The Water Magician

"Abel... It's raining, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is..."

"The wind is also blowing quite strongly..."

"Yeah, it is..."

"Typhoons shouldn't occur near the equator, so it's just heavy rain..."

"Yeah, it is..."

"I knew it! You probably don't know about typhoons at all. You were just answering randomly!"

"How did you figure that out..."

Abel easily dodged Ryo's probing remarks.

Ryo then counterattacked.

"I'm thinking of writing a novel called 'That Abel is a Hungry Swordsman' and publishing it!"

"...Huh?"

Critical hit!

Finally, Abel turned to look at Ryo after receiving his powerful attack.

And after a full ten seconds, he opened his mouth.

"If it's interesting, I'll publish it throughout the kingdom. Ryo's skills as a writer will be put to the test."

"Ugh..."

Ryo had only said it as a joke, of course.

The two of them were in the dining room of the "Azure Orb Pavilion."

Each of them was reading a book.

They had borrowed from the bookshelf provided by the inn, which said "Feel free to read."

High-end inns in Japan also have such "libraries," and the Azure Orb Pavilion had one as well.

At first, Ryo was doing something else.

Yes, he had finally been able to start disassembling... or rather, researching the "translation device."

Just like he did with the "echo of the soul," he connected an ice plate to the "translation device" to see the magic formulas inscribed inside, but...

"I can't read the characters..."

The language used wasn't the language of the Central Nations.

The magic formulas were written in an unfamiliar language...

Therefore, he couldn't understand the contents of the magic formulas.

A program developed in an Arabic character environment is difficult to comprehend for top-notch programmers who do not speak it as their native language.

It's the same thing.

However, the "translation device," which he bought for a gold coin, should provide an augmented reality-like translation of the characters visible in his line of sight into the language of the Central Nations.

And yet... for some reason, the magic formulas projected on the ice plate weren't being translated.

As a result, Ryo gave up, left the room, and went down to the dining room on the first floor.

He was considering whether any good ideas could come to him.

Changing locations to gain inspiration has been an effective method since the time of Ouyoushu a thousand years ago.

There, Abel, who had gone down earlier, was reading a book... a sight often seen at the Golden Wave Pavilion in Run before he became king.

Ryo, following Abel's example, took a book from the "library" and sat down in front of Abel to begin reading.

At first, he was reading properly.

He was reading, but...

"Ku ku ku..."

Abel suppressed his laughter.

While reading a book.

As if he were some kind of demon...

Yes, just like Leonor would laugh...

Seeing that, Ryo felt uneasy.

Could it be that he had been possessed by some bad spirit?

So he spoke up.

No, he definitely didn't mean to interrupt Abel's reading!

That much must be clear.

It would be wrong to disturb someone's reading.

Ryo had no intention of interrupting...

"Abel's creepy laughter is the problem..."

"Hmm? Did I laugh?"

"Yes. The fact that you're not aware of it means you might have been possessed by a bad spirit! Just like that young duke taken over by a demon's kin, Abel, you might be done for..."

"No, why would that be? Someone like Irwin doesn't happen often."

Duke Arwin Ortiz of Shrewsbury, a great noble from the Eastern Kingdom, had his freedom of body taken away by the demon Garwin's kin.

It's not an exaggeration to say that this was the catalyst for the Great Demon War.

"Really... Are you still you, Abel?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Like, suddenly losing all your memories and finding yourself in another place, or having killed someone, or something like that?"

"Not at all."

"Like, when you're hungry and ask for food, do people around you say, 'You just ate a while ago?'"

"Not at all."

"When you were riding a horse, did you find yourself running in the opposite direction before you knew it?"

"What the hell is that..."