got back to work.
Tools in both hands, I shoved a rag along with one foot besides. At this point I was a human vacuum cleaner — a master of the craft. This had better not end with me starring in something like I Became an S-Rank Janitor in Another World.
Night had made everything darker, and it was getting a little frightening. I didn't believe in ghosts, but this was a different world. It wouldn't be strange at all if they were real here. A place with magic, monsters, and demonfolk was bound to have ghosts too, right? The thought sent a chill down my spine, and I started expecting something to lunge out of the dark.
Don't think scary thoughts. The more you think them, the worse they get.
The Achbari's cargo hold was nearly empty — every last trade good had already been unloaded. A few wooden barrels and crates were still stacked in one corner, though I had no idea what was inside them. I started mopping from the far end of the hold toward those barrels in long, even strokes, like filling in a coloring book.
I gripped a water-soaked mop in each hand and took off, treating the stacked barrels as my finish line. The moment a mop head kissed wood, I spun on my heel and sprinted the other way. Then back again. It was a shortcut I'd leaned on all through my school years, but without it, there was no finishing this ship on time. And, if I was being honest, it was a little fun.
I tore across the floorboards. Spun. Tore back the other way.
Eventually even two hands weren't enough, so I jammed a third mop against my navel and charged forward in a full Three-Mop Style.
It was the wrong call.
Wham—!
"Ghk!"
I must have gotten carried away. The mop I'd braced against my stomach slammed into a wooden barrel, and the handle punched straight into my gut.
"Ghk... hhhk..."
A pain like my insides were being wrung out. It wasn't enough to actually injure me, but the hurt itself was the real thing. Clutching my stomach against a pain that stole the breath from my lungs, I rolled back and forth across the floor.
And then—
—Hic!
Hn? I thought I heard something. I narrowed my eyes and went still, listening. Don't tell me... this ship actually has a ghost?
—Hic!
I figured I must have imagined it and reached for the mop to get back to work — and the strange sound came again. This time I could tell where it was coming from. The wooden barrel I'd just crashed into.
"What... that's creepy..."
Thanks to all that thinking about ghosts earlier, goosebumps raced up my arms and a wave of fear rolled over me. The lamp I'd set on the floor to clean by seemed to flicker strangely, as if it were about to go out. I had the distinct sense that someone was standing behind me. And that someone else was watching from above.
What's Narration doing? I wish it'd show up already and tell me this isn't a ghost. This damn voice always goes quiet the moment I actually need it.
No helping it. At this point, the only way forward was to check the source of the sound with my own eyes. I approached the barrel slowly, drew one deep breath, and yanked the lid open.
"Kyaaaaaah—!"
"Waaaaaaah—!"
The instant I opened the lid, a girl's scream burst out — so I screamed right along with her.
Curled up inside the barrel, hiding, was a girl with animal ears.
"Like this! Meruru is begging you, so it is!"
The mysterious animal-eared girl who'd burst from the barrel dropped to her knees in front of me, pressed her forehead to the floor, and wailed. A tail like a fox's — plump, fluffy, impossibly soft-looking — swayed gently behind her.
"Sneaking onto the ship was truly wrong of Meruru, so it is! Please don't throw Meruru into the sea or sell her as a slave, so it is!"
"No, wait, that's not—"
"Meruru is a good beastkin, so it is! And Meruru only snuck one meal a day, so it iiiis!"
Thud! Thud!
The beastkin girl who called herself Meruru wailed, slamming her head into the floor as she lay prostrate. She must have taken me for one of the ship's crew. What even was this kid? From the look of it, she'd stowed away on this merchant ship without the captain knowing. At least it wasn't a ghost. Small mercies.
Either way, I needed to calm her down. If I just stood there, she looked ready to smash her head into the floor until she drew blood.
"W-wait, just calm down a second—"
"Waaah! Meruru is sorry, so it is! Meruru told a little lie, so it is! Meruru actually ate two meals, so it is!"
Thud! Thud!
"Hey! Would you listen to me?!"
"Hic!"
She wouldn't hear a word I said, so I raised my voice — and Meruru lifted her head from the floor, still prostrate, and hiccupped. So that weird sound from inside the barrel had been this kid hiccupping. I'd slammed a mop into the barrel she was hiding in, startled her, and the hiccups had come out.
"I'm not a sailor on this ship. I'm just here to clean it."
"......"
Had she calmed down?
"Waaaaah! Please! Don't tell the sailors, so it is! Pretend you never saw Meruru, so it is! Meruru has something she has to do, so it iiiiis!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
She hadn't calmed down at all! She was slamming her head so hard I could feel the vibrations through the soles of my feet. Doesn't that hurt? Don't tell me she's got a rock for a skull.
"Bang your head on the floor one more time and I'm handing you over to the captain!"
"Hic!"
My own head was starting to hurt just watching her, so I threw out a threat that wasn't quite a threat. Only then did Meruru stop driving her skull into the floorboards. She lifted her head and looked at me.
A beastkin... So this world really did have strange races like this. A pair of large animal ears — whether they belonged to a dog or a fox, I couldn't tell — stood pricked atop her head. Aside from those and a tail that looked impossibly soft, the rest of her was hardly any different from a human. Looking closer, I realized the kid had pickled-radish eyebrows. Ears and tail aside, she was just an ordinary, cute-looking girl.
Far across the sea, from Helvetica Island, the beastkin Meruru had secretly boarded the Achbari — and she was terrified.
Yunoa, with wicked cruelty, had threatened to turn this poor beastkin girl over to the captain.
Hey, I didn't mean it like that. Okay, yes, it did come out as a threat, but still. This damn Narration is always trying to paint me as the bad guy.
Putting the pieces together, it seemed Meruru had stowed away from a place called Helvetica Island. An illegal immigrant of sorts, then. Whatever her circumstances, they weren't my problem. That said, I didn't have any particular reason to grab her and turn her in, either.
"Meruru, right? I won't tell a soul. You can relax."
I dropped onto one knee and looked at her as I said it.
"Really?! Thank you, so it is! You're a kind human, so it is!"
"But..."
I held out the mop I'd been using toward the delighted Meruru.
"You know how to mop, don't you?"