Chapter 17

I couldn't understand the recorded words of Aura. When Zenjiro confessed a surprising fact, Aura tilted her head and asked curiously.

"Does this mean that this device can record sounds but not the 'kotodama' (spirit of words)? After all, I can't sense any magic from this device."

"Huh? 'Kotodama'?"

Faced with a word he had never heard before, Zenjiro, unable to keep up with the meaning, repeated it like a parrot, with a bewildered expression. Aura, who had been looking at Zenjiro's expression with curiosity, realized that they were not on the same page.

"Wait, Zenjiro. Let's start from the beginning. First, why are you so surprised?"

In response to Aura's question, Zenjiro replied with a voice that couldn't hide his confusion.

"It's because the words of Aura, which I usually hear clearly, became completely incomprehensible when recorded by the digital camera... Come to think of it, it was strange that Japanese worked here in the first place, given that this is a different world."

It had been a month and a half since his first transfer, and nearly half a month since he had settled here, yet Zenjiro had never once doubted this fact.

"Alright, that's it. The fundamental misunderstanding is right there. Zenjiro, in your world, do people who speak different languages not understand each other?"

Aura's question, which seemed so obvious, made Zenjiro almost blurt out, "Of course," but he held back.

"Yeah, I thought it was a given, but the way you put it, maybe it's different in this world?"

"Indeed. In this world, languages differ by country. Even within the continent, the north, south, east, and west have completely different language systems, but there is no barrier to communication. This is because multiple people who share the same perception of a sound can host a 'kotodama'."

Aura, who had never felt the need to explain this common knowledge in this world, began to explain the concept of 'kotodama'.

After hearing Aura's explanation, Zenjiro tried to organize his thoughts.

"So, in this world, words are imbued with 'kotodama', and even if people use different languages, they can still communicate without any problems?"

"That's right. Therefore, in this world, the phenomenon of 'not understanding each other' is fundamentally impossible."

Nodding, Zenjiro asked a series of questions that still puzzled him.

"Well, if such a convenient thing exists, wouldn't it be difficult to learn new words? I mean, if just saying 'ah' or 'uh' conveys meaning..."

"No, that's not the case. 'Kotodama' only resides in sounds that are recognized as correct by everyone. For example, even if a newborn baby associates the sound 'ah' with 'milk', it won't work unless at least thousands of people recognize the sound 'ah' as meaning 'milk'."

"Wow, it's more sophisticated than I thought. So, if a bad adult taught a child to call a 'chair' a 'desk' and a 'desk' a 'chair', and the child said 'chair' to someone speaking a different language, the other person would only hear 'chair'?"

"Yes. 'Kotodama' only resides in sounds that are recognized as correct by everyone, regardless of the speaker's intention."

"I see... But then, why couldn't I understand the recorded sound? The sound was reproduced correctly, right?"

To Zenjiro's reasonable question, Aura nodded and answered.

"That's because this device lacks magic. We don't usually notice it, but 'kotodama' communication uses a faint amount of magic. Without magic, even if the correct sound is reproduced, 'kotodama' won't work."

"I see, I see. Then, in this world, there are probably very few people who can use multiple languages, right? If one language is enough and it automatically translates, it would be difficult to learn a second language."

For example, if an American says "apple," it would automatically be heard as "ringo" (apple) by a Japanese person. In such a case, it would be almost impossible for a Japanese person to learn English later in life. It seemed that this was indeed the case, as Aura nodded deeply.

"That's right. Therefore, the ability to use multiple languages is limited to a few skilled magicians. Skilled magicians can consciously control their magic, like this."

Saying this, Aura consciously cut off her magic and said, "Amo Zenjiro." The words sounded like an unknown language to Zenjiro, just like the video played on the computer.

"Magicians from other countries teach us by controlling their magic. Conversely, if you can control your magic, you can prevent 'kotodama' from working by simply blocking your own magic. 'Kotodama' requires both the speaker and the listener to have magic. Additionally, there are special spaces where magic is fundamentally blocked, and 'kotodama' won't work in such places."

If what Aura said was true, then either the entire Earth was a special space where magic was blocked, or 99% of Earth's inhabitants had no magic. In either case, Zenjiro's ancestors, who had fled to Earth 150 years ago, must have had a very difficult time. After all, they were thrown into a world where no one could understand them, a concept that didn't even exist in their world. The fact that they survived and left descendants seemed almost miraculous.

"Wow, it seems that learning multiple languages in this world is a lot of trouble with almost no benefits. But some magicians go through all that trouble to learn them. Why do they do that? It doesn't seem necessary."

To Zenjiro's reasonable question, Aura smiled and answered.

"It's to learn 'writing' rather than 'language'. Writing is a way to record the pronunciation of a language. It's difficult to learn writing without being able to communicate. Writing doesn't have 'kotodama', so you have to learn it this way to read foreign books."

"Oh, I see. By the way, I haven't seen the writing in this world yet. Can you write something for me?"

Zenjiro handed Aura a sheet of copy paper and a ballpoint pen, which were next to the computer.

"Hmm, this is a very white and thin parchment. This pen also has a strange shape. Where is the inkwell?"

"No, it's not made from animal skin but from plants, but never mind that. This pen is called a ballpoint pen, and you can write by simply pressing it. The ink is inside."

At first, Aura was confused by the modern Japanese writing tools, but ballpoint pens are not particularly difficult to use compared to fountain pens. She quickly got used to it and exclaimed in admiration.

"Wow, this is convenient. Not having to dip it in ink is a big help, and it's so smooth that it doesn't tear this thin parchment."

"The paper is one thing, but I have ballpoint pens in dozens. Would you like a few? They come in black, red, and blue."

"Thank you, I'll take a few. Hmm, I've written it. The writing used in the southwestern coast of the continent, centered on my country, consists of thirty characters."

Soon, Aura wrote thirty unfamiliar symbols on the copy paper and showed them to Zenjiro.

"Wow, as I expected, it's a phonetic script. With thirty characters, it's similar to the alphabet. Hey, Aura, can you write 'a', 'i', 'u', 'e', 'o', and 'a', 'ka', 'sa', 'ta', 'na'?"

"Um, what? Sorry, can you repeat that?"

"Sure, I'll do it one by one. First, 'a'..."

Fortunately, short, meaningless sounds don't activate 'kotodama', so Zenjiro's pronunciation reached Aura's ears as is.

As he asked her to write, it became clear that the writing system of this country was similar to the alphabet of his original world. While there wasn't a clear distinction between vowels and consonants, the way multiple characters were combined to form a single pronunciation was the same. However, there were some differences, such as the lack of a distinction between R and L (no L equivalent) and the existence of multiple characters for M. Despite these differences, most of the thirty characters could be directly replaced with the alphabet.

Another clear difference was the lack of uppercase and lowercase letters, which might make it difficult to convey nuances, but the smaller number of characters made it easier to learn from scratch.

"Ah, if it's just thirty characters, it seems easy to learn. Memorizing the entire language will be tough, but learning numbers first might be more useful. Aura, can you teach me the 'numbers' in this world?"

After adding furigana to the thirty symbols in katakana, Zenjiro casually asked Aura. However, Aura's reaction was far from what he expected.

"Numbers? You mean the written representation of numbers? I think it would be difficult to learn all of them at once."

Saying this, Aura started writing words on another sheet of copy paper.

"This is one, this is two, this is three. I think it's better to start with up to ten. Even among the general nobility, it's not uncommon for people to not know the written form of words like 'billion' or 'ten billion'."

"..."

Zenjiro looked at Aura's hand in silence. He could see that each time she said 'one' or 'two', she was combining multiple characters to form a word, just like writing 'one' as 'one', 'two' as 'two', and 'three' as 'three' in the alphabet.

"Does this mean that this country doesn't have 'numbers'?"

For a moment, Zenjiro thought, "That's ridiculous," but upon reflection, he remembered that in ancient Japan, before the introduction of Arabic numerals, complex calculations were done using kanji, counting rods, and abacuses. Early systems of linear equations, such as the crane and turtle problem, and calculations to determine the depth of moats using the Pythagorean theorem were performed. Historical documents show that calculations for supply management in the Warring States period were more detailed than expected.

Considering this, the absence of numbers did not necessarily mean the absence of mathematics. Given the grand palace, some level of advanced mathematics must have been involved in its construction. If it were built solely based on empirical rules, that would be even more astonishing, almost magical.

However, the presence or absence of numbers does make a clear difference in the basic population's calculation ability. The concept of a base-10 number system, including zero, is essential for improving the calculation skills of ordinary people.

"Numbers. Special characters for representing numbers, you mean? That's interesting. What are the advantages of having them?"

Intrigued, Aura asked, and Zenjiro, without hesitation, began to explain the effectiveness of numbers.

"First, they are easy to learn. In a base-10 system, you only need to learn ten characters, including zero, and then just four symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Most people can learn basic arithmetic in two to three years..."

"Mm-hmm..."

Before he knew it, Zenjiro had forgotten his self-imposed rule to "try not to stand out" and was enthusiastically explaining the effectiveness of numbers.