Chapter 6
Chapter 6
“Grrr-hello.”
Rattle, rattle.
The cart carrying the bear rolled along smoothly.
Thankfully, the disaster of the utterly useless party leader having to pull the cart himself did not happen.
Of course, it wasn’t some stupid pride issue like “How could the party leader pull a cart?”
It was just… it looked way too heavy for me to even try.
The ones pulling the cart now were Yuna’s skeletons.
They were dressed in hooded cloaks that covered their entire bodies, with hoods pulled low over their heads.
We bought them in case we ran into travelers on the road, but… hmm.
Looking at them now, they looked like cultists carrying a living sacrifice.
“It’s getting dark already.”
At my muttering, Yuna answered.
“If it’s inconvenient, should I light things up a little?”
Yuna waved her hand.
A blue flame appeared floating in the air.
“What the hell is that?!”
“Will-o’-the-wisp. Want to touch it? It’s not hot.”
Necromancers could do stuff like this too?
First time I’d ever heard of it.
Well… not like I’d ever met another necromancer before.
Still, what a useless skill.
Useful for Yuna, maybe, but normal necromancers worked with undead.
Undead didn’t need light.
Melaym frowned when she saw the floating flame.
Yuna asked her an absurd question.
“What’s wrong? Scared?”
“This one does not like fire.”
Yuna placed the will-o’-the-wisp on her palm.
“It’s not hot.”
“Even so, the sight of moving fire unsettles me.”
Out of curiosity, I asked.
And partly to prepare for emergencies.
“Are doppelgangers weak against fire?”
“Weak would be an exaggeration. Even if my body burns, I would not die. But it is deeply unpleasant.”
I see.
If my body burns, I die.
Well, can’t be helped.
We didn’t have torches right now, and even if we did, Melaym probably wouldn’t like them.
“Then… should we walk a little farther and camp? It’s kind of an awkward distance to reach the next village.”
Yuna and Melaym’s eyes lit up at the suggestion.
Especially Melaym, who looked strangely delighted.
“Camping! How fitting for adventurers!”
What are you talking about?
You lived in a cave. Wasn’t that camping every day?
Yuna also looked weirdly excited.
I wanted to reach a village and sleep in a proper bed…
“But I’ve never camped before. What do we need to prepare?”
Prepare?
What kind of preparation?
Just lay down some straw and sleep on it.
“Nothing much… we can gather some straw for bedding. We won’t make a fire if Melaym doesn’t like it.”
“Hm? As long as the fire does not move, I do not mind. It is not as though I would throw myself into stationary flames.”
“Oh? Then let’s make a fire too.”
Sometimes people avoided fires to prevent attracting monsters, but with this party, that wasn’t really a concern.
Like Ira had said, our party’s strength was a bit excessive.
“Uh… what about night watch?”
“Oh, guarding while we sleep? Can’t we just leave it to the skeletons?”
Melaym shook her head.
“I shall do it. Sleep is unnecessary for me.”
Looks like we had nothing to worry about.
So doppelgangers didn’t sleep either.
…
In the end, we spread straw on the ground, lit a fire, and sat around the campfire.
I was starting to feel hungry, so I made a suggestion.
“No point just sitting here. Want to eat something?”
“Mm! A splendid idea!”
Melaym nodded eagerly.
Yuna’s tastes were pretty picky, though…
I grabbed some food from the sack loaded beside the bear.
It was meant as feed for the bear, but since it was such a valuable one, they packed proper human food.
So it should be fine if we ate some.
As expected, though, Yuna didn’t seem interested in what I was holding.
“I’ll just eat fruit.”
“You like fruit?”
“Not really… the fruit in this world is weird. Bitter, full of seeds…”
“That’s just how fruit is.”
Melaym tilted her head.
“This world? What do you mean by that?”
Yuna started talking to Melaym about the “other world” from her delusions.
There was a lot of new stuff in her setting I hadn’t heard before.
She was even explaining in detail how it differed from this world.
But this innocent monster seemed to believe her completely.
Hope she doesn’t get tricked by bad people someday.
“I see! Fascinating! A world where skills and classes are not predetermined! I would like to visit it.”
“You can’t. They’d probably capture you and dissect you.”
Melaym laughed dismissively.
“This one would never be captured by humans incapable of using skills.”
“They still have really strong weapons. I don’t know much about them though.”
“Is that so? Hmm… well, even here there are holy spears and demon swords. If there are no skills there, then it makes sense there would be more powerful weapons.”
Yuna looked like she was about to say something, but stopped.
Guess she hadn’t fully thought out the weapon setting for her imaginary world yet.
Melaym seemed to be imagining this “other world” inside Yuna’s head.
Then she asked:
“Yuna. If you were to die, would you permit me to eat your corpse? Your memories interest me.”
“No!”
“Hm. I see.”
Surprisingly, Melaym gave up easily.
Hearing that, I cautiously added:
“Uh… I’d appreciate it if you didn’t eat my corpse either.”
Some memories are embarrassing, you know.
Everybody has those.
Melaym nodded without resistance.
“Rest easy. I have no interest in your memories.”
Well, thanks for that.
“By the way, Yuna. Is your adventure meant to return to your original world?”
“…I don’t know.”
Yuna stared blankly into the fire, her eyes hollow.
Melaym turned to me.
“Hm… Luka, what of you?”
“Uh… do you know someone named Edwin?”
Maybe that was a pointless question.
No way she’d know.
But unexpectedly, Melaym nodded.
“Of course. The man who slew the balrog that invaded the neighboring Kingdom of Maia, rescued the princess, and married her as prince consort. The dream of adventurers… hmm… I see. So that is why you became an adventurer.”
I stared at her.
“What? How do you know that?”
“Ah, it is not my memory.”
As she said that, Melaym opened her mouth and pointed inside.
Meaning the memory belonged to an adventurer she had eaten.
Goddammit… this was definitely a question I shouldn’t have asked.
“…Anyway, it’s like that. Nothing special.”
“Then is your dream to become a famous adventurer like Edwin? Or perhaps marry into nobility and rise in status?”
“I don’t know.”
Either way, with my ability, it was impossible.
Edwin was already world-famous at my age.
But Melaym smiled.
“As long as you journey with me, whatever your wish may be, it shall be achieved.”
No, with Melaym around, it’d probably be faster to assassinate a king and seize the throne.
Not that I planned to.
I asked Melaym the same question.
“Then why did you decide to become an adventurer?”
“Hm… most of the people I have eaten were adventurers.”
What a horrifying thing to say.
Melaym smiled and continued.
“I did not experience it myself, but the adventures in their memories looked quite enjoyable. I wished to experience them firsthand.”
“Mm. A truly noble reason. Experience and memory are not the same.”
Wait.
That wasn’t my thought.
Whose voice was that?
I looked at Yuna without thinking.
No, it was a deep voice, so it couldn’t have been hers.
But there were only three of us here.
Yuna also looked startled and turned her head around, trying to find the speaker.
But Melaym was staring in one direction.
I followed her gaze.
There was only the bear.
My eyes met the bear’s.
Then it chuckled and started talking.
“My apologies for startling you.”
What?!
A talking bear?!
Was I the only one surprised?
Melaym and Yuna barely reacted.
Yuna kept staring blankly at the fire and nodded.
“So bears talk in this world too.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
Wow.
This girl was seriously too deep in her delusions.
Everyone was acting so casually that I was starting to think talking bears were normal.
“Since it’s come to this, would you mind untying me? I won’t run.”
Melaym stood and approached the bear.
Then she said:
“This is my first assignment. I have no intention of taking such a risk.”
“I told you, I have no intention of escaping. If it were for food, perhaps, but if I’m to be raised, that’s hardly a bad life.”
Melaym stared at him silently.
The bear looked away and muttered:
“I understand, so please stop staring at me like that… doppelganger.”
He knows what Melaym is?
Ah, he must’ve overheard our conversation.
I walked over beside Melaym and asked the bear.
Asked the bear?
Ha.
“Want me to get you some straw? The ground looks uncomfortable.”
“Oh! Thank you, kind adventurer! Though there is one more favor.”
“What?”
“When we reach the count’s territory, I’d appreciate it if you kept the fact that I can talk a secret.”
“…If it’s a secret, why tell us in the first place?”
It’s not like you said anything important.
“Well, I know your secrets too, don’t I?”
Ah. Melaym being a doppelganger.
Realizing what he meant, Melaym asked me:
“What if we simply catch another bear? The count does not know this bear’s appearance.”
“Gah! I’ll keep it secret forever, so please spare me!”
“Hmm. Since he says he’ll keep quiet, let us trust him. We may not find another bear.”
If it were just an animal, maybe.
But killing an intelligent creature just to silence it felt a bit wrong.
“Wait here. I’ll go gather some straw.”
“You have my deepest thanks!”
Yuna, still staring blankly at the fire, silently summoned two skeletons and sent them to stand beside me.
Hmm.
Not sure when it started, but she definitely understood that I was the weak one.