Chapter 1 – Where am I? (part2)
Hmm…. what is this…? This warm wrapping, hard floor, and irregular vibration….
“…huh!?” (Yashiro)
When I woke up, there was a strange foreigner in front of me.
Oh, shit! English? That hurdle is too high for a middle school graduate like me.
“○ ▲ ☆ ◆ × @ &% $ # -?”
He’s talking to me, but I don’t understand what the hell he’s talking about. Though I did understand that it was some kind of interrogative sentence, at least.
“P-P-Pardon?” (Yashiro)
“?????”
Dammit, he doesn’t seem to understand English.
“Ermm, what are you talking about?” (Yashiro)
“&% $ # ?”
“Huh?” (Yashiro)
“Huh?”
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‘You need a can opener to get this can opener out of can’; it has turned out to be this kind of situation in the end.
More importantly, who is this guy? Because we don’t seem to speak in the same language, I couldn’t understand a thing he said. I need to calm myself down first. Okay, calm down, Me!
He talked about something but I couldn’t understand it….
Forget it, let’s try to arrange the information I could obtain, instead.
First of all, this foreigner is a man, a big man. I’m not really sure because he’s sitting, but his height should be about 190 cm or so. His long hair tied at the back. Maybe he’s a rock band member or something? His long hair looks damaged, and it doesn’t seem to be taken care of properly.
He’s wearing an armor…. Maybe a cosplayer?
I don’t know what character it is because I don’t watch anime, but it’s quite an elaborate costume. It’s as if he made it with the firm assumption that he was going to go on an adventure for real. For a costume, I think the outward appearance is all that matters, while the rest is not all that important.
His weapon is a spear. I wonder how much effort he puts into his cosplay. I mean, there’s a length restriction on the objects you can carry around. Wouldn’t it be inconvenient to ride a train while carrying such a long object?
Finally, the place we are now. There’s a vibration and a rattling sound. It feels like I’m riding on something. There’s also a great deal of baggage placed on the wooden floor. The walls and the ceiling are mostly made of cloth…. is this a canopy? If I listen carefully, I can hear the sound of light hooves as well.
That’s it! I’m inside a horse-drawn carriage with canopy right now.
The loading platform was quite wide with a big canopy covering all directions. Because the front and rear cloth are designed to be partially rolled up, it seems that I can see outside from there. There’s also a small window-like openings in the front, and a big door-like openings in the rear. In addition, many wooden boxes are stacked here and there.
There’s only this cosplay guy and me inside the loading platform right now. However, if it’s a horse-drawn carriage, there should be a coachman outside.
Oi, isn’t the mood somewhat strange!? Putting that aside, this cosplay guy looks like someone in his late twenties….
He smiles while looking at me. It’s a somewhat nasty smile. That’s right, it’s the smile of a person who’s thinking about taking advantage of others. I know it because I often smiled such a smile myself. I shouldn’t let my guard down around him.
“○ ▲ ☆ ◆ × @ &% $ #?”
The cosplay guy spoke again with words that were still unknown to me.
If I listen carefully, he isn’t speaking in English. He’s using a language that I’ve never heard before.
Hmm, is this also part of the character he’s cosplaying?
When I was busy observing the cosplay guy, my stomach suddenly raised a grand cry.
“Well, it’s because I haven’t eaten anything for almost a day….” (Yashiro)
The cosplay guy laughed. He then signaled something like “wait a minute” using a hand gesture, and began to rummage around in the luggage. He took out a blackish lump and offered it to me.
“This is……………. a bread?” (Yashiro)
“○ ▲ ☆ ◆ × @ &% $ #”
Next he poured a golden liquid from the water bottle into a cup, and handed it to me. With one hand holding a cup and the other holding a bread-like object, I tried to ask if he was giving them to me.
I don’t know if it was transmitted, but it looks like he has given his consent.
Well, thanks. Let’s eat!
I drank the soup-like liquid and bit the bread-like object without hesitation.
Huh!? This is……………. AWFUL!!!
“You call this shit food!? What’s the hell with this soup!? Instead of using this half-assed seasoning, it would be better if you just made a boiled water. Then, what is this? Stone? You dare to call this thing bread! Apologize to Yamazaki, Daiichi, and Shikishima!” (Yashiro)
I stuffed the poor things that couldn’t be called proper food into my mouth, while cursing.
I feel like I’d throw this stone-like bread to the floor if I didn’t give him a piece of my mind. However, no matter what kinds of curses I threw at him, this cosplay-man maintained his smiling face. My complaints don’t seem to get through to him at all.
Actually, I’ve had this bad feeling since a while ago.
This man’s appearance.
The comfort of this carriage.
The nasty soup and stone-like bread.
That scent of the nature that has been drifting on the air this whole time.
Putting them together, and I got this crazy idea.
This is indeed impossible. However, for someone who has experienced an event that could be called the impossible, I’m unable to rule out that idea.
“○▲☆◆×＠＆％＄＃”
The cosplay guy tapped me on the shoulder while saying something, and rolled up a part of the canopy as if boasting. The canopy fixed by the rope to the loading platform was partly removed, and the side cloth was also flipped up.
“Oh, it seems I’ve slept for half a day.” (Yashiro)
The outside was bright and smelled like the morning. Then, illuminated by the morning sunlight, incredible scenery came into my field of vision.
“This is………… as if I’m looking at a painting!!” (Yashiro)
A thirty-meter-high great wall stood firm in front of me. There were also a myriad of carriages running on the wide stone-paved road, toward a gorgeous gate of about 10 meters in height. Those carriages were making a queue in front of the gate. Countless men armed with spears were keeping watch at the gate and its surroundings. There were even high spires peeking their heads over the high, towering walls. Their presence was majestically displayed under a clear blue sky.
Yeah, this is indeed the picture of a fantasy world.
If I did not time-slip to medieval Europe, then this must be an another world.
“……………. are you kidding me!?!?” (Yashiro)
Sabishii Note:
- Yamazaki, Daiichi, and Shikishima, are the name of famous bread companies in Japan. Check Google for more details.