18-The place where it started

This was the second time he'd been to Norn's workplace.

The first time was back when he'd first arrived in this world.

At that time, he'd been feeling under the weather because of the nauseating travel through the gate, plus the worries and expectations he had towards his new life. So he couldn't really remember what the inside of the building looked like. Had it really looked this sad?

It was a big and impressive stone building. Passing through the entrance, you were greeted by a spacious hall. In front was the reception area. Despite the numerous chairs lined up, there was only a single person sitting there.

He looked extremely bored, his chin resting on one hand while the other was writing something on a notebook.

This idle and desolate-looking building used to be a bustling place ten years ago, when a lot of people came requesting fruit from the trees of life.

Happy couples hoping for children would have come here to the reception area, where they would be watched over by a staff member as they ate the fruit. Now, you couldn't see such a scene anymore.

Still, the fact that this place still existed meant that the people of this world hadn't given up yet.

They still had the hope that someday, the trees of life might bear fruit once again. That someday, they might find something that could replace the trees of life.

Norn was going to marry Couge so he wouldn't be capable of bearing a child. But he dreamed of holding his older sister's child, and that was why he'd applied for a job here, he'd said.

When the gate to another world had appeared in the basement, it had enlivened the place, energizing their hope for the future. However, Norn had then sadly murmured, when the gate disappeared, the place returned to its gloomy atmosphere. The memory of that conversation pained my heart.

I sat down on a chair while Couge had the receptionist call Norn, and thought back to the time I came through the gate.

This place was where my new life had started.

Though I'd understood Norn's explanation, the truth was, there was a part of me that still felt that it wasn't real.

"I wonder if they'll let me see the room where the gate was," I murmured.

Maybe they'd made a mistake and the gate hadn't actually disappeared. Maybe if I checked, the gate would have come back. Such thoughts filled my mind.

Norn came out of a door further into the room. "Couge, Shinobu!!"

"Here, Norn. A present!!"

I waved the leaf-wrapped ravi skewers at him. Norn, who'd been exchanging a few words with Couge, brightened into a smile.

He really loved ravi meat, huh. As Pyonkichi's owner, I felt a bit conflicted.

Couge kissed the happy-looking Norn's cheek. For someone like me who wasn't used to such a western greeting, watching it was embarrassing. As usual, the two of them really got along well.

As Couge wrapped an arm around Norn's shoulders, I handed the ravi skewers to him. Norn pulled the package close and breathed in the scent of it, and said with a big smile, "Did you buy me ravi skewers? Thank you, I'll eat these for lunch."

I said, "We saw someone near the market preparing to build a house. When the two of you get married, will you also build your own house?"

If so, then Couge had to work hard. I didn't know how much it cost to build a house here, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't exactly be cheap.

"No. Since my dad's gone, we're planning for Norn to move in with me," Couge replied.

"Is that so? And here I was thinking of lending a hand with building the house."

If I used my cheat skill to ask the plants not to grow, I think it would be far more effective than sprinkling some medicine.

Norn interjected, "Either way, you two are being far too hasty. That's still far into the future."

Huh? But Couge said it was time for him to think about it seriously. That was why he'd thought about selling sandwiches: so he could save money for the marriage.

This world also had a custom much like wedding rings, where the married couple wore matching accessories. Couge had wanted to prepare a pair for him and Norn, but since he'd been penniless until recently, he hadn't been able to buy them.

I snuck a glance at Couge, who was standing behind Norn. He had a finger to his lips in a 'shh' gesture, a panicked look on his face.

Oh, the gesture for keeping things quiet was the same for this world.

So he was preparing for the marriage while keeping it a secret from Norn? I guess he planned to surprise him. In that case, I'll help him out.

For now, I needed to change the subject.

"Umm, Norn. I have a favor to ask. Can you show me the room where the gate was?"

"The gate room...?" Norn's face fell. "I'm sorry. That room is barred."

Ahh, what should I do?

I just wanted to change the subject, I didn't want to make him sad!

I didn't want to bring up the matter about the gate again, I just wondered if I could take a look.

Now I've done it, I thought. I quickly made an excuse. "Oh no, it's fine. I just wondered how it looked."

"It's fine, you can show him the room."

From behind Norn, Firks-sama appeared, along with a stream of knights following him.

"Good morning, Firks-sama!" I greeted.

"Mm," Firks-sama nodded in reply. Then he told the receptionist, "You, bring me the key to the basement."

Firks-sama turned back to me. "Norn and I need to head to a meeting now. I'll leave Krish here to keep you company. You're fine with that, right Krish?"

"Yes."

I was glad to be able to see the room, but wasn't Krish-san busy? He was always on his horse rushing up and down the road by my house everyday.

"Is it really alright? You don't need to run any errands for Firks-sama today?"

"'Today'?" Firks-sama repeated.

"Haven't you been asking him to run errands everyday for the past few days? He always rushes by my house on his horse and then hurries back, so you have him doing something important, right?"

Firks-sama glanced to Krish-san who was standing to his right. "I see," he muttered lowly, crossing his arms and nodding to himself. The corner of his lips lifted up into a smirk.

I worried. Had I said something strange?

"No need to be concerned. I don't have an errand for Krish today. But I might need to ask him to do something everyday starting tomorrow. Right, Krish?"

".................."

Firks-sama clapped a hand on Krish-san's back, looking amused, but Krish-san just stood there unmoving and didn't say anything.

Just like back when we'd first met, he was as still and quiet as a statue.

...There was someone inside that armor, right?

Firks-sama and Norn left unhurriedly for the meeting. In that meeting, they were apparently going to continue discussing what they were going to do now that the gate which they had been hoping to use as an alternative to the trees of life had disappeared.

They also needed to plan for Firks-sama's next trip, since his most recent one hadn't acquired any results. It seemed they were going to be busy for a while.

After we separated from Norn, Krish-san led me to the basement. Couge came with me too. It seems it was his first time coming down here, as he was looking around curiously.

It was cool down in the basement unlike outside. And the room furthest in was where the gate had been. It had a sturdy padlock on the door. When Krish-san inserted the key into the lock and twisted, it made a loud unlocking noise.

"Come on in."

Krish-san held the door as I entered. The room was completely empty, with nothing inside it.

When I'd first come here, there had been a huge arch, with what looked like curtains of light hanging from it to cover the gate. But I guess now that the gate had disappeared, they'd removed all those things.

From left to right, there was nothing but the stone walls. Just an empty, square room.

It felt like a room that had always had nothing in it. It almost made me think that this wasn't the room where the gate had been at all.

At that time, I'd been so dizzy from the shaky journey through the gate that I hadn't taken a look around.

Maybe the instability had started even back then.

After all, there wasn't anything written about the shaking and jolting of the passageway on the pamphlet for migrators.

"It's really gone."

I didn't intend for my words to be heard, but my voice bounced on the stone walls and became more audible.

"Shinobu..."

At Couge's worried-sounding voice, I hurriedly wiped at the wetness I could feel in the corners of my eyes.

My nose always immediately reddened whenever I was about to cry and it was too embarrassing.

I'd already cried so much the night that Norn told me the gate had disappeared. I thought I'd cried all my tears out.

It was too pathetic. 'Stop it already,' I thought as I furiously rubbed at my eyes.

"Stop rubbing. You'll hurt your eyes."

I felt something solid touching the back of my head, and hands grasping my wrists.

Krish-san's hands were as hard and callused as always, but they were gentle and warm.

He was standing directly behind me, so the solid thing I felt touching the back of my head must be Krish-san's chest plate. I let my head fall back on the armor and looked up. Krish-san was looking down over my head and watching me.

He was wearing a helmet so I didn't know what kind of expression he had on his face, but I felt that I'd made him worry. Feelings of regret and happiness jumbled up in my chest.

"I'm alright!!" I said.

It might not have been particularly believable saying so with tears in my eyes, but I made sure to smile widely. After all, grandpa had always told me that if I kept on smiling, good things would happen.

At my grin, I heard Krish-san let out a huff from behind his helmet. Did he laugh just now?

"I see, you're alright."

"Yep, I'm just fine!!"

He rubbed my head with his big hand.

I usually hated being treated like a child, but somehow, receiving his comfort made me feel happy.

I wondered what Krish-san looked like. I'd never seen his face before.

He was always wearing a full-body armor, so the only part of Krish-san that I'd seen without armor covering it was his hands.

If we grew closer, would he someday show me his face?

Even his mere aura felt heroic and cool, so I was sure that he looked really manly.

Krish-san locked up the gate room once more. I probably wouldn't be able to come to this room again.

I silently said goodbye to it. My heart was extremely clear; I felt that I'd finally sorted out my feelings.

I thanked Krish-san and left the building with Couge.

Afterwards, we were going to buy some rice and head home. But Couge was acting strange.

He was all restless, sneaking glances at me from the corner of his eyes. Was there something he wanted to ask me?

"What is it, Couge?"

"Ahh, no, it's not anything important but... Shinobu, when did you become close with Krish-sama?"

"Did we look like we were close? I'm glad."

I wasn't familiar enough with Krish-san to feel confident in calling him a friend, but I did hope that in time, we could grow close enough that he'd show me his bare face. So if we really looked that close, then that kind of made me happy.

"Knights are so cool, aren't they? They're like allies of justice. I want to be manly just like Krish-san."

"Oh, that's what you meant. I thought... Wait, but what about the other party? He seems to really care about you."

Couge kept muttering, but his voice was too low for me to hear. Well, I didn't have time to pay any more attention to him; we'd arrived in front of the store selling rice.

Today, I was going to buy tons of rice. After all, I had to buy some for the chickens to enjoy, too.

"Uncle, give me five kilos of animal feed, please!!"

"Here you go! Thanks for your continued patronage!"

There were no plastic bags with handles in this world, so the rice was put into a burlap sack. I had to hold it between my arms, which was fine, but now my hands were full.

With noon approaching, the market was getting more crowded, and I kept bumping into people as I walked.

"I'll carry that for you, Shinobu."

Since I kept on bowing in apology to every person I bumped into, I almost lost sight of Couge, so he took it upon himself to carry it.

Couge easily lifted the sack of five kilos of rice out of my arms and held it under one arm. Then with his free hand, he firmly held onto mine.

"I can carry it myself, Couge," I insisted.

"It's fine. In this crowd, you might get lost again."

But I was a man too. I at least had enough strength to carry five kilos.

"Would you rather I put a child harness on you?"

"......No thanks, you can carry it."

Last time I got lost, I made Couge and Norn worry so much about me. I couldn't refuse.

It seemed I had a long way to go before I could become like Krish-san.