Chapter 34: Intermission: Tea Party of Black and White ~ The Supplier of Incorrect Knowledge ~
Chapter 34: Intermission: Tea Party of Black and White ~ The Supplier of Incorrect Knowledge ~
In one corner of the God Realm, the presence of two people say opposite each other in a hanging garden full of colorful flowers.
A silver-white haired woman and girl sat across each other at a table with cups of black tea placed in front of them. They look like sisters, but on one hand is an expressionless woman with long hair, pure white clothing, and ideal proportions. While on the other hand is a young girl with frequently changing expressions with semi-short hair, black clothes, and the appearance of a very young girl. Other than the color of her hair and eyes, you could even say that it was like they were opposites.
[Heeeyyy~ Shiro, let’s do some girlstok~]
(T/N: She spoke about koibana (girl’s talk), but not exactly with the word itself, but with a word that sounds like koibana when spoken)
[Girlstok?]
[It was when girls get together and talk about their love lives!]
[……I don’t remember Kuro having a gender though?]
[I have the appearance of a girl now, so you could say I’m a girl!]
Receiving Kuromueina’s words with a cheerful expression on her face, Shallow Vernal blandly replied in a voice without any intonations.
Although one of them’s a god while the other’s a demon, they have been friends for a very long time, and they frequently chat over tea like this, and today, just as usual, the conversation began with Kuromueina bringing up the topic out of the blue and Shallow Vernal calmly answering her.
[See, even Shiro thinks that you would like to try feeling love, right?]
[I don’t really think so though?]
[This is where you say that you also think so, even though it may be a lie!]
[Well then, even though it’s a lie, I think I’d like to try it out.]
[Unn, unnn. In that case, I’d be happy to talk to you about it!]
Even when Shallow Vernal replied to her without any emotion at all, it seems like Kuromueina was already used to it, or perhaps she didn’t seem to care at all, and just went on with the conversation.
[However, Kuro has never been in love either, right?]
[Ugghh…… T- That’s totally not true at all. I have received confessions multiple times before……]
[As far as I know, all the people who have expressed their love to you are “women” though?]
[……I’m totally popular.]
[Rather than popular, in your case though, most of them had gone past having feelings of love to you, they were literally “worshipping” you. Doesn’t that mean you also haven’t felt the feelings of love yourself?]
[Uuuggghhh……]
Receiving Shallow Vernal’s honest words, which are told in a voice without intonation, Kuromueina looked crestfallen as her shoulders slumped down.
It’s true that there are many who dearly love Kuromueina, whether they’re Humans or Demons. However, just as Shallow Vernal said, the majority of them don’t hold romantic feelings, but feelings of worship and loyalty. There’s also the fact that Kuromueina herself is one of the pinnacle beings in the Demon Realm as the Underworld King, making it that there’s almost no one who can be said to have such feelings for her.
Hence, although she had proudly suggested that, the fact is that Kuromueina also had no experience in love either.
[I- I just haven’t had that encounter yet!!]
[How many years did you think you’ve been alive?]
[……A- About 18,000 years……]
[That number sounds a lot younger than I know you are though?]
[I’m a girl! I’m allowed to cheat my age for a bit!!]
[It doesn’t really make much sense to me though……]
Even though she still doesn’t have any intonation on her voice when she said that, Shallow Vernal has a faint dumbfounded expression on her face. In order to switch the flow of the conversation, Kuromueina decided to forcefully proceed with the previous topic.
[Anyway, we’re going to have girlstok today!]
[I don’t really mind, but what are we going to talk about?]
[Hmmm… I guess we’ll start talking about our preferences! What kind of boy would Shiro like to be in love with?]
[Let’s see…… First of all, as a prerequisite, I think it should be someone I hold interest in.]
[……With just those few words, you basically eliminate almost every being in this world from being a candidate……]
There really aren’t many beings that Shallow Vernal hold interest in. Or rather, even Kuromueina who knows her for a long time, only knows that the number of people she holds an interest in can be counted in one hand.
In the end, this response from Shallow Vernal was equivalent to saying that she evidently had no intention of falling in love.
[How about you, what kind of partner would you like to have, Kuro?]
[Hmmm. In my case, as expected, I’d want a cute child~~ I’d like to have a child who seems anxious because of not knowing anything, but still, they would want something. I’d like a child who I can teach various things like that~~]
[That’s just your definition of a baby bird, isn’t it?]
[Ugghhh… That’s true but…… if I’m to talk about someone I like, it would be a child like that……]
[Even if you find someone like that, don’t you think that neither of you would hold romantic feelings for each other because you raised that child yourself?]
[Uggghhhh…… N- No, that’s not all! It’s like after I found a child like that, I would feel some kind of spark! It’s like feeling that meeting that child must be fate!!]
[……It’s because they’re all women, isn’t it?]
[Uggghhh…… Why aren’t there any boys that make me feel that spark~~]
After her sharp, expressionless tsukkomi pierced through her heart again, Kuromueina looked crestfallen as her shoulders slumped once again.
It’s true that Kuromueina has met the special person among the baby birds that she was quite fond of…… But they were all females in terms of gender, and none of them were male.
[Hmmm. Love is quite difficult, isn’t it?]
[That it is.]
[Ah, speaking of which, I was wondering, how do children in other worlds fall in love? Is it just like how people fall in love in our world?]
[I don’t know. Shall we see for ourselves?]
[Yeah. I’ll leave that to you~~]
In the end, the two of them, both of whom have never been in a relationship, didn’t get much out of their conversation and eventually concluded that love is difficult to find and ended their conversation.
And then, as if Kuromueina suddenly remembered something, asked Shallow Vernal about love in another world. Shallow Vernal also doesn’t know anything about how it is in another world either, so she suggested that they should look into it.
Fortunately, they are performing the Hero Festival this year, and even the one who holds the role of Hero is currently traveling to every place to perform his greetings.
Receiving Kuromueina’s nod, Shallow Vernal moves her finger in a circle in the air. Then, the space started blurring and shaking, and in that space rift, they can see a ceremony taking place in some country.
It seems to be the scene where the person holding the role of Hero giving a speech, a black-haired otherworlder standing on a platform with knights lined up behind him, and they seem to be in the middle of talking about something.
[It seems like they’re just saying their greetings. By the way, Shiro, which of the boys lined up there do you prefer if it’s just based on looks?]
(T/N: Cougars hunting for prey.)
[I don’t really see the difference between them.]
[Is there something wrong with your eyes, Shiro? Do you see them as potatoes? Do all of them look like potatoes to you?]
[What about you, Kuro?]
[Eh? There doesn’t seem to be anyone with the eyes of a baby bird, so I’m not interested in any of them!]
[……I feel like what you’re feeling isn’t any different from mine though.]
It seems like the otherworlder and the knights on the stage weren’t to their liking, and after exchanging a few words about how neither of them were interested, Shallow Vernal shifted her gaze to the young man who played the role of Hero.
[……Fumu, it appears that this person has been in love with a woman from the “2-D” world.]
[Tsudi? What’s that?]
[It seems to be a different world in the other world.]
[Is it like how we have the God Realm and the Demon Realm?]
[Perhaps……]
Peeking into the mind of the young man who played the role of Hero, Shallow Vernal picked out something related to love from his mind and spoke about it. Kuromueina herself seems to be unfamiliar with that content, as she waited for her next words with a curious expression on her face.
[Apparently, women in that 2-D world quantify their fondness for their partner in terms of a value called “Affection”.]
[Eeehhh!? They’re quantifying to describe the contents of their hearts? The things in the other world really are awesome~~]
[Yes, as you encounter and engage in conversation with your target, you accumulate a value called “Affection”, and when it reaches a certain point, something called “event” occurs, which seems to bring you closer to them.]
[E- Ebent? What is it like?]
After hearing what Shallow Vernal told her one after another, Kuromueina asked her, leaning out of her chair with a curious look on her face.
[It looks like they were going shopping together and sharing a meal.]
[Fumu fumu, after you encounter them and talk with them, they would go out and have a meal together…… But, isn’t that how it normally is? I mean, even if you don’t have that Afexion or anything like that, isn’t that how it normally ends?]
[No, it seems like that isn’t where it ends…… it seems like after you accumulated enough affection, you can receive a powerful weapon or an item that’s useful for your adventures.]
[After you get along and fall in love in another world, you get a weapon from your partner!? Not like an accessory or something like that?]
[Yes, it seems like monsters appear in the 2-D world, so it might have been a pretty harsh place to live in.]
[I- Is that so…… So there are also monsters in the other world.]
At this point, if someone from another world had heard them, there would have been lots of points that they had tsukkomi’d about. First of all, she had only read all the things related to the word “love” from that person’s mind, and yet, there’s a fatal flaw from the information given by Shallow Vernal, someone who looks at everything equally.
That’s right, she only perceives the 2-D game world and the real 3-D world as the same, and since she has only extracted the necessary information, without caring about the quality of each information, depending on who hears it, they may only get severely one-sided information from her.
Unfortunately though, there is no one here who can correct them.
[And not only that, it seems that the woman with the target of love can be made stronger by the increase of their affection.]
[Eeeehhhh!? Children from another world get stronger when they fall in love!?]
[It seems so. It seems that there are even some cases where they can also learn magic.]
[They can also learn magic because of love!? ……Afexion is awesome!]
[Yes, but that affection seems to exist basically only on the female side.]
[Eh? Is that so…… Then, when I love a boy from another world, we would accumulate afexions, and after experiencing an ebent, I guess we should give them a present.]
[Yes, I think it would also be easier for you to get to know the otherworlders better.]
[Ehhh~~ I’ll remember that.]
And thus, another piece of incorrect knowledge from another world appeared…… and was handed down to a small part of this world.
And fortunately or unfortunately, exactly 10 years after this…… Not even God could have predicted at this point that one young man would be subjected to all of these incorrect knowledge.
Kuro’s strange knowledge about the other world is mostly because of Shiro’s fault.
Edit: Ah f*ck, didn’t notice it’s Saturday. Well, f*ck it.