Chapter 42

After that, Carnelia showed me the book she had been holding so carefully.

"Here. It's a fairy. ...Right?"

As I peered at the page she pointed to, ...there was a drawing of a creature that looked like a boy and a girl with wings, lying on flowers.

"Sure enough, it's a perfect match!"

"...Probably, the scale is different to begin with..."

I don't think this 'fairy' creature, as it seems, could be over 160 cm tall unless the flowers depicted alongside it in the encyclopedia are 2 meters in diameter.

But... when you think about it, indeed, it does look a little bit like me... maybe. Yeah, if you look at it that way, the girl in the encyclopedia has blonde curly hair, and the boy has black hair. So, that's the extent of it.

...As I stared at the encyclopedia, Laocles peeked over from the side.

Then, after staring at the encyclopedia, Laocles glanced at me, then back at the encyclopedia, and then at me again.

"...Do they look alike?"

"...Yeah."

Laocles's reaction was something like that. Yeah. ...Huh? They look alike?

"Besides fairies, there are other creatures that look like Togo!"

Then Carnelia flipped through the pages of the encyclopedia and showed me another one.

"Look! This drawing of a spirit looks just like Togo!"

The opened page of the encyclopedia was about 'spirits.' There were various forms depicted.

A beautiful woman holding a staff, an old man, a pure white deer, a vague ball of light. So, spirits come in many forms, as Fei mentioned when we first met.

Among them, Carnelia pointed to a spirit depicted as a boy with the lower half of his body submerged in a spring.

"See! It's a perfect match!"

...A perfect match?

Looking at the 'spirit' in the encyclopedia, wearing white clothes and smiling as if turning around, I don't think it looks like me at all...

Laocles started looking back and forth between me and the encyclopedia again. Then, for some reason, he nodded a few times slowly and stepped back.

"...Does this look alike?"

"...Yeah."

"Eh... um, where...?"

"The atmosphere, maybe?"

Yeah... I feel a bit complicated. The part about being submerged in a spring does match, but when you say 'atmosphere'...

"Can I look at other pages?"

"Sure. But be careful. It's an old book, so it's easy to tear. This is my treasure."

"Okay, I'll be careful."

After borrowing the encyclopedia from Carnelia, I started flipping through the pages.

...There were various creatures depicted. Well, some of them were hard to identify as creatures. Like a shell with horns, or something that looked like a human soul.

As I flipped through the pages, there were also pages about Pegasus and unicorns. They almost took up a whole spread, so they must be popular creatures.

"Pegasus and unicorn! I love these! They're so beautiful."

It seems Carnelia also likes horses. Indeed, they are friendly and cute.

"Long ago, there were creatures with both horns and wings. Look."

Then Carnelia pointed to the text in the corner of that page. Of course, I couldn't read it, but I could recognize the small drawing next to it.

"It's called an Alicorn."

At the tip of Carnelia's slender finger was a horse with both a horn and wings. It looked like a combination of a Pegasus and a unicorn, but its body was a bit larger, and its mane and tail seemed to glow like lightning. Since it's an old drawing, the details are unclear.

"It's a messenger of the gods, carrying lightning. ...After seeing this encyclopedia, I'm no longer afraid of thunder. Because this creature must be carrying the lightning, right? So, I'm not afraid!"

"I see."

While listening to Carnelia's enthusiastic explanation, I thought I would look for a horse with both a horn and wings when I return to the forest. Maybe there's one mixed in there.

"I also like this one."

Then Carnelia showed me another page. It seemed to be one of her favorites. The way the page was opened was different from the others, as if she had looked at it many times.

"All the creatures depicted here are legendary. They no longer exist."

There was also a red dragon. ...However, it looked more ferocious than the red dragon at Fei's place. It didn't have such a friendly face.

Other creatures depicted included the Alicorn, a woman with a snake's lower body and a dragon's wings with gemstone eyes, an orange bird like fire, a long, snake-like dragon, and a fluffy-looking dragon with a vacant expression... various kinds.

"...Wow."

This encyclopedia was very fascinating. It was fun just to look at. To me, it was a collection of completely fictional creatures, but to the people in this world, it was a record of things that 'once existed.' Thinking about it that way made me feel a bit strange.

"Right? I love this book."

Carnelia smiled and then said a bit sadly,

"I wish I had been born earlier. Then I might have met these creatures. I want to play in the water with the Veeble."

"That sounds nice. ...Ah, I want to touch this fluffy one."

"Kesaran Pasaran! Me too! I want to touch it! And I want to race with the Carbuncle!"

"That one looks fast."

"Yes! It must be!"

And then, "And... at night, I want to sleep in a phoenix feather blanket!"

Meeting and interacting with creatures I've never seen before. Yeah, I think it would be fun. Just talking about it makes me a bit excited.

Especially, the phoenix feather blanket... I think it would be nice in the cold. It looks warm.

...But, I've slept in a horse blanket before, and it was a bit hot. So, maybe this phoenix feather blanket would also be too hot and uncomfortable to sleep in?

"...And, I want to ride a phoenix and leave home."

While I was thinking about the phoenix blanket, Carnelia suddenly said something like that.

"...A walk?"

"No. Running away. Shippo!"

Running away, such a difficult word to know, I thought while listening...

"I'm engaged to be married."

A shocking statement followed.

"...What?"

"The groom is 30 years older than me. He will be 46 when I turn 16."

"Uh..."

I didn't know what to say about this sudden topic.

It's not like I'm getting married now, and it's not like he's 30 years older.

"But, it's also a 'Hoken.' A marriage that doesn't matter, so it's depressing, isn't it?"

A marriage that doesn't matter...? A 9-year-old girl and a 30-year-older man in a marriage that doesn't matter...? I really don't know what to say...

Not just me, but Laocles also couldn't say anything. When I tried to seek help, he deliberately avoided my gaze. Yeah...

Carnelia looked at us and smiled a bit.

"Sorry. It must be confusing to hear this. ...Interia had the same expression."

"...Yeah."

Laocles said with a very serious face. Interia must have had a similar expression.

"But, there's a chance that the 'meaningless' marriage might not happen."

Then Carnelia changed her expression and smiled.

"If Santos can win the princess's heart, it might not happen, they say."

"Princess?"

"Yes. The princess of this country. There's a party next month, where the princess will look for a fiancé. If Santos can win her heart, the Gioren family will be safe. Santos and my father are very enthusiastic about it, 'for the honor of the Gioren family.' They won't tell me what they're doing, though."

Ah... So that's why they're so anxious. They wanted a creature like a red dragon to prepare for the party next month.

Is a red dragon such an amazing creature?

...Before that, what about the Redgard family? Did they intend to solve everything with violent methods? For example, 'if we level everything, it won't matter anymore' kind of attitude.

If not, maybe winning the princess's heart would nullify the attack on the Redgard family, or something like that? The king would erase the crime because the princess is getting married, or something? But, is that even possible? If it is, the king or the princess herself must really want a red dragon or a red dragon-like creature...

...Anyway, the more I think about it, the more I feel I shouldn't give the red dragon to Santos.

But... if Santos gets a summoned creature and doesn't win the princess's heart, Carnelia will have to marry a 30-year-older man.

...Hmm.

After that, we looked at the encyclopedia a bit more.

But eventually, Carnelia started yawning, so we decided to end it.

"Then, good night."

"Yes. Good night, Togo. ...Um, can you come again tomorrow?"

At the doorway, Carnelia asked with a slightly worried look.

"Sure. Let's chat again."

I agreed without hesitation, hoping she would have a bit of a good time.

"Really!? Wow, thank you! ...Then, see you tomorrow!"

"Sure. See you tomorrow."

Carnelia waved happily, opened the door, and went out.

As I saw her off... I started to worry again.

What should I do about this, I wondered.

"Are you not going to sleep again?"

"Yeah."

Then I started facing the notebook again.

But this time, the pencil was moving quickly.