Is something wrong? Why is she looking so nervous all of a sudden?
…
I should probably call out to her before I get too close.
Kichirou's approach slowed as he simulated the foreseeable conversation, struggling to recall the English pronunciation in his head whilst preparing his question.
Having been one of the higher-ups in a development company, Kichirou was required to have a certain level of proficiency in the English language. However, he had never actually had the chance to practice it, and it's been years since Kichirou studied it as part of his foreign language curriculum, which meant he was quite rusty when it came to speaking.
“Hello, I’m lost. Can you direct me to the nearest city or town please?” He repeated that phrase in his head over and over, by the time he was in speaking distance with her, his pronunciation, to him at least, reached an acceptable level. However, if she didn’t speak English, it wouldn't matter anyway.
Here goes nothing.
“Um, can I help you, mister?”
“What?” It was only a reflexive thought, yet he found himself saying it out loud.
It was a simple question yet he couldn't understand it, not because it was asked in some foreign language, but because it was in plain Japanese.
Was I wrong? Could she just be a half-blood? Maybe this could be Japan after all…
The look on the girl's face suggested that she was equally confused at his response.
“Mister?”
“You can speak Japanese?”
“Hmm? Japanese? What's that?” She tilted her head slightly, with a look of genuine confusion.
Huh? Could it be that she doesn't know the language that she’s speaking? Is something like that even possible?
“Never mind that...” He said that as much to her as to himself. “My name is Kichirou, um, what's your name?”
“I’m Schnee, and this is Eralya,” she said while pointing to the white fluff that was gnawing on a twig.
“Well, nice to meet you, Schnee, I just happen to be a bit lost at the moment. Uhm, could you tell me where the nearest town is?”
“We were just headed home, Mercini is this way,” Schnee pointed.
Mercini?
“Sorry for the strange question, but what country are we in?”
“This is the Kingdom of Reinocha, are you not from around here mister?”
“No....”
Reinocha...
Given these names and all the other evidence so far, it was abundantly clear that this could not be Japan, now he had no choice but to accept that fact.
Unlike the majority of the world, he was quite confident in his geographical knowledge. Yet those two names didn't ring any bells whatsoever, could it be possible that this was just some remote area that wasn’t well documented? That's certainly unlikely. It was more probable that this was a small state within known boundaries of another country, unrecognized by other nations.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Do you know what continent we are in? Is this somewhere in Europe?”
“I’ve never heard of Europe before, but my father told me that this is the heartland of Himmegal.”
None of this information is helping at all… It must have something to do with that flash of light… Furuya must be here somewhere, and maybe even the others. What would they make of all this?
“My friends... They might be lost around here too, I have to find them.”
“Oh that would be easy, Eralya is a hunting dog, are you carrying anything that has their scent?”
“No, I don—OH!” He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a small white card, and on it was the name Toshihiro Furuya, Senior Developer of Apple.S Entertainment.
Furuya... Always pulling through one way or another.
Finally feeling lucky, Kichirou held the business card to Eralya. Then, with just a few sniffs, it dashed off with unbelievable speed and vanished into the distance.
“Uhm, are we going to follow him?”
“Don’t worry, Eralya will find them. We can head to town, he’ll catch up to us.”
Hunting dogs are supposed to be very fast, and Kichirou had seen one in action when he went on a business trip with his boss once before, but this was far beyond that, Eralya seemed almost unnaturally fast.
It must be some kind of special breed.
But there was no time to dwell on such trivial matters, there are more important questions at hand than just the species of dog.
“Have you heard of the country called Japan?”
She tilted her head down and thought for a moment.
“No. I haven't, but maybe my father would know! He used to be a traveling merchant, I’m sure he might know the place you speak of.”
Of course, a child wouldn't know much, that's only to be expected. Getting to town and asking her father would appear to be the correct course of action. If not him, surely someone in town might be able to help.
With a nod, the pair walked along in silence.
Silence while walking with someone is normally fine, however in the case that he was walking with a stranger, nonetheless, a little girl who appeared to be rather friendly, he would rather avoid a strange atmosphere during the walk.
Usually, this wouldn't be a problem as friends would break the silence. But in this case, the other person was only a girl about the age of 10, so as the adult, it would be his obligation to engage her in conversation.
“Soooo… what were you doing out here all by yourself?”
“I was looking for a flower, my mother called it Winter’s Blood. It was my mother's favorite, but father is too busy with his business to come out here in the middle of the day.”
For a moment Schnee’s smile faded from her face.
That look… a familiar look that reflected the suffering of the soul, the loss of loved ones, and the damage that time could not repair. For such a young child to have experienced such a thing... The world is such a cruel place, and we all suffer till we meet our ends…
I gotta keep the conversation moving or else she's gonna dwell on that sadness!
“Well, did you find what you were looking for?”
“No… My father told me that it's supposed to be very rare and only found in the northern reaches of the Howling Fuji, but my mother told me that the spirit of Pamola visits this land every couple of years, and with it, the Winter’s blood will blossom.”
The spirit of Pamola? It must be one of those stories that parents tell their children. Spirits aren’t real, she is still at that age after all.
There are plenty of people who are feverishly spiritual or religious in the world, who would then pass on such notions to their children. In Kichirou’s opinion, religion wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but as a whole, the world could probably do without it.
“Have you ever seen it happen?”
“Yea, just once… it was during the summer too. All of a sudden snow fell, and they just appeared like my mother said they would…”
Summertime. Sudden snow.
Could that be what I saw earlier? That would explain what I saw, but spirits…? No… Those are just fantasies for children.
“I’ll find it again someday and bring it to her,” Schnee stated, with that brimming smile on her face once again.
“I’m sure you will,” Kichirou replied, with a weak smile.
“HEYYYYYY!!!” A voice roamed in from a distance.
They turned and saw a few figures running towards them. It was Furuya and the others, with Eralya leading at the helm. Seeing them brought upon a sigh of relief and comfort. He wasn't alone.
“Are those your friends?”
“Yea that's them alright.”
For the first time since he had awoken, the smile on his face was genuine.
“Good boy!” Schnee pulled out a star-shaped treat and fed it to Eralya.
Ryuta was the first to reach the pair, with Furuya right behind him.
“Shiro! You're okay! Thank god we found you… Haaaa haaaa.” Ryuta struggled to catch his breath as he spoke.
They must have run the entire time seeing that even the musclehead Ryuta was in this state.
“We followed the dog thinking that it would lead us to a town or something… haa... Who's the foreign girl?” said Furuya, who was just as exhausted as Ryuta.
“This is Schnee, she helped me find you guys, and she's gonna help us get to town.”
“Yea… that… would be… great…”
“I was just heading home. I can lead you guys to Mercini.”
The expression that he saw on Furuya’s face showed that he was just as shocked as Kichirou had been before. He must have had a few questions for Schnee himself, but now wasn't the time to discuss those matters.
“There's something..”
“Yea... I know,” Furuya interrupted. “Our phones are all dead, but at least we can figure something out once we get to town.” He stepped closer putting one hand on Kichirou’s shoulder and whispered: “Everyone else must have noticed something too. We’re better off not saying anything too conclusive, no need to confirm any of their worries.”
Ryuta, who was playing with Eralya, nodded in reply.
Furuya was right. Telling the rest of them would not do any good for anyone. In fact, all it would achieve is bring on unnecessary panic.
Everything’ll likely be resolved after we reach town.
“Is... something... wrong?” Calbi asked.
“Uhh, we are just worried about how we are gonna get home is all,” Furuya replied.
Good, good.
“COME ON GIRLS, LET'S GET A MOVE ON! Man, they are taking forever.”
“Hey not everyone can run like you guys, you know.”
“Hah, I guess you're right.”