[If You Wish It] Part 5

Since 10 April is Eugeo's birthday, I thought it was only fitting to release the actual cake chapter of the series that first celebrated Eugeo's birthday on this very day. Or at least that was the plan I came up on the spot earlier this week, but due to all the sudden bombshell announcements yesterday and today, along with sudden uni distractions, I didn't quite make it in time with this part, despite going into overdrive today by translating more pages than my maximum sane quota... partially because I had to deal with Cardinal's archaic speech style and Kirito's hodgepodge speech style in a single chapter. But this blog is technically set to UTC time, so I technically did still make it, right?

Anyway, as those who've seen the illustration have already surmised, this time the cake party has a surprise development. And Kirito being Kirito and screwing something up, like always. At least we get to see Quin-chan's dragon and Eugeo hitting it up with the ladies. Only one part remains, so stay tuned (for the end cliffhanger)!

-Gsimenas

Credits

Raws: Celest
Translation: Gsimenas
Editing: Gsimenas
Proofreading: JengKay


Translation (choice/nuance) comments:

• Cardinal speaks with archaic grammatical structures and is supposed to sound like an old sage in a young girl's body. So, to account for this, I tried to use archaic and Shakespearean words in her speech, and switched around the word order for it to sound odd. I'm not exactly an expert in archaic English, so please don't expect an accurate depiction of Shakespearean English in my amateurish attempts. I used the following sources for some archaic words: https://learn.lexiconic.net/shakewords.htm; https://www.lexico.com/en/explore/archaic-words.
• Alice usually speaks in the polite tone (teineigo) with everyone. But when speaking to Quinella, she ups her game by going into humble tone (謙譲語, kenjougo), an even more polite tone where she starts using extra polite synonyms and grammatical forms for a lot of words (e.g., using おる (oru) for ある (aru, "to be"); 伺う (ukagau) for 聞く (kiku "ask") and its derivative forms; adding になる (ni naru) to verb stems to make verbs sound extra formal).
• All instances of the word "dragon" use the word 飛竜 (hiryuu, "flying dragon") in the original text. I omitted the "flying" part because a non-flying dragon would just be a lizard or something in the West. And the anime sure portrays the UW dragons as regular Westernish dragons, rather than a wyvern or something, so I'm not sure what the "flying" bit is supposed to achieve.
• Mithcan is probably derived from the word "mikan" (mandarin orange). I use courier font for it as its name is in katakana.
• Kirito tends to use casual speech, instead of the polite tone, even with Alice, despite her being his senior. This trait of his is what irks her, until she just gives up on him.
• With Quinella, Kirito's speech becomes one big mess. Basically, he continues speaking in his usual casual tone, but then lazily adds a "desu" at the end to make it sound more formal, instead of using proper polite tone. To account for this, I used a lot of "ma'am"s where he suddenly remembered to at least pretend to be formal. However, that's just the tip of the iceberg. In the end, he starts mixing proper polite tone with his pseudo-polite tone, and even casual tone with colloquialisms. So, I had to emphasise BOTH the polite bits and the too-casual-for-comfort bits... in the same sentence, so don't be surprised by the hodgepodge that is his sentences.
• In one instance, Kirito seems to have confused himself and had a brainfart with double negatives. Basically, he kept using different forms of the same word numerous times in the same sentence until he somehow screwed up his grammar and ended up answering a "to be or not to be" question as "to be or not to not be". Or it could have been a typo on Kawahara's part, if he was the one who got confused.
• I went with Tap's translation of Scheta/Sheyta's name, because I feel that it represents the pronunciation more accurately.

Markup explanation:

• Itallics mark text that was written in katakana English (I only highlighted the cases where the author uses both English and actual Japanese equivalents for the same thing, or when I needed to emphasise that an English word is used there).
• Courier font indicates that the original word was written in kana for emphasis (when such a word usually isn't written in kana)
• Comic sans indicates emphasis added by myself when I needed to stress something to get the meaning across properly.
• Single quotation marks (') are quotes that weren't in the original text but were added for the convenience of English speakers to mark implied quotations. I used it mostly to separate Kirito's internal monologue from his narration, as well as mark sound effects and so on. Actual dialogue lines or quotations (with 「」 punctuation marks) within a narration line are indicated with the usual double (") quotation marks.

Part 4

Index

Part 6

5

The rest day on the 17th Day of the 4th Month, at exactly 12 o'clock.

The second tea party was held at the 《Morningstar Watchtower》 on the 95th floor of the Central Cathedral.

The cast in attendance was the same as last time. Namely, me, Eugeo, Alice, Scheta-sensei, Elevating Operator-san, Charlotte, as well as Supreme Priest Administrator and Sage Cardinal. I was so sure that Knight Commander Bercouli would also be attending, but I couldn't see him anywhere at the present moment.

Honestly, I'm actually thankful that the Knight Commander wasn't here. After all, holding an audience for the first time in a week, the Supreme Priest was, as usual, giving off an aura so brutally cold that it I felt as if my Life was going down just by meeting her gaze; if the Knight Commander were to be in attendance on top of that, 'mental fatigue' would become too mild of a description for my sorry state.

Today, Eugeo prepared some black tea, while I placed the same cake preservation box I had used the previous week onto the table. When I carefully removed the silver cover, baked cheesecake final version No. 1 showed up from inside. The moment they laid eyes on it, Administrator let out a "Hmm", while Cardinal let out a "Hooh". 'Well since I succeeded in drawing their attention, that's one stage cleared', I secretly let out a sigh of relief.

During yesterday's taste-testing, while Bercouli only gulped down his cake while saying stuff like "Why ain't this simply scrumptious", Alice actually offered an opinion that was worth listening to. According to her, the taste itself was quite pleasant, but a cause for concern was the fact that its appearance was even duller than that of the shortcake——or so she said. Since Eugeo had told me the same thing before, I poured an ample amount of whipped cream and cheese cream in alternation on the surface of final version No.1. Once again finding it difficult to slice the cake cleanly, I turned to Scheta-sensei and pushed the cake towards her a bit.

"Umm, Sensei, eight slices please……"

"……Why do I get the feeling that I'm being forced to do this every week."

Despite what she said, Scheta-sensei drew out her Black Lily Sword upon standing up and stabilised her breathing for a while, before putting her ultrafine-ultrathin blade to work. I couldn't see the cuts at all this time as well, but when the Supreme Priest flexed one of her slender fingers, the cake split into eight pieces through Incarnation power, before flying through the air until each of the pieces landed in front of one of the people at the table.

"H…… here you are, enjoy your meal."

Once I finished the phrase with cold sweat welling up on my back, Administrator and Cardinal were the first to take their forks into their hands and cut off the tip of their cheesecakes. They then put it into their mouths, chewed twice or thrice——

!!!

I could feel the exclamation marks rising up above their heads. And it couldn't have been just an illusion that there was one more "!" in there than last time. Both of them closed their eyes and faintly raised their heads, immersing themselves into the aftertaste.

Just when the two opened their eyes and took a sip of the black tea, the rest of the participants at the event used this chance to take their own forks. Although Alice and Charlotte had already tasted the prototype version, the final version had more upgrades than just the decorating cream. Seeking a more rich flavour, I've limited the flour mixed into the dough as much as I could, while in turn increasing the amount of fresh cheese in it as much as I could.

For a while, all six of the women continued working their forks and mouths in silence. The first to utter something was, surprisingly, the Elevating Operator.

"……Aww, it's nearly all gone……"

As she muttered this in sorrow, there was indeed but one last bite left on her plate. The same applied to Administrator and the others. This time, Eugeo and I ate our own shares as well, thus we had nothing left to give away.

"'Tis naught but a fact of life that the more thou eateth, the less of it remaineth."

Said Cardinal as she stabbed her last piece with her fork.

"'Tis futile be to lamenteth and denyeth that which naught but most obvious course of things be. All things in life value hast precisely because cometh all to an end one day."

Just then, on the opposite side of the long table, Administrator let out her voice in a provocative tone.

"Oh my, I'll be having none of that, thank you very much. Overturning what's considered to be the natural course of things is the very reason why I exist."

"If that the case be, what planeth thou dost? Will thou the structure of this cheesecake analyseth and with Arts reproduceth? Doing so would by no means guarantee a yield of the same taste; 'tis be most unlike thou to misprision a fact as simple as this."

"Perhaps. But I am the ruler of the Human Empire, you know. I have the right to make the impossible possible.

Upon arrogantly declaring thus, the Supreme Priest brought the final piece that remained on her own plate to her mouth and slowly savoured the taste, before looking at me. Sticking out her now-empty plate, she gave me her order.

"Thirty-three, seconds."

I glanced at Alice, giving her my thanks in my mind.

At the end of yesterday's taste-testing, Alice had approached me and whispered. 'This cheesecake is indeed delicious. Too delicious, in fact. And that's precisely why it may become a perilous pitfall'——

"Right away, Supreme Priest-sama."

Responding as such, I turned to the silver wagon where I had been keeping the cake preservation box, took out a new box from the lower tray, and brought it over to the table.

The moment when a second full cheesecake made its appearance, Cardinal's eyes beyond her round glasses went wide open as she gave a strained smile in exasperation, the Elevating Operator firmly clasped her two small hands into fists, while Administrator let out a laugh, "Ahaha, nice one."


The Supreme Priest, seemingly satisfied after eating a second slice of the cheesecake, exchanged information with Cardinal, who also ate another slice despite all her philosophising earlier, regarding the 《Great Eastern Gate》 while drinking cofil tea after their dessert. The moment the tea party finished up at exactly one o'clock in the afternoon and Cardinal left for the Library Room, Eugeo and I both breathed a sigh in relief. Although this meant that we've earned ourselves another week of time, we'll have to make another new cake——which would be apple tarts according to my plans, for next week. The issue was whether tarts with apple amani⁽¹⁾ existed in this world as well. The Supreme Priest probably won't be satisfied by anything that's not out of this world.

As I encouraged myself, 'More days of experimentation await starting tomorrow, wait no, make that tonight……'

The Supreme Priest, who had been about to head to the stairs leading to the upper floors, suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned around.

"Thirty-two, Thirty-three. We're about to head out now, so go get ready."

"Hah!?"

The one who raised her voice was neither me, nor Eugeo, but Alice instead.

"S……Supreme Priest-sama, pray tell me you do not really intend to set forth on an outing with these two!?"

"Yes I am, Alice-chan."

"That is most perilous! It has been no more than half a month since they were appointed to the position of apprentice knights; it is more than evident that they are inadequate to serve as your escort alone!"

'Hey, what is that supposed to mean', I thought for a moment, but taking the time to consider things rationally, I realised that she was absolutely right. Actually, the only human capable of opposing Administrator is Cardinal; is there any need for an escort when the two of them have formed a truce?

Despite my thoughts on the matter, the Supreme Priest responded, "Well, guess you do have a point", with a slight tilt of her head, before immediately following up.

"Well then, Alice-chan, you come too. Gather at the Dragon Landing Field in thirty minutes…… at half past one o'clock, okay."

"Hah…… m-me, as well?"

"That's right."

With that assertion, even Alice appeared to be unable to offer any objections. With a clatter, she gave a knight's salute and repeated her orders.

"Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty hereby humbly accepts the duty of escorting the Esteemed Supreme Priest. I shall be arriving at the Dragon Landing Field in thirty minutes with my dragon. If you will excuse me!"

With a wave of her blue mantle, she headed for the descending stairs and disappeared from sight in a flash.

After standing dumbstruck for a while, I timidly posed a question for the Supreme Priest.

"Umm, we do not have dragons though……"

"I know that. Just get ready as well and come to the Landing Field. If you're late, I'll be turning you into carrots, you hear."

"Y…… yes ma'am!"

Our voices synchronised, Eugeo and I dashed towards the descending stairs.

Having had the Elevating Operator, who had followed after us, take us down to the fiftieth floor and then having run down the Grand Stairs to the twenty-eighth floor where we returned to our rooms, we quickly began preparing for the outing. Though, all we did was stuff our belt pouch with stuff like handkerchiefs, candy, and catalysts sets, as well as equipping our beloved swords at our left hips, and that made up the entirety of our light packing; we can't possibly be heading out on a trip that takes multiple days, right?

We finished our commute and packing in fifteen minutes, thus we took a breather for a moment. The Dragon Landing Field was just two floors above us on the thirtieth floor, thus we'd have more than enough time to get there if we left in another five minutes after a break.

"……It's great that they liked the cheesecake, huh, Kirito."

Said Eugeo with a smile, thus I stuck out my right fist as I replied.

"That's thanks to you helping me out, Eugeo. It was your idea to pour two types of creams on top, after all."

"Oh, no…… I just figured that gently whipped fresh cream was really delicious, so adding it to the cheesecake would make everyone happy."

Giving me a fistbump, Eugeo smiled bashfully.

"Well then, let's add plenty of it on the apple tarts we're making next week. Have any other requests?"

"Hmm, let's see, I'd like to figure out what tea goes best with the cake. Let's look up what tea goes best with apple tarts."

"Your wish is my command."

When I gave a deep theatrical bow, Eugeo also played along, "I leave it to your discretion.", and both of us burst into laughter a moment later. We still had plenty of difficulties in store until we can achieve our goal, but even so, I believed without a single doubt that we'd be able to surpass any hurdle that came at us if our days continued like this.


Stepping out of the room at around twenty minutes past one, we headed for the thirtieth floor.

The Dragon Landing Field that we visited for the first time was a facility far larger in scale than I had imagined. There were two wide runways at the centre of the floor, with a large door that opened vertically erected on the northern and southern walls at their ends. There were several dragon standby booths erected to the sides; Alice and her riding dragon Amayori were already at one of them.

Approaching them in a trot, I accosted Alice as she was giving feed to her dragon.

"S'ry to keep ya waitin'. What do dragons eat?"

"……Like I said, you are so……"

Alice began to say with a scowl, but then gave a sigh as she continued.

"Oh, whatever. Dragons generally eat beast meat, though individual preferences can vary greatly. This little one prefers fish and fruit."

Indeed, Alice was currently giving it a large citrus fruit. The dragon took the handball-sized orange fruit whole from Alice's hands and crunched on it noisily.

"Could you tell me what this fruit is called?

When Eugeo asked his question with proper manners, Alice gave him an expression clearly softer than the one she had given me, before answering.

"It's a 《mithcan》 from the eastern empire."

"Is it…… something that humans can eat as well?"

"Of course. Peeling it is a lot of work, but it is delicious."

Hearing this conversation, I stepped away from the two of them while eliminating my presence. I did want to support Eugeo's efforts to forge a new relationship with Knight Alice from the bottom of my heart. However, there was also a concern I haven't told him about. Namely, if his wish were to be granted and the day when Alice Zuberg's memories were restored through 《reverse synthesis》 were to come…… the current Knight Alice's memories would then likely be——

An abrupt, loud rustling sound ringing out behind me interrupted my thoughts.

When I turned around, I saw a huge silhouette sliding into the Landing Field from the northern aperture. It was a new dragon. Its body was coloured in a sparkling platinum silver; the body was larger to some extent than even Amayori's, but seeing as it was long, slender, well-proportioned and elegant, I couldn't feel any sluggishness from it at all. The horns growing on both sides of its head were nearly two metres long, while its eyes were as violet as the evening sky.

'Toh toh', the dragon continued running along the runway until it stopped just before us, where the rider gently jumped off from the saddle. Wearing a minimum amount of travelling gear atop her pure white dress, the person was none other than Supreme Priest Administrator.

Reflexively giving a knight's salute, Alice was unable to hide the surprise in her voice.

"S-Supreme Priest…… you have awakened Yukiori?"

"That's right. This little one would probably like to fly through the skies too every once in a while, after all."

With a nod, Administrator gently stroked the silver dragon's lower jaw. The dragon responded, "Korururu……", in a throaty voice that sounded like a woodwind instrument.

I didn't really get what the word 'awakened' was supposed to mean, but neither did I have the time to ask. Once the Supreme Priest gave merely three summer mandarins—— I mean, three mithcans to the dragon named Yukiori, she once again returned to the saddle with a motion that defied gravity.

"Kirito, you get on behind me. Eugeo, you go on Alice's dragon."

"Heeh?"

Although I subconsciously let out a strange sound, it was evident that this is how things would turn out, seeing as I hadn't been granted a dragon of my own. Seeing as I might get tied up with a rope and forced to dangle from the legs down if I spent too much time dawdling and didn't get onto the saddle, I replied, "Y-yes ma'am!", and climbed up to Yukiori's back. Luckily, the saddle was tandem-style with plenty of room, so even when I sat down in the backseat, I didn't have close contact with the Supreme Priest.

When I settled down in the saddle that came with a soft cushion and looked to the right after letting out a small sigh, I saw that Eugeo had also just got behind Alice on their saddle. Now that I think about it, seeing as the dragons were utterly unfazed by the fact that they were carrying two people plus two Divine Object-class swords, their endurance sure was something.

When Yukiori got on the left runway while Amayori got on the right one, the southern large door slowly began opening. Since it wasn't even two o'clock in the afternoon yet, the spring sky was still bright. Once the Supreme Priest gave a light snap of the thin leather reins, Yukiori began running lightly. Slightly falling behind, Amayori followed suit. The runway ended in a flash and the two dragons launched out of the landing platform on the thirtieth floor of the Cathedral into the sky with great force. Their extended wings caught the wind, allowing their huge bodies to rise.

Although this was, of course, my first time flying through the sky on a dragon, the fact that I didn't feel any fear surprised even myself. Perhaps it was because I had my fair share of flying through the sky in ALO, or perhaps it was because Yukiori's flight was so smooth that it felt like we were gliding. The dragon took a turn to the left in the skies above the Cathedral front yard, then flew over the marble wall and entered the urban area of East Centoria. Although we were close to two hundred metres above ground, I could clearly see the adults standing still on the main street as they looked up at us, as well as children attempting to catch up to us by running. I felt the urge to wave my hand at them, but I resisted it as I had a feeling I'd be scolded.

Instead, I glanced to the left behind us and saw that Amayori was following us perfectly. Alice was, of course, calmly holding the reins, but Eugeo behind her, on the other hand, looked more or less pale. There was no doubt that he, for one, was experiencing flight through the sky for the first time in his life.

I was worried that he would get airplane sickness, I mean, dragon sickness and puke on Alice's mantle, but I couldn't call out to him at this range. As I was about to at least send my partner a "Hang in there!" through Incarnation——

"Thirty-three, hold the reins."

The Supreme Priest sitting in the front seat gave out this order all of a sudden and actually passed on the reins. Although I grabbed them in panic, I had no idea how to use them.

"U-umm, I don't really know how to fly a dragon, ma'am!"

"Just holding the reins is enough. Yukiori is clever, so it'll read the flow of the wind and clouds and fly on its own for you."

"Ha-haah…… Wait, in the first place, where are we even going, ma'am……?"

Just then, Administrator responded in a voice that felt like she was exasperated from the bottom of her heart.

"Ain't it obvious, the 《Great Eastern Gate》, of course."

"Huh…… WHAA!?"

"Why are you so surprised, I wonder. Weren't you the one who instigated that shrimpie into forming a truce with me?"

"H-how is that relevant here……?"

"It's your fault that I froze the 《Mechanical Sword Soldier Project》 and got stuck with continuously repairing the Great Gate. Isn't it only natural that I have you see with your own eyes how much effort it costs me?"

Now that she mentioned it, it does feel only natural, I guess. Though, as I recall, the Great Eastern Gate should be located at the End Mountains; doesn't that mean that it's as far away from here as Rulid Village?

"E-ehm, I do believe that you have a point there but…… ain't the Great Gate over seven hundred kilors away from Centoria……?"

"That's right."

"If that's the case, we won't reach it soon even with a dragon, right, ma'am……?"

"That's right."

Having confirmed my suspicions like it was no big deal, Administrator continued the conversation while reclining on the small backrest of the front seat.

"Well, if we took the normal flight route, it would take seven hours for us to get there even if we went at a hundred kilors per hour. But rest easy, because not so far away in Easta, shrimpie should have set up a 《door》that even a dragon can pass through."

Easta was probably referring to the Eastabarieth East Empire. And as for the 《door》, I guess it's referring to the teleport door that had been used to transport me and Eugeo from the Cathedral's rose garden into the Great Library Room two weeks ago.

"So, if we were to use that door, we could get ourselves transported to the Great Eastern Gate in an instant, ma'am?"

"Right. It peeves me to admit this, but in terms of transportation arts research, it seems that shrimpie is just the teeniest bit more knowledgeable in the field than I am, so I left setting those up to her. Of course, it's not like I couldn't make them myself, you hear? It's just that it'd be a pain in the ass, since you need to recite an idiotically long rite for it."

"I-I see…… and so, where is the door……"

"She said it was at the peak of Mount Shunca, so it's about a one hour flight away from here. Apprentice knights normally wouldn't get to fly on top of a dragon…… much less Yukiori, the oldest and strongest of them all in this world, so be sure to take your time savouring this moment."

"Y-yes, ma'am……"

Nodding, I once again looked down at the ground. The dragon had already left East Centoria's urban area and I could now see vast wheat fields——wait no, make that paddy fields. The still-small seedlings had just barely sprouted, but come autumn and the whole field will probably bear golden rice ears.

When I once again looked at Amayori, I saw that Eugeo, having finally got used to flying, was now having some sort of conversation with Alice. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it seemed he was doing his best as usual. Now that I think back upon it, I feel that it took him less time to break the ice with his valet Tiese than it took me to break the ice with Ronye, thus having contact with girls may, unexpectedly, not be one of his weak points.

However——

As I contemplated earlier, Eugeo's endeavours to close the distance between him and Knight Alice may one day end up entirely wasted.

"……Synthesising, huh……"

The moment I muttered that word unconsciously, a jolt ran through Administrator's back in the front seat. Before I even had the time to think "Oh shit", the Supreme Priest turned around, her silver eyes coldly piercing my eyes.

"……So shrimpie told you something she shouldn't have, I see. So then, how much do you know about the Synthesis Ritual?"

"Ehm…… umm……"

I gulped, but now that it's come to this, my only choice was to answer truthfully.

"……Taking out a 《memory fragment》 from the knights, sealing their memories before becoming knights and implanting a 《Piety Module》 in their place to enforce loyalty to the Axiom Church and the Esteemed Supreme Priest…… that's what constitutes a 《Synthesis Ritual》 , I was told."

"That's about right…… So? What do you want to say to me, Kirito Synthesis Thirty-three?"

"Eh…...mm…… if I am honest, you wouldn't turn me into a plate or a carrot, would you……?"

"Of course not, probably."

"Th-then in that case, allow me to say it…… setting aside the pros and cons of synthesising, I do believe that the 《Integrity Knights have been summoned from the Celestial World》 thing is a bit nonsensical……"

When I mustered the courage to say that, Administrator once again turned around and looked at me with an even more chilly glare.

"What do you mean, nonsensical?"

"Well, ya know, basically all of the knights are actually either the winners of the Four Empires Unification Tournament like us, or criminals that violated the Taboo Index, is it not so? So, you take them and seal their memories by synthesising them, and then give them new memories that they've been summoned from the Celestial World…… Ain't that going to mean that every time you synthesise a single person, there'd be a need to adjust the memories of all the knights that had contact with this knight, ma'am? For example, if Eugeo and I were to be synthesised and become knights proper, you would need to rewrite the memories of Alice and Scheta-sensei while you're at it or questions would arise, would you not……?"

"They do arise. Actually, since that's exactly what I'm doing, it happens every time."

Administrator responded in a somewhat sulky voice. Upon turning back to the front, she thrust up her fists into the sky all of a sudden, before shouting the following.

"It's a pain in the ass; simply absurd! But what choice do I have; that's the story I went with at the beginning, after all! As if I can just say 'Oh, you guys were actually people from the Human Empire all along' now of all times!"

"Th…… then, how about you at the very least give up on it hereafter; on synthesising, I mean, ma'am? If you make us and the other knights 'Appointed Knights' rather than 'Summoned Knights', you would no longer need to adjust the memories of all the knights each time, woul-……."

"Hey, you're just saying all that because you don't want to be synthesised yourself. I'll have you know that the 《Synthesis》 that is your middle name implies a person who's been synthesised, you hear. I should have told you this when we first met; 'Do your best so that those names come true', I said."

"Well, ya know, if you ask me whether I want to be synthesised, or whether I don't want to be not synthesised, I would choose 'I don't want to be synthesised'."

"In that case, there's only one way to achieve that. Just like you had me form a truce with Cardinal, find a way to do something about the Dark Territory invasion. The Integrity Knights exist for two reasons…… the first is to kill Cardinal, the other is to repel the forces of darkness. If both of these reasons ceased to exist, I'd have no need to increase the number of knights anymore. Even I feel a few regrets about it; if I were to synthesise you, I'd probably lose your ability to make all those cakes too, after all."

Once she declared all of this in one go while facing forward, Administrator once again reclined on the backrest.

"……I'm going to sleep for awhile. Wake me up when we reach Mount Shunca."

——'Um, I don't exactly know what that mountain looks like though, ma'am.'

Was what I was about to say, but I closed my mouth just as I opened it. Instead, I slackened my hold of the reins a bit, entrusting Yukiori with figuring out the destination.

Part 4

Index

Part 6

Notes

1. ^ Amani (甘煮, lit. sweet-boiled/cooked) is a term for food that has been dipped into a sweet sauce of soy sauce, sugar and mirin before being cooked.