Chapter of the week: 1/2
Translator: Reizenchuu
Editor: Kenny Stryker
In the night of the same day, I was eating the dinner, after finishing my conversation with Ouka and leaving the mountain. I was worried about the different flow of time since we were in a different dimension, but luckily not much time had passed since we were there.
“Your dinner is as delicious as ever, mom.”
“I’m glad you still find it delicious.”
My mom appreciated my grandmother’s cooking, as our whole family was sitting on a long dining table. As for my mom, she considers my grandmother’s culinary skills as the number one in the whole wide world, and also considers my grandmother as her role model. She is very devoted to cooking, and such she would never lie when it comes to cooking.
Even if she doesn’t say that out loud, I can tell just from the smell of the food, that it is well made. My grandmother’s skills are on the same level as my mom, if not better. I kept on eating the food with my chopsticks while still praising her dinner in my heart. It looked like Karen was also finding it delicious, as she was emanating a pleasant ambiance.
“So, you went to the mountain today, Yato?”
“Yeah, we just took a stroll there.”
After listening to my response, she showed a nostalgic expression, and gave me a subtle head pat.
“It brings back memories. That place was my playground when I was at your age.”
“Yeah, we used to go there every day.”
Following my grandmother, my grandfather agreed with her as well. To be honest, I didn’t know that he used to go there every day in his past. I wonder if that is how my grandparents met each other. It looked like that both of them were reminiscing about their past until my grandmother seemed to have recalled something and clapped her hands.
“Now that I think about it, there is a great fox who lives in the mountain.”
It looks like my grandmother has already met Ouka once before in her childhood.
“I didn’t know that there are foxes there.”
“By that, I don’t mean a normal fox. I’m talking about a God fox.”
“Eh? What do you mean by that?”
I intentionally replied to her statement with a confused question in order to not raise any suspicion that I’ve already met that fox. Also, that fox is a Youkai and not a God. When I asked her that confused question, she tilted her head and declared a shocking truth.
“There is really a God fox there. I’m saying this because I have met him once.”
“Eh?”
I let out a confused voice after listening to my grandmother’s remark. As soon as she announced that truth, Karen abruptly stopped eating dinner, glared at my grandmother, and then shifted her gaze to me as if she were asking me for some sort of explanation.
A Youkai can’t be seen by the people who don’t have enough magical energy and I’m sure that my grandmother is not the type who could see them. I wonder how she was able to meet Ouka.
As I started wondering, my mom who got seemingly curious about the situation asked my grandmother for more details.
“Is that true, mom?”
“Yes. I met that fox when I was still a child. At that time, I used to spend my day playing deep inside the mountain. One day, I heard a voice of someone which sounded like as if it were hungry. I took my lunch box which I brought with me from home, placed it in front of the small shrine, and asked if it were enough, then a voice replied back saying thank you. From that day, I started believing that a God fox is living there. Although, I was never able to meet it again.”
It looked like my mom was impressed by the story, as she was revealing an exclaimed expression on her face, while my father expressed her feeling about how lovely her story was. Apparently, even I can’t deny that her story was an interesting one. To be honest, I was surprised to learn that she had already met the Youkai fox, even though she only heard its voice. Following that, I stopped moving and fell into deep thoughts before my mom addressed me.
“I remember that time when you told me something similar, Yato.”
With only with her single remark, my brain.exe stopped working there for a moment. I couldn’t hide my bewilderment after hearing those words I never expected to hear that from her.
Huh? Did something like that really happen? I can’t remember at all.
“Did I say something like that?”
“It was when you were still in the grade school. You probably have forgotten it now. One day, you went to the mountain just like today and came back saying that you heard a strange voice coming from that small shrine and that you left your handkerchief there.”
She also added her personal opinion about the handkerchief that I lost being still new. For some reason, I still couldn’t remember any of that. I tilted my head in confusion and fell into deep thoughts. If what she said was true, then that must be a rare case where a normal human can get involved with Youkai. My mom and grandmother continued their reminiscent talk while having the dinner, but I couldn’t concentrate on their talk since my head was already full of the Youkai story.
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I went back to my room, and tried to recall that story that my mom told me about me hearing strange voices in the mountain. She mentioned that it was around the time when I was still in the grade school. I could barely recall anything about it, it looks like my memories are still fuzzy. I kept on reminiscing about the past for a while until I hear Karen’s voice coming from the direction of the sliding door of my room.
“Hey.”
As I was called so suddenly in the middle of total silence in my room, I inadvertently flinched and promptly turned to look at the door.
Oh, dear little sister, can you please knock the door only for once?
Well, a sliding door isn’t exactly a door where one could knock on it.
“Yeah?”
“I just happened to pass by this hallway; are you still thinking about the story that mom told you?
She already guessed that I was still thinking about the story and asked about it.
“Well, yeah.”
“About the God that grandma was talking about; that’s probably the big Ouka fox, right?”
“I think the same too.”
That’s the only conclusion I could end up with from hearing her story. Perhaps if we ask Ouka about it, she would shed some light on it. Anyway, I’m trying to figure out my past now. If what my mom told me was right, it means that I have already met Ouka once when I was a child. I wonder what I did at that time.
As I realized something, I went back to working out my mind in order to bring back those memories, though right when I took a glance at Karen again, I remembered something else. I need to give her that thing. I took out the thing from the space I created using【Space Time Magic (Extra Large)】and handed it over to Karen.
“Karen, take it.”
“What is it?”
She tilted her head in a confused state, as she saw me handing an object that I created and took out from the voice, it was a simple silver bracelet.
“This is a magic tool that raises your magic power. You can see Youkai while wearing it without the need to hold hands with me.”
(TLN: du*b*ss…)
(ED: pls turn off that Dense Protagonist skill.)
Karen reacted with a delight as she looked at the bracelet. As for the reason for me having that bracelet in the first place, it’s because I created it on my own. Making it was rather an easy task; I first used【Skill Creation (With Restraints)】and created a skill called【Magic Tool Creator】and then I used that new skill to make the bracelet.
【Magic Tool Creator】is a convenient skill that allows me to create any magic tool I want. Its drawback is the same as【Skill Creation (With Restraints)】that is, it consumes a large amount of magic. Moreover, it disappears after only one use. I got a little dizzy from the intense magic consumption, but I guess it was worth it since Karen had sparkling eyes while looking at it. It seemed like she was pleased with it.
“You can now touch the foxes without having to stay by my side.”
(TLN: stop it…)
I told her with an elated mood, but she suddenly revealed a displeased face while staring at the bracelet with a gaze that was different from the one she was showing just now.
“What is it?”
“… Nothing.”
She averted her eyes from me and left the room. She muttered as if she were thanking me with an apathetic expression on her way leaving making me doubt whether she was happy with the bracelet or not.
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Bonus
Dense Protagonist
“Master.”
“Yeah?”
“Being a little dense is fine, desu, but you need to stay within the bounds.”
“Wh-why are you suddenly acting this harsh with me?”
(TLN: this is not an edit. yeap.)
(ED: I swear this is not my doing this time.)
Next Update: Thursday, May 24, 2018
