“Ah, this too is exceptional.”
After the girls got out, Jin and Reinhardt took a bath.
“Jin, you’re really mysterious.”
Reinhardt chatted while stretching in the bath.
“It’s almost as if you weren’t born in this world.”
When Reinhardt said so, Jin’s heartbeat was set racing.
“No, it’s not a figure of speech.”
Reinhardt continued while looking at the steam-covered ceiling.
“You may not know of it, but there’s a legend in my country.”
“A legend?”
Jin began to listen attentively after hearing that word.
“…It’s said that beyond the sun in the sky there is an another world.”
“What did you say?”
Jin asked again to confirm if he had heard correctly.
“It might sound unbelievable and you might ask how a world could exist in a place like that, but, well, it’s a legend after all.”
Reinhardt waved a hand in front of his face as if to say he doesn’t believe in it himself, and continued,
“It’s said that our ancestors came from that world.”
“Came from?”
“Mh-hm. Whether it was to pioneer a new world or to run away from the old one, the legend doesn’t say.”
Since Jin wasn’t familiar with such a legend, he was a little interested.
So he said that it’s an interesting legend, and Reinhard replied,
“That’s unexpected. Are you interested? If so, there should be a storyteller who can tell you about it in Celuroa Kingdom which I’m planning to pass through after this.”
After saying so, his attitude suddenly changed.
“By the way Jin, on a different topic, what do you think about Miss Beana and Elsa?”
“Huh?”
Jin couldn’t keep up with the sudden 180 degree turn in the conversation and was befuddled.
“I mean, even as her cousin I think Elsa doesn’t look so bad, and that Miss Beana is also not just a little cute, don’t you think?”
After clarification Jin finally wrapped his head around it, and thought about the two.
“I suppose so, Beana is kind of like… a troublesome younger sister?”
“And Elsa?”
“She’s… Well, like a slightly unreliable younger sister.”
After the reply, Reinhardt wore a smile that looked worried, happy, and also bitter.
“I see, so the girls are like little sisters for Jin.”,
He mumbled.
It’s a bit of a digression, but Soleil and Luna heard what Jin had said, and when they told Reiko about it afterwards she had the finest smile of relief and joy on her face.
＊ ＊ ＊
The evening menu was a stew with vegetables and chicken, fried fish, plain omelette, salad, and baked Applele for dessert.
“Oh, this is good. Fried, you say?”
“Yes. The fish is covered with wheat flour, dipped in beaten eggs, coated with bread crumbs and fried in oil.”
“Huh, so there’s such a way of cooking too.”
It seemed like it was Reinhardt’s and needless to say Beana’s first time having the ever-popular fried food.
Elsa looked to be enjoying the baked Appleles, and casually asked Reiko for another serving.
Jin was wondering if something happened to Reiko, since she seemed to be in a good mood.
“So this is baked Applele. It really is delicious.”
Some time ago, Jin mentioned making baked Appleles but wasn’t able to as there wasn’t enough sugar.
“It sounds easy to make. I’ll try making it for my siblings once I go back home.”
“Speaking of them, how are the conditions of your younger brother and sister?”
Beana explained that they were already in good health, and currently were helping clean Earl Kuzuma’s garden.
“I’m indebted to the Earl for many things.”,
And she finished the conversation so.
Meanwhile, Elsa was having her third plate of baked Appleles.
“Hey Elsa, are you going to be fine after eating that much?”,
Reinhardt said, as expected, after he saw what was going on.
“I’ll be fine. Because this will be the last one.”,
She said and ate some baked Applele.
“Haha, I’m very happy that you like it.”,
Jin said with laughter and he too stuffed his mouth with baked Applele.
“Even though it’s a bed, the futon is the same!”
The guest rooms had Western Style beds, but the mattresses were futons made with devil silk wadding. Beana was jumping with joy.
“Ooh, this sleepwear is made out of a Ground Caterpillar’s silk too, right? It feels really good to the touch!”
Ruby-100 left the room quietly.
“I wanted to sleep on a tatami mat.”
Elsa muttered, and Aqua-100 carried a spare tatami mat in and laid it on the floor for her, making a make-shift Japanese-style room.
“Thanks.”
Elsa said, and Aqua-100 bowed and made her exit. Elsa threw herself down on the tatami mat,
“…Happiness.”
After enjoying the tatami mat’s sense of touch, Elsa got into the futon and fell asleep with a satisfied look on her face.
“Thank you, this is already enough.”
Reinhardt faced Amethyst-100 who had folded the taken-off clothes and said.
Even in the Earl’s mansion, Reinhardt was in the habit of taking care of as many of his own things as he could, and so would dress himself in the devil silk sleepwear, he explained to excuse himself.
“Understood, if anything comes up please call for me.”,
Amethyst-100 said and left. While looking at her retreating figure, Reinhardt felt a bit interested in Jin’s golems that behaved entirely like humans.
“I want to absolutely never make enemies of Jin.”
Those were Reinhardt’s honest feelings.
＊ ＊ ＊
“…It’s a story like that.”
Meanwhile, in his room, Jin told Reiko about the legend he heard from Reinhardt.
“I’m very sorry, but I haven’t heard of such a story.”
Reiko said she doesn’t know of it either.
Then, was it a legend that was known only in some places?
“If I’ve got a chance to hear about it, I’d like to hear about it in more detail.”
He had learned recently from Reinhardt that the common knowledge was that the world was round, but that such an old legend would tell of another world beyond the sun, or rather, in space, there was no way he wouldn’t be interested.
“Maybe a long time ago people flew in the air.”
Jin muttered.
If one day he could go to space, he would try it, Jin thought while remembering the picture books and television clips he had seen as a child.