Chapter 239: Preparation Period, Daily Life, and a Picture Book
Chapter 239: Preparation Period, Daily Life, and a Picture Book
“See you again~.”
With a grin that was quite unlike me, I stepped into the place that had practically become our hideout lately.
By now, the person who introduced me to this place and handed over a blank check was probably kicking themselves in regret. Or perhaps they were so wealthy that this didn't even register as a concern.
Actually, it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the fact that I was living a life of luxury I hadn't even planned for.
“Ah, welcome back, Lee Ha-ram. We received some excellent lobster today, so the menu is centered around seafood. How does that sound?”
“Seafood? I love it! So light! I was starting to feel a bit bloated from all the oil and salt lately.”
“Hmm. Please exclude any cephalopods. Not that they’re the same species as me, of course, but it makes me a bit uncomfortable. Ah, by cephalopods, I mean…”
“Is the lobster here hard-shelled? I’d like a dish where it’s served in the shell, please.”
In response to the waiter’s welcome, each of us chimed in one by one as we returned from our outing.
Normally, if a group of customers treated a high-end restaurant like their own living room, even the most well-trained waiter would be flustered. That had only happened on the first day, though. Since then, he had maintained a perfect smile while welcoming us.
“I see you’ve visited The Library today. Shall I move the books to your room?”
Though phrased as a question, the waiter fairy had already snapped his fingers to create a transparent platform before we could even answer.
“Please do,” Al’shel replied with a smile, transferring the large stack of books from his bag onto the transparent float one by one.
“Hmm, ‘From Ancient Magic to the Development of Modern Magic.’ And this one is ‘Reconstructing Ancient Magic through Modern Theory.’ I didn't think ancient magic was to your taste, Al’shel. I know because I majored in that field, but it’s… how should I put it? The structures are so disorganized and ambiguous…”
The waiter commented as he read the titles on the platform.
…Wait, you’re a college graduate?
I did wonder why a waiter was so strangely good at using magic.
“I find that very ambiguity interesting. Our magic is also quite inefficient compared to the magic of this world, but things like the Song of Origin that Un-ho uses seem to exist entirely outside the systems we know. I thought I might find the answer I’m looking for there…”
And so, Al’shel, the magic geek who got along famously with the college-educated waiter, began pouring out a long-winded explanation.
“Ah, you mean the element of chance that produces results impossible under standard magical formulas. That is indeed an element that cannot be replicated in modern magic, but…”
…They’re going to be at it for a while.
Since this had happened several times already, I decided to leave Al’shel to it and head toward the room that had essentially become ours.
“We’ll head in first. Oh, and just bring out a few of your recommendations for the food.”
“…If it’s that magic… Yes! Understood! …Ah, so you don’t use the power directly. A filter, then…”
Now that the waiter had taken the order, I was about to head to the room with Un-ho when I remembered something.
Ah, right. There was one thing I wanted to check.
Recalling what I’d forgotten, I rummaged through the mountain of books. The neatly stacked pile shifted a bit, but I found what I was looking for before the whole thing could topple over.
Among the academic tomes—mostly thick hardcovers or blunt-force objects bound in smooth plastic—I pulled out a single, thin book with slightly faded colors.
It was an old picture book with a cute illustration on the cover.
I still couldn't read the script, but I knew what it said because I’d seen it at The Library.
The First Step of the World.
It was something I’d picked up out of a strange sense of curiosity.
“Let’s go, Un-ho.”
Cradling it in my arms, I headed to the room with Un-ho.
* * *
The room where we’d held our first three-way meeting.
Compared to when we first saw it, the place had changed drastically.
Odds and ends were scattered everywhere.
Two hammock beds hung from ropes protruding from thin air.
A semi-transparent television floated in mid-air.
Books rolled around on the table.
In short, except for the neatly wiped table in the center, it looked no different from a messy dormitory.
It was impressive how the place became spotless every time we stepped out, as if they cleaned everything except our personal belongings while we were gone.
Just as the waiter had only been flustered by our behavior on the first day, we had only been flustered by their professionalism on the first day. Now, we took even this bizarre situation for granted. I sat in a chair, leaned back, put my feet up on the table, and opened the book.
“Putting your feet on the table is rude!”
Un-ho nagged me, but…
…And rolling around on top of the table is polite?
Un-ho himself was rolling around on the table, claiming to be tired, while wrapping himself in napkins. It seemed we were both equally ill-mannered.
Without bothering to argue, I examined the book I’d brought.
The cover, which must have been white originally, had turned yellow in places over time. The simple illustrations gave it the feel of a picture book at first glance, but there was something that strongly drew the eye.
A single woman sat in the center, smiling, surrounded by numerous animals and plants. She had black hair so long it touched the ground and wore a bizarrely shaped robe with her arms spread wide.
The robe she wore seemed both revealing and modest at the same time. The sides, shoulders, parts of the chest, and arms were wide open, yet the rest was wrapped tight like a straitjacket.
Actually, such outfits aren't uncommon in fantasy, so it wasn't that strange. However, the colors of the robe in the illustration were strangely distracting.
Black and White met with sharp boundaries, twisting together as if trying to devour each other. Despite being a stylized illustration, the colors were rendered with eerie precision.
Why was it drawn like this?
On top of that, there was one last thing that felt off.
Why… were her eyes blacked out?
Despite that, her expression was a bright, radiant smile. It was the kind of exaggerated grin you’d see in an emoticon—the sort of smile common in children’s books.
Regardless.
That unnervingly precise color scheme and the blacked-out eyes completely ruined the overall atmosphere of the illustration.
…No matter how I look at it, this doesn't feel like a normal picture book illustration.
There was only one feeling I got from it: a twisted sensibility, the kind of creepiness you’d find in a horror movie. Like a drawing that uses an innocent art style to depict blood and flesh to make it look even more grotesque. The cover of this picture book evoked that exact feeling.
Thinking that this might be something other than a mere children's book, I spoke up.
“Hey, Un-ho.”
“Yeah?”
The moment I looked up from the cover to meet Un-ho’s eyes, I saw something ridiculous.
“…What are you doing?”
“It’s warm and cozy.”
Un-ho, wrapped from head to toe in napkins, was waddling toward the remote control on two legs. He looked exactly like a plump turkey.
“…And you were just lecturing me about manners… Sigh… Never mind. More importantly, is this person on the cover your Queen?”
Right, what was I expecting from Un-ho?
Thinking that to myself, I held out the book cover toward him.
“Hmm? Hmmm? What’s that book?”
Un-ho let out a strange sound, seemingly sensing the oddity just as I had. But that wasn't the answer I wanted.
“I don't know. I’m about to read it. Anyway, this is your Queen, right?”
“Yes, it’s The Queen, but… somehow… it’s a bit. Something’s different… something…”
So it is The Queen.
“That’s enough then. Go back to what you were doing.”
“Hmm… something is weird.”
Un-ho tilted his head, his napkin-wrapped body puffing out like a disheveled chicken, but he was already out of my mind.
I pulled a pair of glasses from my pocket.
They were thin, matte-black metal frames without lenses. Al’shel had given them to me, saying he’d perfected a one-to-one translation magic between the Magic Kingdom’s language and Earth’s.
From my experience, the word order was occasionally scrambled, but it was good enough to grasp the overall meaning of a sentence.
Wearing the glasses, I quietly opened the book.
* * *
Once upon a time, in a place where there was nothing, there was nothing.
The place where there was nothing continued to have nothing.
Yesterday, tomorrow, and today.
That is why there was no Mommy, no Daddy, and no little sister.
One day, someone appeared.
Clad in beautiful magic, she appeared in the place where there was nothing.
The someone needed a place to rest, so she planted a seed.
She fell asleep, wishing for tomorrow.
How much time passed?
Because she wished for tomorrow as she slept, tomorrow came.
Now, before sleep became yesterday, and after waking became tomorrow.
As the flow called time was born, the seed began to grow rapidly.
The seed gave birth to soil, and the soil became a seed again.
As more time passed, the grass that grew from the seed turned the world blue.
Seeing this, she said:
【This isn't it. I hate this color.】
She didn't intend to get rid of the grass.
The grass was the beginning of the world.
She pulled the grass up and threw it away.
Until the blue could no longer be seen.
The sky was born in the world.
When the sky appeared, Mr. Star and Mr. Sun also looked at the newly made land.
The Star said, 【It looks good.】
The Sun said, 【It’s not bad.】
She said nothing.
What she thought was more important to her.
As time passed, the interest of the Star and the Sun grew without end.
And so.
They.
Poured down.
They became shooting stars.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
As the ground cried out, the trees she had bent over to plant disappeared.
She became angry.
【You ruined everything.】
Neither the Star nor the Sun could withstand her wrath.
So they were split.
Into tiny, tiny pieces.
Fragmented and buried in the soil.
Time passed. She looked around the garden she had made.
Then, she finally remembered that something was missing.
【There is nothing that moves.】
Her wish was granted.
Her wish grew from the ground.
We appeared and filled what was missing in her garden.
She welcomed us with a smile.
And she became The Queen.
Everyone’s Beautiful Queen.
The nameless, Beautiful Queen.
* * *
What kind of crazy fairy tale is this?
From the illustrations to the story, nothing about it was normal.
I even suspected the Translation Glasses were broken and asked Un-ho to translate a part of it halfway through.
Un-ho’s response was the highlight.
“Uh… the content is correct… but why is it like this? This book?”
How should I know?
It’s your country’s picture book. Why are you asking me?
“So the general flow is correct?”
“Yes, but the details are… hmm. I’m not sure.”
Based on what Un-ho said, it seemed like a common creation myth. Something on the level of ‘The Queen descended, and the heavens and earth opened.’ But why was this one written so grotesquely?
“Did someone write this as a horror version for a joke?”
“Maybe. I would definitely never write a picture book like this.”
Yeah, I wouldn't either.
In fact, if Un-ho had agreed that this was a typical picture book in this world, I would have seriously questioned the mental health of the children here.
“And I have to go out and fight the day after tomorrow. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
There were only two days left of lounging around doing nothing.
I’d picked this up thinking I might learn something about The Queen, but it turned out to be a total landmine.
Anyway, when is the food coming?
And why isn't Al’shel back yet?
Thus, the three of us—unemployed bums including Al’shel—spent our rest period scratching our bellies and thinking that as long as it came down to a test of strength, we’d manage somehow.
Thanks to the sweet support funds provided by Captain Ronia, our days flowed by peacefully and abundantly.