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アッバスおよびパレスチナ当局は「1 つの政権、1 つの法律機構および多元的政治」の必要性を強調する。アッバスはまた、武器を一方 (パレスチナ自治政府) にのみ持たせることを望んでいる。彼はパレスチナ武装勢力に停戦するよう説得し、イスラエル人および世界に、入植地の廃止には、イスラエル - パレスチナ間の暴力が不要であることを示すことに成功した。 | Abbas also wants weapons in only one set of hands – those of the Palestinian Authority. He successfully persuaded Palestinian militants to hold their fire and show Israelis and the world that dismantling settlements need not involve Israeli-Palestinian violence. | {
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土くれ
寮母に女たちのお茶が終わり次第外出する許可をもらっていたので、マリアは夕方出るのを楽しみにしていた。
キッチンは真新しく、
大きな炊事用ボイラーには入ることもできるよとコックが言った。
火はすてきに輝き、サイドテーブルの一つにはとても大きなバームブラクが四つのっていた。
これらのバームブラクはまだ切ってないように見えたが、
近寄って見ればそれは長く厚く均一に切り分けられていてお茶の時に配る用意はできていた。
マリアが自分で切ったのだ。
マリアは本当にとても、とても小さな人だったがとても長い鼻、とても長いあごをしていた。
とか話した。
女たちがたらいのことで口論するといつも彼女が呼ばれ、いつもうまく仲直りさせた。
いつだか寮母が彼女に言ったことがあった。
「マリア、あなた本当に仲裁の名人ね!」
そして副寮母と二人の寄宿している婦人もその賛辞を聞いていた。
そしてジンジャー・ムーニーはマリアのためじゃなかったらアイロン係のだんまり屋になんかしてやることじゃないんだけど、といつも言っていた。
誰もがそうしてマリアを好いていた。
女たちは六時にお茶にするので彼女は七時前に出られるだろう。
ボールスブリッジからピラーまで二十分、
ピラーからドラムコンドラまで二十分、
そして何か買うのに二十分。
八時前にはあそこに着ける。
彼女は銀の留め金の財布を取り出し『ベルファストからのプレゼント』という言葉を読み返した。
その財布はジョーが持ってきてくれたものなので彼女はとても気に入っていた。
五年前、彼とアルフィがウィットマンデーの旅行でベルファストに行った時のものだ。
財布の中には半クラウンが二つと銅貨がいくつかあった。
電車賃を払った後彼女にはまるまる五シリング残ることになる。
どんなにすてきな宵になるだろう、子供たちは皆歌って!
ただ彼女はジョーが酔って帰らなければよいがと思った。
飲んだ時の彼はそれはもう別人だった。
たびたび彼は、来て彼らと一緒に暮らすようにと彼女に望んだ。
しかし彼女は(ジョーの妻はいつも彼女にそれは優しかったけれども)自分が邪魔になると思ったし、洗濯屋の暮らしに慣れていた。
ジョーはいい男だ。
彼女が彼を育てたしアルフィもだ。
で、ジョーはよく言っていた。
「ママはママだけどマリアが本物のお母さんだ。」
故郷でばらばらになった後、息子たちはダブリンのランプライト・ランドリーに彼女の勤め口を見つけ、彼女はそれが気に入った。
以前はプロテスタントを大変悪く思っていた彼女だが、今では彼らがとても優しい人たち、ちょっと無口でまじめだが、それでも共に暮らしてとても優しい人たちだと思っていた。
それに温室には彼女の草花があり、彼女はその世話をするのが好きだった。
彼女には美しいシダやサクラランがあり、誰かが彼女を訪ねてきた時はいつも彼女の温室から一、二本の接ぎ穂を客にあげた。
一つ彼女の気に入らないことがあり、それはあちこちの壁にあるパンフレットだった。
しかし寮母は付き合っててすごく優しい人だし、それは上品だった。
コックがすっかり準備できたと言ったので彼女は女たちの部屋に行き、大きなベルを引き、鳴らし始めた。
数分のうちに女たちは三々五々、湯気の立つ手をペチコートでふいたり、湯気の立つ真っ赤な腕のブラウスの袖を引き下ろしたりしながらやってきだした。
彼女たちが腰を落ち着けたその前にはそれぞれに巨大なマグカップがあり、それにはコックとだんまり屋が熱い茶をいっぱいに満たし、すでに巨大なブリキの缶から砂糖とミルクが混ぜられていた。
マリアはバームブラクの分配を監督し、どの女も四切れ取るのを確かめた。
食事の間は笑い声や冗談があふれていた。
リジー・フレミングはマリアはきっと指輪を取るわと言い、長年ハロウイブにはフレミングがそう言ってきたけれども、マリアは笑って指輪も男も欲しくないと言わなければならなかった。
そして彼女が笑う時、灰緑色の目は期待を裏切られた恥ずかしさにきらきら光り、彼女の鼻先はもう少しであごの先につきそうだった。
そこでジンジャー・ムーニーが、ほかの女たちみんながテーブルの上のマグをカタカタ鳴らす中、お茶のマグを持ち上げてマリアの健康を祝して乾杯を提議し、ポーターが一口も飲めないのは残念だと言った。
もちろん考えることは品のない女だけれども、ムーニーが善意で言っているのはわかっているので、マリアは再び、鼻先がもう少しであごの先につきそうなほどに、ごく小さな体が揺れてばらばらになりそうなほどに、笑った。
だが女たちが茶を終えてコックとだんまり屋が茶道具を片付け始めた時マリアの喜ばなかったことか!
彼女は小さな自分の寝室へ行き、次の朝がミサの朝であることを思い出して目覚ましの針を七から六に変えた。
それから彼女は仕事用のスカートと上靴を脱ぎ、一張羅のスカートを出してベッドの上に、ちっぽけな礼装用の靴をベッドの足元に置いた。
彼女はブラウスも変え、鏡の前に立って、若い娘だった頃、日曜の朝のミサにいつもどんな装いをしたかを考えた。
そして彼女は何度も何度も飾り立ててきたとても小さな体を古風味な愛着を持って眺めた。
年のわりにはすてきな、ふくよかで小柄な体だと彼女は思った。
彼女が外へ出ると街は雨に輝いていて、彼女は古い茶色のレインコートがありがたかった。
電車は満員で彼女は車両の端の小さなスツールに座らねばならず、つま先はかろうじて床につくかつかないか、顔は全員に向けることになった。
彼女はこれからすることすべてを心の中で整理し、自立して自分の金が思い通りになることがどんなにいいことかを考えた。
彼女は彼らにとってすてきな宵になればいいと思った。
彼女はそうなると確信していたがアルフィとジョーが口もきかないのはなんとも残念だと思わずにはいられなかった。
彼らは今ではいつも仲たがいをしていたが、二人とも子供だった頃はいつもいちばんの友だった。
でも人生とはそういうものだ。
彼女はピラーで電車を降り、人込みの中に急いで進路を見つけた。
彼女はダウンズのケーキの店に入ったが店は人でいっぱいで彼女が接客してもらえるまでに長くかかった。
彼女はペニーケーキの取り合わせを一ダース買い、大きな袋を抱えてやっと店から出た。
それから彼女は他に何を買おうか考えた。
彼女は本当にすてきなものを何か買いたかった。
リンゴやナッツはきっと彼らのところにたくさんあるだろう。
何を買うべきかは難しく、彼女に思いつくことができたのはケーキだけだった。
彼女はプラムケーキを買うことに決めたがダウンズのプラムケーキはてっぺんのアーモンドのアイシングが十分ではないのでヘンリー・ストリートの店まで行った。
ここで彼女が長いこと気ままにしていると、カウンターの後ろの若い今風な婦人が、明らかに彼女に少しいらいらして、お求めのものはウェディングケーキかと彼女に尋ねた。
それを聞いてマリアは顔を赤らめ、若い婦人に微笑みかけた。
しかし若い婦人はそれをすっかり本気にとり、最後にプラムケーキから厚い一切れを切り、それを包んで言った。
「二シリング四ペンスです。」
ドラムコンドラ行きの電車では若い男たちが誰も彼女に気がつかないらしく、彼女は立っていなければならないと思ったが、年配の紳士が彼女に席を譲った。
彼は太った紳士で茶色の安全帽をかぶっていた。
四角く赤い顔で灰色がかった口ひげがあった。
マリアが思うに彼は見たところ大佐といった紳士で、ただじっとまっすぐ前を見ている若い男たちより彼の方がどれほど礼儀正しいことかと彼女は考えた。
紳士はハロウイブや雨降りの天気のことで彼女と雑談を交わし始めた。
彼は袋の中は子供たちへのよいものでいっぱいだと考え、若い者は若いうちに楽しむべきだというのはまったく正しいと言った。
マリアは彼に同意し、控えめにうなずき、咳払いをしてみせた。
彼はとても優しく、カナル・ブリッジで降りる時彼女は彼に礼を言ってお辞儀し、彼は彼女にお辞儀して帽子を挙げ、愛想良く笑い、そして彼女は河岸通りを、雨の中、小さな小さな頭を下げて上がって行く間も、一杯聞こし召している時だって紳士はすぐわかると考えた。
と言った。
仕事から帰ったジョーがいて、子供たちは皆よそ行きを着ていた。
隣からもう大きい娘たちが二人来て、ゲームが続いていた。
マリアはケーキの袋をいちばん年上の少年、アルフィに分けるようにと渡し、ドネリー夫人はそんなに大きなケーキの袋をいただいてほんとにありがとうと言い、子供たち皆にも言わせた。
「ありがとう、マリア。」
しかしマリアは彼女はパパとママに特別のものを、きっと彼らが好きなはずのものを持ってきたと言い、プラムケーキを捜し始めた。
ダウンズの袋を、それからレインコートのポケットを、それからコート掛けを見てみたが、どこにも見つからなかった。
そこで彼女は子供たち皆に誰か食べてしまわなかったか
−−もちろん、間違って
−−と尋ねたが、子供たちは皆ノーと言い、盗んだと非難されてまでケーキを食べたくはないように見えた。
誰の目にも謎は解け、ドネリー夫人がマリアが電車に置き忘れたのは明らかだと言った。
マリアはあの灰色がかった口ひげの紳士がどれだけ彼女をまごつかせたかを思い出し、恥ずかしさといまいましさと失望に顔を赤らめた。
ちょっとしたびっくりが失敗したこと、徒に無駄にしてしまった二シリング四ペンスのことを考えると、もう少しで彼女は手放しで泣くところだった。
しかしジョーは何でもないと言い、彼女を火のそばに座らせた。
彼は彼女にとても優しかった。
彼はオフィスで起こることを彼女にみんな聞かせ、自分がやってのけた経営者に対する気の利いた応酬を彼女のために繰り返し話した。
マリアは彼がやったというその応酬のことでジョーがなぜそんなに笑うのかわからなかったが、その経営者はとても威張って付き合いづらい人に違いないと言った。
ジョーは、扱い方を知っていれば彼はそう悪くないし、怒らせない限りまともな方だと言った。
ドネリー夫人が子供たちにピアノを弾き、彼らは踊り、歌った。
それから二人の隣家の娘がくるみを配った。
誰もくるみ割りを見つけられず、ジョーはそれでもう少しで腹を立てるところで、どうしてくるみ割りなしでマリアにくるみが割れると思うんだと尋ねた。
しかしマリアはくるみは好きじゃないから彼女のことで思い悩むことはないと言った。
それからジョーが彼女にスタウトを一瓶どうかと尋ね、ドネリー夫人がその方がよければ家にはポートワインもあると言った。
マリアは彼女としては何かと勧めないでくれる方がいいのだがと言った。
しかしジョーは言い張った。
それでマリアは彼の思うようにさせ、彼らは火のそばに座って昔話になり、マリアはアルフィのために口ぞえしようと思った。
しかしジョーが、彼が一言でもまた弟に話しかけようものなら神に打たれて死んでもかまわないと叫び、マリアはその問題に触れてすまないと言った。
ドネリー夫人が夫に、自分の肉親のことをそんなふうに話すのはひどく恥ずべきことだと言ったが、ジョーはアルフィは決して弟なんかじゃないと言い、もう少しでそのためにけんかになるところだった。
しかしジョーはこんな夜だものかんしゃくを起こしたりしないと言い、もうちょっとスタウトを開けるように妻に頼んだ。
隣家の娘二人がハロウイブのゲームをいくつか準備していたのですぐにまた何もかも愉快になった。
マリアは子供たちがそうやって愉快に、ジョーとその妻がそのように上機嫌にしているのを見て嬉しかった。
隣の娘たちはテーブルの上にいくつか受け皿を置き、それから目隠しされた子供たちをテーブルまで導いた。
一人は祈祷書を手にし、他の三人は水を手にした。
そして隣の娘の一人が指輪を手にした時、ドネリー夫人は顔を赤らめた娘に、おお、すっかりわかってますよ!と言わんばかりに指を振った。
彼らはそれから無理やりマリアに目隠ししてテーブルまで導き、彼女が何を取るかを見た。
彼らが布を巻く間、マリアはまた鼻の先がもう少しであごの先につきそうになるまで笑いに笑った。
彼らが笑ったり冗談を言ったりしながら彼女をテーブルまで導き、彼女は言われるままに手を空中に差し出した。
彼女は空中であちこちへと手を動かし、皿の一つに舞い降りた。
彼女は指に柔らかで湿った物質を感じ、誰も話をせず彼女の目隠し布を取り外さないので驚いた。
数秒の間があった。
そしてそれからたくさんのあわてた動きやひそひそ声。
誰かが庭のことで何か言い、そしてとうとうドネリー夫人がとても腹立たしげに何かを隣家の娘の一人に言い、彼女にはすぐにそれを放り出すように言った。
それはなしよ。
マリアはそれはまずかったのだと解し、それでもう一度やり直さなければならなかった。
そして今度は祈祷書を手にした。
その後ドネリー夫人が子供たちのためにミス・マクロード・リールを演奏し、ジョーはマリアにワインを一杯飲ませた。
すぐにまた彼らは皆すっかり陽気になり、ドネリー夫人がマリアは年内に修道院に入るだろう、祈祷書を手にしたのだからと言った。
マリアはその夜ほど彼女に優しく、楽しい話と思い出にあふれたジョーを見たことがなかった。
彼女はみんなとても彼女に親切だと言った。
とうとう子供たちはだんだん疲れて眠くなり、ジョーがマリアに何かちょっと歌を帰る前に、懐かしい歌を一つ歌ってくれないかと頼んだ。
と言い、
それでマリアは立ち上がってピアノのそばに立たなければならなかった。
ドネリー夫人は子供たちに静かにしてマリアの歌を聞きなさいと命じた。
それから彼女は前奏曲を演奏し、
と言い、マリアはとても顔を赤くして小さな震え声で歌い始めた。
彼女は『私が夢見たこと』を歌い、二番になると彼女は再び最初の一節に戻って歌った。
マーブルホールに住む夢を見た
家臣や農奴にかしずかれ
その家に集まるすべての人と
それが私の望みと誇り
数え切れない大きな富と
高貴な先祖の名前が自慢
いちばんうっとりした夢はでも
今もあなたが愛してたこと
しかし誰も彼女に間違いを教えようとしなかった。
そして彼女が歌い終えた時、ジョーはとても感動していた。
彼は誰が何と言おうと、昔のような時代はないし、彼にとって今は亡きバルフのような音楽はないと言った。
そして彼の目は涙でいっぱいになり、捜しているものも見つけられず、とうとうコルクの栓抜きがどこか教えてくれと妻に頼まなければならなかった。 | CLAY
THE matron had given her leave to go out as soon as the women's tea was over and Maria looked forward to her evening out.
The kitchen was spick and span:
the cook said you could see yourself in the big copper boilers.
The fire was nice and bright and on one of the side-tables were four very big barmbracks.
These barmbracks seemed uncut;
but if you went closer you would see that they had been cut into long thick even slices and were ready to be handed round at tea.
Maria had cut them herself.
Maria was a very, very small person indeed but she had a very long nose and a very long chin.
She talked a little through her nose, always soothingly:
She was always sent for when the women quarrelled Over their tubs and always succeeded in making peace.
One day the matron had said to her:
"Maria, you are a veritable peace-maker!"
And the sub-matron and two of the Board ladies had heard the compliment.
And Ginger Mooney was always saying what she wouldn't do to the dummy who had charge of the irons if it wasn't for Maria.
Everyone was so fond of Maria.
The women would have their tea at six o'clock and she would be able to get away before seven.
From Ballsbridge to the Pillar, twenty minutes;
from the Pillar to Drumcondra, twenty minutes;
and twenty minutes to buy the things.
She would be there before eight.
She took out her purse with the silver clasps and read again the words A Present from Belfast.
She was very fond of that purse because Joe had brought it to her
five years before when he and Alphy had gone to Belfast on a Whit-Monday trip.
In the purse were two half-crowns and some coppers.
She would have five shillings clear after paying tram fare.
What a nice evening they would have, all the children singing!
Only she hoped that Joe wouldn't come in drunk.
He was so different when he took any drink.
Often he had wanted her to go and live with them;
-but she would have felt herself in the way (though Joe's wife was ever so nice with her) and she had become accustomed to the life of the laundry.
Joe was a good fellow.
She had nursed him and Alphy too;
and Joe used often say:
"Mamma is mamma but Maria is my proper mother."
After the break-up at home the boys had got her that position in the Dublin by Lamplight laundry, and she liked it.
She used to have such a bad opinion of Protestants but now she thought they were very nice people, a little quiet and serious, but still very nice people to live with.
Then she had her plants in the conservatory and she liked looking after them.
She had lovely ferns and wax-plants and, whenever anyone came to visit her, she always gave the visitor one or two slips from her conservatory.
There was one thing she didn't like and that was the tracts on the walks;
but the matron was such a nice person to deal with, so genteel.
When the cook told her everything was ready she went into the women's room and began to pull the big bell.
In a few minutes the women began to come in by twos and threes, wiping their steaming hands in their petticoats and pulling down the sleeves of their blouses over their red steaming arms.
They settled down before their huge mugs which the cook and the dummy filled up with hot tea, already mixed with milk and sugar in huge tin cans.
Maria superintended the distribution of the barmbrack and saw that every woman got her four slices.
There was a great deal of laughing and joking during the meal.
Lizzie Fleming said Maria was sure to get the ring and, though Fleming had said that for so many Hallow Eves, Maria had to laugh and say she didn't want any ring or man either;
and when she laughed her grey-green eyes sparkled with disappointed shyness and the tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin.
Then Ginger Mooney lifted her mug of tea and proposed Maria's health while all the other women clattered with their mugs on the table, and said she was sorry she hadn't a sup of porter to drink it in.
And Maria laughed again till the tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin and till her minute body nearly shook itself asunder because she knew that Mooney meant well though, of course, she had the notions of a common woman.
But wasn't Maria glad when the women had finished their tea and the cook and the dummy had begun to clear away the tea- things!
She went into her little bedroom and, remembering that the next morning was a mass morning, changed the hand of the alarm from seven to six.
Then she took off her working skirt and her house-boots and laid her best skirt out on the bed and her tiny dress-boots beside the foot of the bed.
She changed her blouse too and, as she stood before the mirror, she thought of how she used to dress for mass on Sunday morning when she was a young girl;
and she looked with quaint affection at the diminutive body which she had so often adorned,
In spite of its years she found it a nice tidy little body.
When she got outside the streets were shining with rain and she was glad of her old brown waterproof.
The tram was full and she had to sit on the little stool at the end of the car, facing all the people, with her toes barely touching the floor.
She arranged in her mind all she was going to do and thought how much better it was to be independent and to have your own money in your pocket.
She hoped they would have a nice evening.
She was sure they would but she could not help thinking what a pity it was Alphy and Joe were not speaking.
They were always falling out now but when they were boys together they used to be the best of friends:
but such was life.
She got out of her tram at the Pillar and ferreted her way quickly among the crowds.
She went into Downes's cake-shop but the shop was so full of people that it was a long time before she could get herself attended to.
She bought a dozen of mixed penny cakes, and at last came out of the shop laden with a big bag.
Then she thought what else would she buy:
she wanted to buy something really nice.
They would be sure to have plenty of apples and nuts.
It was hard to know what to buy and all she could think of was cake.
She decided to buy some plumcake but Downes's plumcake had not enough almond icing on top of it so she went over to a shop in Henry Street.
Here she was a long time in suiting herself and the stylish young lady behind the counter, who was evidently a little annoyed by her, asked her was it wedding-cake she wanted to buy.
That made Maria blush and smile at the young lady;
but the young lady took it all very seriously and finally cut a thick slice of plumcake, parcelled it up and said:
"Two-and-four, please."
She thought she would have to stand in the Drumcondra tram because none of the young men seemed to notice her but an elderly gentleman made room for her.
He was a stout gentleman and he wore a brown hard hat;
he had a square red face and a greyish moustache.
Maria thought he was a colonel-looking gentleman and she reflected how much more polite he was than the young men who simply stared straight before them.
The gentleman began to chat with her about Hallow Eve and the rainy weather.
He supposed the bag was full of good things for the little ones and said it was only right that the youngsters should enjoy themselves while they were young.
Maria agreed with him and favoured him with demure nods and hems.
He was very nice with her, and when she was getting out at the Canal Bridge she thanked him and bowed, and he bowed to her and raised his hat and smiled agreeably, and while she was going up along the terrace, bending her tiny head under the rain, she thought how easy it was to know a gentleman even when he has a drop taken.
Everybody said:
Joe was there, having come home from business, and all the children had their Sunday dresses on.
There were two big girls in from next door and games were going on.
Maria gave the bag of cakes to the eldest boy, Alphy, to divide and Mrs. Donnelly said it was too good of her to bring such a big bag of cakes and made all the children say:
"Thanks, Maria."
But Maria said she had brought something special for papa and mamma, something they would be sure to like, and she began to look for her plumcake.
She tried in Downes's bag and then in the pockets of her waterproof and then on the hallstand but nowhere could she find it.
Then she asked all the children had any of them eaten it
--by mistake, of course
--but the children all said no and looked as if they did not like to eat cakes if they were to be accused of stealing.
Everybody had a solution for the mystery and Mrs. Donnelly said it was plain that Maria had left it behind her in the tram.
Maria, remembering how confused the gentleman with the greyish moustache had made her, coloured with shame and vexation and disappointment.
At the thought of the failure of her little surprise and of the two and fourpence she had thrown away for nothing she nearly cried outright.
But Joe said it didn't matter and made her sit down by the fire.
He was very nice with her.
He told her all that went on in his office, repeating for her a smart answer which he had made to the manager.
Maria did not understand why Joe laughed so much over the answer he had made but she said that the manager must have been a very overbearing person to deal with.
Joe said he wasn't so bad when you knew how to take him, that he was a decent sort so long as you didn't rub him the wrong way.
Mrs. Donnelly played the piano for the children and they danced and sang.
Then the two next-door girls handed round the nuts.
Nobody could find the nutcrackers and Joe was nearly getting cross over it and asked how did they expect Maria to crack nuts without a nutcracker.
But Maria said she didn't like nuts and that they weren't to bother about her.
Then Joe asked would she take a bottle of stout and Mrs. Donnelly said there was port wine too in the house if she would prefer that.
Maria said she would rather they didn't ask her to take anything:
but Joe insisted.
So Maria let him have his way and they sat by the fire talking over old times and Maria thought she would put in a good word for Alphy.
But Joe cried that God might strike him stone dead if ever he spoke a word to his brother again and Maria said she was sorry she had mentioned the matter.
Mrs. Donnelly told her husband it was a great shame for him to speak that way of his own flesh and blood but Joe said that Alphy was no brother of his and there was nearly being a row on the head of it.
But Joe said he would not lose his temper on account of the night it was and asked his wife to open some more stout.
The two next-door girls had arranged some Hallow Eve games and soon everything was merry again.
Maria was delighted to see the children so merry and Joe and his wife in such good spirits.
The next-door girls put some saucers on the table and then led the children up to the table, blindfold.
One got the prayer-book and the other three got the water;
and when one of the next-door girls got the ring Mrs. Donnelly shook her finger at the blushing girl as much as to say:
They insisted then on blindfolding Maria and leading her up to the table to see what she would get;
and, while they were putting on the bandage, Maria laughed and laughed again till the tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin.
They led her up to the table amid laughing and joking and she put her hand out in the air as she was told to do.
She moved her hand about here and there in the air and descended on one of the saucers.
She felt a soft wet substance with her fingers and was surprised that nobody spoke or took off her bandage.
There was a pause for a few seconds;
and then a great deal of scuffling and whispering.
Somebody said something about the garden, and at last Mrs. Donnelly said something very cross to one of the next-door girls and told her to throw it out at once:
that was no play.
Maria understood that it was wrong that time and so she had to do it over again:
and this time she got the prayer-book.
After that Mrs. Donnelly played Miss McCloud's Reel for the children and Joe made Maria take a glass of wine.
Soon they were all quite merry again and Mrs. Donnelly said Maria would enter a convent before the year was out because she had got the prayer-book.
Maria had never seen Joe so nice to her as he was that night, so full of pleasant talk and reminiscences.
She said they were all very good to her.
At last the children grew tired and sleepy and Joe asked Maria would she not sing some little song before she went, one of the old songs.
Mrs. Donnelly said
and so Maria had to get up and stand beside the piano.
Mrs. Donnelly bade the children be quiet and listen to Maria's song.
Then she played the prelude
and said
She sang I Dreamt that I Dwelt, and when she came to the second verse she sang again:
I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls
With vassals and serfs at my side,
And of all who assembled within those walls
That I was the hope and the pride.
I had riches too great to count; could boast
Of a high ancestral name,
But I also dreamt, which pleased me most,
That you loved me still the same.
But no one tried to show her her mistake;
and when she had ended her song Joe was very much moved.
He said that there was no time like the long ago and no music for him like poor old Balfe, whatever other people might say;
and his eyes filled up so much with tears that he could not find what he was looking for and in the end he had to ask his wife to tell him where the corkscrew was. | {
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王宮で働いていた人がどうして貧困村なんかに......。
「意見が合わず偉い人に反論したら激怒させてしまっての。目をとられて、そのままここに流されたんじゃ」
「どん......な反論を、なさったのですか?」
「君の名前は?」
「アリシアです」
「そうか、アリシア......、いい名前だ。わしはウィル。ただのウィルだ」
私がどんな表情をしているのか分かったのかしら。とても落ち着いた。
「アリシア、君にはまだ理解できない事かもしれないが、古い事が良い事だとは限らないんじゃ。歴史を振り返る意味が何かわかるか?」
返事をしなければいけないと分かっていても言葉が出なかった。
「歴史を振り返るのというのは、昔の方が良かったという事を確認するためにあるのではない。昔より、より良くするために、昔の失敗を知り新しい発展を生み出すために歴史を振り返るのじゃ」
私は無意識のうちに涙が頬に伝っていた。
ウィルおじいさんは手で私の涙を優しく拭ってくれた。
「君は頭が良い子なんじゃな。知恵を生み出せるように知識をためておくのも大事じゃが、知識をつけていてもそれを知恵として活かせなければ意味がないのじゃ」
「ウィルおじいさんは、王宮......、貴族が憎いですか?」
「憎くないと言えば嘘になる。今でも昔の自分の面影を夢の中で探してしまうんじゃ。彩った世界に記憶の中で触れようとすると刹那に消えてゆく。それが時たまわしの心を苦しめる。じゃがな、わしは間違った事をしていないと信じている。そして、それを必ず誰かが理解してくれる日がくると信じているんじゃ。そう思うと、自分がした事に誇りを持って生きてゆけるんじゃ」
私は自分が恥ずかしくなった。自分がいかに恵まれているかにして初めて知ったから。
涙が止まらないわ。嗚咽をあげながら泣いた。みっともないと分かっていても止められなかった。
自分と同じ立場の貴族への怒りと目を奪われたおじいさんの考えに比べ悪女になりたいという自分の小ささ、全ての感情が混じり自分を抑えられなくなった。
ウィルおじいさんは私を優しく抱きしめてくれた。その温かさを私は生涯忘れないわ。
私は悪女になりたいという話を包み隠さず全ておじいさんに話した。
そのためにここに来たことも......。
ウィルおじいさんは最後まで静かに話を聞いてくれた。
私が話し終えると、ウィルおじいさんは優しく微笑んで私の頭を撫でてくれた。
「君はとても賢い子だ」
今きっと私は最高に不細工な顔をしているわ。明日の朝はきっと目が開かないんじゃないかしら。
「悪女になりたくて剣術を習い、本を毎日大量に読んでいるのか......」
私は深く頷いた。
目尻をクシャクシャにしてウィルおじいさんは笑った。
「その志をどうかこれからも持ち続けなさい」
予想外な事に悪女になる事を推奨された。何故かしら......。
悪女って悪い女の事なのよ。自分が良ければそれでいいと思っている女なのに......。
「今日はもう帰りなさい」
「また来ますわ」
私の返答にウィルおじいさんが困った表情をした。
「来ない方がいい」
「いいえ。私はウィルおじいさんともっとお話がしたいもの」
私が頑固決めたらそれをやり通すって事が伝わったのかしら。
私はウィルおじいさんの家を出て霧の方へ向かった。
やっぱり匂いは強烈ね。私は鼻を手で覆った。
霧を抜け森に出た。私は消えたランプを手に森を駆け抜けた。
行きの恐怖心が帰りは全くなかった。帰りながら貧困村の事を考えていた。
貧困村を一言で表すと、腐敗地域。
本来なと行きたくないのだけれど、私はウィルおじいさんともう一度話したいわ。 | How would someone who used to work for the palace end up in this sort of place.....
“I didn’t agree with a couple of powerful people and when I voiced my objections all that did was earn their ire. They blinded me and then threw me in here.”
“What sort.... of objections did you have?” I ask, noticing that my voice trembled a bit as I spoke.
“What’s your name?”
“It’s Alicia.”
“I see. Alicia..... What a nice name. I’m Will... Just Will,” he says, lightly ruffling my hair.
I wonder if he can tell what sort of face I’m making right now; a very composed, serious expression.
“Alicia, you might not understand this yet, but just because we have always done something a certain way and it’s worked up until now, doesn’t mean we should limit ourselves to only that method. Do you know what it means to reflect on the past?”
Even though I can tell he’s waiting for my response, the words seem to catch in my throat.
“To reflect on the past doesn’t mean to validate the good things that our ancestors did and just continue to use them. Rather than adopt ancient strategies that worked long ago, we should be learning from them, improving them. It means to develop and grow as a people and as a country after learning from the mistakes that have been made throughout history.”
Without realizing it, while listening to his explanation, tears had started to fall from my eyes.
Grandpa Will gently wipes them off my cheeks for me.
“You’re a bright kid. In order to make wise choices, it’s indeed vital to gather knowledge on a wide variety of subjects, but never forget that knowledge without wisdom holds no meaning.”
“Grandpa Will, because of the palace..... Do you hate nobles now?”
“I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t. Even now, I feel the vestiges of my old self calling to me in my dreams, tantalizing me with the colorful world from my memories. But the moment that I’ve finally grasped that world, the blackness rushes back in and I’m once again left in total darkness. Those moments still torment me from time to time. But I don’t regret it, and I can look past those feelings. I still don’t think that what I did was wrong. And I believe that there will come a time when others will realize that as well. Thanks to that, I’m able to continue living on with pride.”
I’m starting to feel ashamed of myself. Because for the first time in my years of life, I finally understand how truly blessed I am.
My tears start falling faster. I’m crying full force now, sobbing. I know it’s shameful to cry like this, but I can’t seem to stop.
This man had his eyes ruined just because he angered someone with a similar noble status to mine, and in contrast I’ve just been living my life obliviously, and for what? Trying to become a villainess? After hearing his story, I can’t help but feel small and ignorant. I have so many feelings swirling helplessly within me that I can’t contain them and so the tears continue to fall.
Without saying anything, Grandpa Will just puts his arms around me, patting my back comfortingly. I swear, I’ll never forget this warmth that he’s showing me for the rest of my life.
I don’t want to conceal my aspirations to become a villainess, so I tell him everything.
In the process, I also explain the reason that I came here today.....
Grandpa Will just listens quietly to me as I talk.
And when I had finally finished explaining everything, he merely smiles gently at me and pats my head.
“What a clever child you are,” he tells me as a couple of tears start to roll down my cheeks again.
I’m sure I look like an absolute mess right now. I wonder if I’ll even be able to open my eyes tomorrow morning after all this crying I’ve been doing.
“So you’ve been learning how to use a sword and reading countless books every day in order to become a villainess.....”
I give him a huge nod.
Grandpa Will smiles broadly at that, the lines around his eyes crinkling.
“Never lose that ambition of yours.”
Surprisingly, he’s actually okay with me wanting to become a villainess.... to the point of endorsing it? I wonder why.....
A villainess is a bad person, you know. She’s someone who won’t care what happens to others as long as she, herself, is doing well.....
“You should go home now.”
“I’ll come again.”
At my quick reply, Grandpa Will’s expression turns troubled.
“It would be better if you didn’t come back.”
“No. I still want to talk with you more, Grandpa Will.”
I wonder if he’s already realized how stubborn I am, and that once I’ve made up my mind to do something I’ll definitely make sure to see it through until the end.
On that note, I leave Grandpa Will’s house and head back towards the mist.
As soon as I get outside, I’m once again accosted by the awful smell. I cover my nose with my hand in an attempt to avoid the stench as much as possible while I walk.
After a few minutes, I’ve walked into and through the fog, and find myself back in the woods. I carry my extinguished lantern, and start running back towards home.
At this point, my eyes had already become accustomed to the darkness, and as I make my way back I notice that the terror I had felt while coming here is completely gone now. And as I run home, I think more about what I had just seen.
In a few words, that impoverished village is just a place of decay and despair.
I would rather not go there again in the future, but I want to talk more with Grandpa Will. Since, of all of my acquaintance, I definitely think that he’s the wisest person I’ve ever met. | {
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「みなさま、昨日は本当にありがとうございました。娘を助けていただいたご恩忘れません。どれだけ時間がかかろうと、きっと恩返しいたします」
でっぷりした行商人のおっさんが、俺とクロエとバルベラとアンナさんと、大量のアンデッドたちに頭を下げる。
赤死病。
発症したら致死率100%で、しかも伝染病というおっそろしい病気。
800年研究してきたアンナさんがいなければ、行商人の子供は治らなかっただろう。
というか薬はいままでなかったみたいで、アンナさんもアンデッドへの治験以外では初めて使ったそうだ。
昨日の治療は、俺が思ったよりもギリギリだったらしい。
「助けられて、間に合って本当によかったです。本当に......」
アンナさんは心から笑っている。
間に合ってよかったと、かつて自分たちを滅ぼした赤死病を治療できてよかったと。
「そうでした、ご夫妻とナオヤさん、クロエさんも、念のためこれを飲んでください」
「アンナさん、これは?」
「むっ、苦いし青臭いぞアンナ! はっ! これはまさかウワサに聞くアレに似た味でさてはアンナはナオヤの指令で私に慣れさせようとっ! くっ、卑怯だぞナオヤ!」
「説明聞く前にあっさり飲むなクロエ。あとなんだそれいつもよりわかりづらいぞ寝ぼけてるのか?」
アンナさんから渡されたのは、栄養ドリンクぐらいの大きさの透明な小瓶だ。
中には澄んだ赤い液体が入っている。
早朝の陽光を反射してるんじゃなくて、ほのかに光ってるようにも見える。
「赤死病の薬です。といっても、昨日の薬を薄めたものですが......斑点が発生する前なら、それで充分効果がありますから」
「あ、そっか、伝染病で俺たちはあの子と接したから。あれ? バルベラは?」
「......強い子。かからない」
「あー、バルベラは元が元だから赤死病にかからないと。薬の材料になるぐらいだしそれも当然か」
なんでバルベラの分の薬がないのかと思ったら、そういうことらしい。
さすがドラゴン。
そういえば薬にはドラゴンの血を入れてたっけ。
無意味なリストカットじゃなくてよかったです。
「うわっ、にがっ! 草の臭いもすごい。良薬口に苦しって言うし、これで赤死病ってヤツが治るんだからガマンするけど」
味を整えたりカプセル状にしたり、錠剤や顆粒にしたり、いろいろ工夫されてる元の世界の薬学すごい。
まあギリギリで間に合ったわけだし、背に腹は代えられないだろう。
マズイ薬を飲み干した俺は、あらためてアンナさんに質問する。
「アンナさん、それで相談ってなんですか?」
「その前に......ナオヤさん、昨日はすみませんでした。勝手に薬を作って使って......栄養剤や毛布や冷却剤、いろいろ売れるものがあったのに」
「ははっ、問題ありませんよアンナさん。そんな小さな売上なんかより、お店の評判の方が大事ですから」
行商人の子供が、もしアイヲンモール異世界店の敷地内で亡くなったら。しかも、伝染病だったって知られたら。
しかもここは異世界で「科学的に安全」だとしても証明しようがない。「安全より安心」以前に「安全」を説明するのが大変だ。
だからアンナさんが治療してくれたのは本当にありがたくて、一人分の看病用商品を売る機会なんてどうでもいい。まったく痛くない。
「そう言ってもらえてよかったです......さすがナオヤさんですね」
「むっ! アンナ、私が店長だったとしてもおっけーしたぞ! 病に苦しむ子供を救うより優先されることなどないッ!」
「ふふ、そうですね、クロエさん」
「ほんと、ときどきまともなこと言うよなクロエ。エロ回路さえなければポンコツ騎士とも呼ばれなかったんじゃないか?」
「し、失礼だぞナオヤ! 誇り高きヴェルトゥの里のエルフで聖騎士のこの私にっ!」
「家出娘だけどな。それでアンナさん、相談って?」
「赤死病にかかったあの子と接触した人に、薬を配りたいのです。この場にいない人で接触しているのは街の門番さん、それに昨日の朝にアイヲンにいたみなさんでしょうか」
「あー、なるほど」
赤死病は伝染病だ。
いま薬をもらった俺たちだけじゃなくて、ほかに接触した人たちも感染した可能性がある。
アンナさんは、真剣な顔で俺を見つめていた。
後ろにならんだスケルトン隊長とスケルトン部隊、エプロン付きスケルトン、それにゾンビも。
ウサギの着ぐるみに憑依したゴーストは、なんだか俺にすり寄ってる。お願いしてるつもりなんだろうか。
「ダメ、でしょうか?」
「もちろんOKですよ。それとアンナさん。ついでに、近日中にドラッグストアがオープンするって宣伝してきてください」
「え? ナオヤさん?」
「アンナさんは薬が作れる。しかも赤死病っていう不治の病の薬まで。それにアンナさんもクロエも回復魔法が使える。ドラッグストアとしては、頼れると思いませんか?」
「おおっ、つまり私の出番もあるわけだな! ナオヤは私を! 頼りにしていると!」
「そうは言っても、元の世界から持ち込まれた薬は在庫が少ないから販売できませんけど。充分ですよね?」
「......はい。はいっ!」
なんだか張り切るクロエを無視してアンナさんに告げる。
アンナさんは、満面の笑みで賛成してくれた。
ガチャガチャと手、いや手の骨を鳴らして後ろのスケルトンたちも。
あ、ゾンビは拍手しないでもらえるかな? ビチャビチャって湿った音があれだしなんか飛び散ってるんだけど。それ病原菌含まれてるよね?
「機器を使えませんしあちらの薬は補充できませんから、医療モールは諦めましょう。あとは、この世界の包帯なんかも用意した方がよさそうですね。街の外でケガをした冒険者向けに」
「ほうほう、なるほど。店長さん、少々よろしいですか?」
「あ、はい、どうしました行商人さん?」
「包帯をはじめとした日用品は、私に卸させていただけませんか? 農村への行商向けに日用品も扱っておりますから」
俺の言葉に反応したのは、いままで黙っていた行商人だ。
でっぷりしたおっさんは少しでも恩返しできるチャンスだと思ったんだろう。
「なるほど、仕入れ先はある程度絞れた方がラクですからね。ただそうすると間に業者を挟むわけで、直取引よりも高くつくような」
「ははっ、そこは勉強させていただきますとも! なにしろみなさまは恩人ですから! なあに、利益はよそで出せばいいのです! それに仕入れの量が増える分、仕入れ値は交渉できますしねえ」
太鼓腹をぽんと叩いて行商人が笑う。
ウチへは利益を上乗せしないで卸し、数量が増えた分仕入れ値をまけさせたうえで他所で売って、利益を確保するつもりらしい。
「そのあたりはあとで詳しくお話しさせてください。まずはアンナさん、お願いできますか?」
「はい! では私たちは支度してきます!」
街に広がるのを止めるために、アンナさんはいそいそとバックヤードへ向かっていった。
「あ、ゾンビは中を通らないでもらっていいですか? 汚れはともかく汚染が」
目の前を通り過ぎるアンデッドたちを見送ろうとして注意する。
昨夜のアンナさんの言葉が本当なら、ゾンビは赤死病のキャリアらしい。
「......血は薬。売る?」
「いいから。売らないから。だからリストカット常習者みたいな慣れた手つきをやめようなバルベラ」
手首を見せてくるバルベラを止める。
ドラゴンの血が薬になるってわかってても、すぐ治るってわかってても、見た目10歳ぐらいのバルベラのリストカットは精神衛生上よくない。
「よし。じゃあアンナさんはいないけど、開店準備をはじめるか!......とりあえずクロエはゾンビがいたあたりを『浄化』してくれ」
「そうだなナオヤ、私に任せるといい! 聖騎士の! この私に!」
「......むっ。ブレス。消毒できる」
「やめてくださいバルベラさんそろそろ農家のおばちゃんたちが来るんで見られます」
俺が異世界に来てから13日目、店長になってから12日目のアイヲンモール異世界店。
あ、商人ギルド長にケチつけられないように、薬の販売許可ももらいに行った方がいいかも。 | “Everyone, thank you very much for yesterday. I will never forget the kindness of helping my daughter. No matter how much time it takes, I will definitely repay the favor.
A stout traveling merchant bows to a large number of undead, along with me, Chloe, Barbera, and Anna-san.
The Red Plague.
A dreadful disease with a % mortality rate once contracted, and it’s also a contagious disease.
If it weren’t for Anna-san, who has been researching for years, the merchant’s child would not have been cured.
In fact, it seems there has never been a cure before, and Anna-san used it for the first time, other than in experiments on the undead.
Yesterday’s treatment seems to have been even more critical than I thought.
“I’m really glad we made it in time for the help. Truly...”
Anna-san is genuinely smiling.
She’s relieved that they were able to treat the Red Plague, the disease that once destroyed them.
“Yes, please, both of you and Naoya-san, Chloe-san, for precaution, please drink this.”
“Anna-san, what’s this?”
“Hmm, it’s bitter and smells like grass, Anna! Hah! Could it be that this tastes like the rumored thing? Naoya is trying to get me used to it under his command! Damn it, Naoya, that’s sneaky!”
“Chloe, drink it before hearing the explanation. And what’s with that, it’s more confusing than usual. Are you half-asleep?”
What Anna-san handed over is a small, transparent bottle about the size of a nutritional drink.
Inside is a clear red liquid.
It doesn’t seem to be reflecting the early morning sunlight but rather seems to be faintly glowing.
“It’s a medicine for the Red Plague. Well, it’s a diluted version of yesterday’s medicine. But if taken before the spots appear, it should be effective enough.”
“Oh, right, we came into contact with that child with the infectious disease. Huh? What about Barbera?”
“...Am strong. Not affected.”
“Ah, Barbera is Barbera, so of course she wouldn’t get the Red Plague. It’s natural since she’s more like a material for the medicine.”
I wondered if there was any medicine for Barbera, and it seems that’s the reason.
As expected of a dragon.
Come to think of it, the medicine had dragon blood in it.
It’s a relief it wasn’t some pointless self-harm.
“Ugh, it’s bitter! The smell of grass is strong too. They say good medicine tastes bitter, and it does cure the Red Plague, so I’ll endure it, but...”
The pharmaceutical science of my world, which adjusts the taste, forms it into capsules, tablets, granules, and various other forms, is amazing.
Well, since it barely made it in time, there’s no choice but to accept it.
After gulping down the unpleasant medicine, I ask Anna-san again.
“Anna-san, what’s the consultation about?”
“Before that... Naoya-san, I’m sorry for yesterday. I made medicine on my own and used it... there were things like nutrient drinks, blankets, and cooling agents that could have been sold.”
“Haha, no problem, Anna-san. More than a small profit like that, the store’s reputation is more important.”
If the child of the traveling merchant died on the premises of Aion Mall’s otherworldly store, especially from a contagious disease, without a doubt, customers would stay away. I wouldn’t go.
Moreover, no one would visit a shopping mall where there was a 0% mortality rate infectious disease. Even if it’s “scientifically safe” in this otherworld, proving “safety” is more challenging than ensuring “peace of mind.”
“That’s why I’m truly grateful that Anna-san treated us, and the opportunity to sell goods for nursing a single person doesn’t matter at all. It doesn’t hurt at all.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that... Truly, Naoya-san.”
“Hmm! Anna, even if I were the store manager, I would’ve been okay with it! There’s nothing more important than saving a child suffering from illness!”
“Haha, that’s true, Chloe-san.”
“Really, Chloe, you say sensible things occasionally. If it weren’t for your perverted mind, you might not have been called the Clumsy Knight, huh?”
“Hey, that’s rude, Naoya! I’m a proud elf of the Vertu Village and a holy knight!”
“Despite being a runaway girl. So, Anna-san, about the consultation?”
“I want to distribute medicine to those who came into contact with the child infected with the Red Plague. The people who might have come into contact but are not present here are the city gatekeepers and everyone in Aion yesterday morning, right?”
“Ah, I see.”
The Red Plague is contagious.
Not only us, who received medicine just now, but others who came into contact with it may also be infected.
Anna was looking at me with a serious expression.
Behind her were the Skeleton Captain and Skeleton Squad, Skeleton with an apron, and even zombies.
The ghost possessing the rabbit costume seems to be clinging to me somehow. Maybe it’s asking for something.
“Is that not possible?”
“Of course, it’s okay. And Anna-san, by the way, please advertise that a drugstore will be opening soon.”
“Eh? Naoya-san?”
“Anna-san can make medicine. Moreover, a cure for the incurable Red Plague. And both Anna-san and Chloe can use healing magic. As a drugstore, don’t you think you can rely on them?”
“Oh, that means it’s my turn! Naoya is relying on me!”
“Even so, we can’t sell the medicines brought from my world because the stock is low. Is that sufficient?”
“...Yes. Yes!”
Ignoring Chloe, who seems enthusiastic for some reason, I tell Anna-san.
Anna-san agreed with a beaming smile.
Even the skeletons behind her clattered their bones in excitement.
Oh, can the zombie not applaud? There’s a wet sound like something is splashing around. Does that contain pathogens?
“We can’t use devices, and we can’t replenish the medicines there, so let’s give up on the medical mall. Also, it seems like it would be a good idea to prepare bandages and other daily necessities for this world. Especially for adventurers who get injured outside the city.”
“I see, I see. Manager, may I ask something?”
“Oh, yes, what is it, Mr. Merchant?”
“Could you let me wholesale daily necessities, including bandages? I also deal with daily necessities for trading in the rural areas.”
The traveling merchant, who had been silent until now, responded to my words.
The plump old man must have thought it was a chance to repay even a little.
” I see, it’s easier when you narrow down your suppliers to some extent. However, that means involving middlemen, which may result in higher costs compared to dealing directly.”
“Haha, I’ll definitely learn from that! After all, everyone here is my benefactor! Profit can be earned elsewhere! Besides, with an increase in the quantity of purchases, you can negotiate the procurement price.”
The traveling merchant laughs, patting his round belly.
He seems to plan on wholesaling to us without adding extra profit, offering a discount on the procurement price for the increased quantity, and then selling elsewhere to secure a profit. Despite talking about repaying kindness, he doesn’t seem willing to incur losses. His shrewdness makes him reliable as a businessman.
“Let’s discuss that in detail later. For now, Anna-san, may I ask for your assistance?”
“Yes! We’ll get ready then!”
Anna-san and her companions aim to overcome the Red Death, a long-cherished goal. To prevent its spread in the city, Anna eagerly heads towards the backyard, followed by her undead subordinates.
“Ah, can you have the zombies avoid passing through here? Not for the dirt, but to prevent contamination.”
I’m being cautious as the undead pass by.
If Anna-san’s words from last night are true, zombies seem to be carriers of the Red Death. The zombie, hand in hand with the ghost in a costume, stops and tilts its head, not because it’s cute, but because its floppy head is about to fall.
“Blood is medicine. Sell?”
“No, won’t sell. So stop cutting like a habitual self-harmer, Barbera.”
I stop Barbera, who is showing her wrists.
Even though dragon blood is known to have medicinal properties and quick healing effects, Barbera’s self-harming with the appearance of a 10-year-old is bad for my mental health. Running my fingers through her hair, Barbera squints as if ticklish.
“Alright then. Since Anna-san is not here, let’s start preparing for the store opening! ...For now, Chloe, ‘purify’ the area where the zombies were.”
“Sure thing, Naoya! Leave it to me, the holy knight!”
“...Hmm. Breath. Disinfect.”
“Please stop, Barbera-san. The ladies from the farms will be here soon, and they might see you.”
On the 13th day since I arrived in the other world and the 12th day as the store manager of Aiwon Mall in the other world, today seems to involve both running the business and preparing for the opening of the drugstore.
Come to think of it, is it okay to let Anna-san go to the city alone? Oh, to avoid complaints from the Merchant Guild head, it might be a good idea to get permission for selling medicine. | {
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俺のすぐ近くに顔を寄せていたケーテがびくっとして後ろに飛んだ。
それだけで大体十歩分ぐらいの移動距離だ。風竜王ケーテの体はそれだけ大きいのだ。
「うわ、父ちゃん。気配を消して近づくのはやめるのである!」
「別に消してなどいない。油断しすぎだ」
そして、ドルゴは俺の近くに降り立った。その背にはエリックとゴランが乗っている。
確かに十分ほど待てと指示された。だが、まさか十分でやってくるとは思わなかった。
風竜の翼をもってしても、かなり急ぐ必要があっただろう。
俺はドルゴに頭を下げる。
「お忙しいところ申し訳ありません」
「いえいえ! ちょうど娘にも会いたいとおもっていたところですし」
そういって、ドルゴは笑った。俺はドルゴの背から降りたエリックとゴランに言う。
「ずいぶんと早いな」
「当然だ。たまたとも王宮にいたんだ」
「だから、急げばこのぐらいで駆けつけることもできるってもんだ」
エリックとドルゴはどや顔だ。
「まさか、王宮から飛び立ったのか?」
「そんなことはしない。大騒ぎになるからな」
「ロックの屋敷経由で、王都の外に出て、飛び立ったのはそこからだな」
エリックもゴランも、そして人型のドルゴも走っても速い。
ものすごく高速で走る三人の人影の噂が立たないか心配だ。
エリックはすぐに周囲を観察して、転移魔法陣に目を向ける。
転移魔法陣はまだ活性化されたままだ。
小さなこぶし大の魔道具から空中に鈍く光る大きな魔法陣が展開されている。
「これが例の転移魔法陣か?」
「そうだ。この中からハイロードを含めた大量のヴァンパイアがわいて来た」
「さっそく、中に入るとするか」
エリックは張り切っているようだ。
「その前に、狼の獣人族に連絡しないといけないだろう」
「それは上空で済ませた。抜かりはない」
ドルゴの背の上で連絡したということだろう。さすがは国王。できる男だ。
その時、セルリスが叫ぶように言う。
「私も行きます」
「セルリス。お前は留守番だ」
ゴランがはっきりと告げる。何度か見たやり取りだ。
「セルリスが成長しているのは知っているが、今回は予測が立てにくい」
「私では対応できない可能性が高いってことよね?」
「正直、それもあるが、こちら側でも何が起こるかわからない。戦力は残しておきたい」
セルリスをなだめるための方便でもあるが、それだけではない。
実際、こちら側に戦力をある程度は置いておきたいのは事実なのだ。
だが、ケーテが首をかしげながら言う。
「うーん。ニアとルッチラはともかく、セルリスは連れて行っていいのではないか?」
「ケーテ、そうは言うがな」
「シアは連れて行くのであろう?」
「当然、あたしは行くでありますよ。狼の獣人族の集落が襲撃を受けたであります」
シアは迷いなく言う。
ヴァンパイア狩りである狼の獣人族が、ヴァンパイアに襲われたのだ。
しかも、主要族長の屋敷すべてに、ほぼ同時に攻撃を仕掛けられた。
「これは狼の獣人族に対する完全なる宣戦布告でありますよ」
「そう......か?」
俺は少し返答に困ってしまった。
ヴァンパイアと狼の獣人族は、ずっと昔から戦闘中だ。いまさら宣戦布告もないだろう。
「特大爆弾の使用から考えて、殲滅戦を仕掛けられたといわざるを得ないであります」
「シアの気持ちはわかるが、うむぅ」
ゴランは少し考えている。
ヴァンパイアが狙ったのは、むしろ王宮の方だと俺は思う。
狼の獣人族では爆弾を解析するのは難しい。
調査依頼を出せば、枢密院主導で王宮に近い宮廷魔導士か宮廷錬金術士が調べることになる。
そうなれば爆弾はそこで爆発しただろう。
「......とはいえ、この短期間で爆弾が王宮に運ばれたとは考えにくいのは事実だな」
にもかかわらず、ヴァンパイアどもは湧いていた。
王宮もしくは、狼の獣人族のどちらかを殲滅できればそれでいいと考えていた可能性も高い。
「ロックさんの言うとおりであります」
そして、シアは俺たちを見回しながら言う。
「ということで、狼の獣人族が今回の戦いに参加しないのはあり得ないであります」
ほかの狼の獣人族の戦士を呼びに行くのは、さすがに時間がもったいない。
そして、ニアは未熟すぎる。となるとシアを連れて行くしかない。
「シアがいくなら、私も行くわ!」
ゴランは、まだためらいがあるようだ。
「よいではないか。かわいい子は虎穴に放り込めというのである」
「......言わないだろう。そんなことわざ聞いたことない」
俺が言うと、ドルゴがこそっとつぶやくように言う。
「......実は竜族にはそういうことわざがあるのです」
「そうなのですか?」
「はい。実際に放り込むこともありますし」
竜は子供でも強い。弱い人間とは違うということなのだろう。
ケーテの意見を聞いて、エリックが小さな声でゴランに言う。
「ゴラン、まあよいのではないか? 戦力的には、すでに一流の戦士だ。危険ではあるが......」
「......そうだな。セルリス。同行を許すが指示は聞け。一人で突っ走ることは絶対にするな」
「わかっているわ。ありがとう!」
セルリスはとても嬉しそうだ。だがゴランは不安そうに俺の耳元で言う。
「ロック。いろいろと頼む」
「わかった。安心しろ」
俺はゴランを安心させるように、微笑んでおいた。 | Kathe had had her face close to me, but she now flinched and jumped back.
That meant a distance of about steps. That was how large the wind dragon ruler’s body was.
“Ah! Dad. Don’t approach us while erasing your presence like that!”
“I didn’t erase anything. You just let your guard down, that’s all.”
And then Dorgo landed next to me. Eric and Goran were riding on his back.
Indeed, they had asked me to wait for minutes. However, I hadn’t expected them to actually arrive within minutes.
It should have been quite difficult, even with the wings of a wind dragon.
I bowed my head to Dorgo.
“I’m sorry. You must be very busy right now.”
“No-no! I was just thinking about paying my daughter a visit.”
Dorgo said with a laugh. I turned to Eric and Goran as they got off of Dorgo’s back.
“You were awfully quick.”
“Of course, we are. We all happened to be together at the palace.”
“And so it was possible to come here at such short notice.”
Eric and Goran looked a little smug.
“What? You flew here from the palace?”
“No, we wouldn’t do that. It would cause quite a scene.”
“We left the city through your mansion and then took off from there.”
Eric, Goran, and Dorgo were very fast on their feet.
Honestly, now I was worried about all the rumors that would spread after people saw them running.
Eric immediately started to inspect the area and then turned to the teleportation circle.
It was still active.
A dim, shining magic circle was floating in the air above the fist-sized device.
“So, this is the teleportation circle that you were talking about?”
“Yes. An army of vampires that even included High Lords came out of this thing.”
“Well, we should go inside then.”
Eric seemed very excited.
“But first, we should contact the beastkin wolves.”
“I already did that while we were flying. Don’t worry.”
So he had done it while riding Dorgo. That was the king for you. He knew what he was doing.
Just then, Serulis shouted towards us.
“I’m going too!”
“Serulis. You are staying right here.”
Goran said bluntly. I’d seen this happen a few times before.
“I know that you’ve grown a lot, but we can’t predict what will happen on the other side.”
“You’re saying that there’s a high likelihood that I won’t be able to deal with it?”
“To be honest, yes. But we also don’t know what will happen here as well. It would be best to leave people here who can fight.”
This was, of course, partly to console her, but it wasn’t just that.
We really did need to leave fighters as well.
However, Kathe tilted her head in puzzlement.
“Hmm. I can understand why you wouldn’t take Nia or Luchila. But surely Serulis can handle herself out there?”
“Kathe, you may say that, but...”
“You’re taking Shia, aren’t you?”
“Yes, of course, I am going. After all, it was the beastkin settlements that were attacked.”
Shia said without hesitation.
The beastkin wolves were vampire hunters, and yet the vampires had attacked them.
Not only that, but the assault had included the twelve mansions of the chiefs.
“This is clearly a declaration of all-out war.”
“Re...ally?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer her.
After all, the vampires and beastkin had been fighting for ages. How would a declaration of war have any meaning at this point?
“Considering that they used a giant bomb, they meant to annihilate us all.”
“I understand how you feel, Shia... But...”
Goran thought for a moment.
As for me, I thought the vampires were actually targeting the palace.
The beastkin would have had trouble analyzing the bomb.
The likely scenario would have been for them to ask the palace sorcerers and alchemists for help. That way, the bomb would have been taken to the palace within the city.
And that’s when it would have exploded.
“...That being said, they couldn’t have expected things to be carried out so quickly.”
And yet, the vampires had come out as if they had been ready.
Perhaps they didn’t care if it was the beastkin or the palace that was destroyed.
“Mister Locke is right.”
Shia said as she looked at us.
“And so it is impossible that we beastkin wolves will not participate in the fight.”
And yet, we clearly did not have time to wait for the others to arrive.
Nia was much too young. And so we’d have no choice but to take Shia.
“If Shia can go, then so can I!”
Goran still had his doubts.
“Why not? There’s a saying, ‘throw the cute children into the tiger’s den.’”
“...No there isn’t. I’ve never heard of such a saying.”
I said. And then Dorgo muttered.
“...Well, there is, actually. Among us dragons.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes. And sometimes, we actually do it.”
But dragon children were strong. I guess that’s how different they were from weak humans.
After hearing Kathe’s advice, Eric said to Goran in a quiet voice,
“Goran. Why not allow her? She is already a first-rate warrior. Though, it will be dangerous...”
“...Indeed. Serulis. I will allow you to come then, but you must listen to my orders. And you better not go charging into the enemy on your own.”
“I know that. Thank you!”
Serulis looked very happy. However, Goran remained anxious as he whispered to me.
“Locke. I’m counting on you to help me.”
“I know. Don’t worry.”
I smiled in an attempt to calm him. | {
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「......」
遠くで雷が鳴り響き、雨粒が拠点の屋根や畑の地面を叩く音がする。
そんな中俺は春になってから新たに伸びてきた蔓の先に魔力を込めて膨らませると同時に膨らんだその部分に対していくつかの処理をしておく。
また、畑に植えてある作物についても魔力を与えることで成長を促進して収穫しておく、時期の関係で夏野菜での物しか回収できなかったがしょうがないだろう。
「準備の方はどう?」
「ミズキか」
と、ここでミズキが拠点の中に入って来て俺に竜殺しの準備が整っているかを問いかけてくる。
「いつでもいいぞ」
俺は自分の周囲に整理して置かれている様々な触媒を紐で吊り上げ、体に結び付ける。
これで必要になった時にはすぐさま共鳴魔法の触媒として使えるだろう。
「それでミズキの方は?」
「私の方はいつでも問題ないわ。出来る事なら今日みたいに雨の日の方が調子がいいんだけどね」
「俺としては晴れの方が光合成による自動回復があるから楽なんだけどな。まあ、曇りや夜よりはいいか」
なお、ミズキが雨の方が楽と言うのはミズキが水を扱う精霊だからであり、雨が降っている状態ならミズキは常時魔力が回復していく上に魔法を使う際に消費する魔力量も減るそうだ。
逆に俺の場合は晴れだと光合成によってほぼ無尽蔵のスタミナを得ることが出来、ゆっくりとだが傷を治すことも出来る。
本音を言えば雨や日光で共鳴魔法を使えれば便利なわけだが......まあ、それはまだまだ出来そうにないので諦めておく。
「さて、そう言う事なら情報の確認と作戦の組み立てが終わり次第向かうのも有りだな」
「そうね。それじゃあ確認と行きましょうか」
ま、無い物ねだりをしてもしょうがないので今ある手札で何とかするとしよう。
と言うわけで改めてミズキから竜についての話を聞く。
「まず、あの竜の名はエントドラゴン。本来なら普段は植物と一体化して眠りつづけ、有事の時だけ目覚めて森全体の秩序と安寧を守る心優しき竜ね。尤もあの樹に住み付いたエントドラゴンは真逆の性質だけど」
「突然変異って事か?」
「どうかしら?私の知識は先輩精霊たちの受け売りだけど、実際には最初からそう言う面もある種族なのかも。まあ、こればかりは知ろうと思ってもしょうがないし。どちらにしてもあのエントドラゴンは倒すしかないわ」
ミズキの言葉に俺は同意を示し、魔力の色を切り替える練習をしてみる。
うん。問題なくいつも通りの調子で出来るな。
「で、戦闘になればエントドラゴンはどういう動きをしてくるんだ?」
「うーん。私が知っているのは毎年梅雨明けに暴れる姿ぐらいだけど......あれを見る限りだとまず一番の脅威になるのは......」
「うーん、それだったら......」
そして俺はミズキからエントドラゴンの持つ攻撃方法を聞き取り、それぞれの攻撃に対する対策を考えると共に対エントドラゴン戦における基本的な戦術や連携の仕方などを打ち合せておく。
「大体こんなところか。つーか、日が暮れてもまだ雨が降ってんのか」
俺はミズキとの打ち合わせが終わった時点で外を見た。
すると予想外に打ち合せが長引いていたのか日はすっかり落ちていた。だが雨は依然として振り続けており、時折だが雷鳴のような物が聞こえてくる。
「この時期は大体いつもこんな感じよ。それでどうする?私も貴方もエントドラゴン程の相手なら昼も夜も関係ないわよ?」
ミズキの言葉の裏にはエントドラゴンは大量の魔力を保有しているが俺の様に放出量を抑え込んだりしてはおらず、魔力を直接見れる俺や魔力が意思を持った存在であるミズキにとっては昼夜関係なくその気配を正確に察知できる事実が隠されている。
で、エントドラゴンは植物と一体化しているため、その生活リズムも植物のそれに準じており、夜は睡眠状態に近い状態になっていると考えていいだろう。
「兵は拙速を尊ぶ。兵法は詭道なり。誰の言葉かは忘れたが、相手が予期せぬタイミングで襲い掛かるのは戦いの基本ではあるな」
「ああ、行こう」
俺とミズキは準備が整ったならば早いうちに仕掛けるべきだと考えて拠点に外に出る。
そして拠点の外に出た所で......
『グルアアアアアアアァァァァァァ!!』
「「!?」」
森全体に魔力を含ませることによって精神的威圧効果と物理的破壊力を持たせた巨大な獣の咆哮が響き渡り、俺とミズキは慌ててそれで吹き飛ばされないように全身に力を込める。
「ミズキ......今のは?」
「エントドラゴンの声よ。毎年聞いているのだから間違えようが無いわ」
ミズキは若干慌てつつも俺の言葉にそう返してくれる。
そしてそんな話をしている間にも咆哮の発生源と思しき場所から何かの破砕音がするとともに、時折だが黄色い稲妻の様な物が地面から上空の黒雲に向かって立ち昇るのが見えている。
どうや思想の木気に属するという事で雷も使えると見て良いようだな。
「さて......どこかの馬鹿に先を越されちまったみたいだがどうする?」
「行くしかないわ。このまま暴れさせていたらどうなるか分かったものじゃないもの」
「ま、そうだよ......な!ヒュロロロォォ!!」
そうして俺とミズキは一度肯き合うと同時にエントドラゴンが居ると思しき方向に向かって飛び始めた。 | “...”
The rumble of thunder erupted in the distance, and raindrops pounded the roofs of the base and the ground of the field.
Amidst all this, Pumpkin applied magic power to the tips of his vines which had newly grown during the spring to make them inflate, and at the same time, did a few treatments on the inflated parts.
Furthermore, he also poured magic power on the crops that were planted in the field to accelerate their growth for harvesting.
“How’s it going with your preparations?”
“Mizuki, huh?”
And this was the moment when Mizuki came into the base and asked whether he was ready for the dragon-slaying.
“Anytime you’re ready.”
Pumpkin hung the various catalysts that were placed in an organized manner around him and tied them to his body with cords.
The catalysts would serve as catalysts for resonance magic, should they be needed.
“So how’s your side of things, Mizuki?”
“I am always ready to go. I’d prefer it to be a rainy day like today if possible.”
“For me, sunny days are easier because of the automatic recovery from photosynthesis. Well, it is better than cloudy day or night.”
Moreover, the reason why Mizuki said that rainy weather would be more advantageous for her was that she herself was a water spirit, which meant that when rain was falling, her magic power would constantly recover and the consumption of magic power when using magic would also decrease.
Pumpkin, on the other hand, could gain a practically unlimited supply of stamina through photosynthesis when the weather was sunny and heal himself, albeit slowly, from wounds.
It would be useful if I could use resonance magic in the rain or sunlight, but well... that’s unlikely to be achievable anytime soon, so I’ll give up on that.
“Now, that being the case, we can head out as soon as we’ve confirmed the information and assembled a strategy.”
“Right. Then, let’s go check it out.”
There was no sense in seeking something that was not available, which was why he decided to make do with the cards in his hand.
Subsequently, Pumpkin learned about the dragon from Mizuki once more.
“First of all, the dragon’s name is Entdragon. Normally, the dragon usually sleeps in unison with the plants and only awakens in times of emergency to protect the order and peace of the entire forest. However, that Entdragon that inhabits that tree is the exact opposite of that.”
“A mutation, you mean?”
“I wonder. My knowledge is based on what I have received from the senior spirits, but in reality, they may be a species that has had this aspect from the very beginning. Even if we strive to learn all of this, it won’t be helpful. Either way, that Entdragon has to be defeated.”
Pumpkin agreed with Mizuki’s words and tried practicing shifting the color of his magic power.
Yeah. I can do this in my usual condition with no problems.
“So, when it comes to combat, what kind of moves will the Entdragon perform?”
“Yeah. All I know of them is the sight of them rampaging every year at the end of the rainy season... but from what I’ve witnessed, they pose the greatest threat...”
“Hmm. In that case...”
Having heard from Mizuki about the Entdragon’s assault methods and having conceived of countermeasures for each strike, they then settled on fundamental strategies and techniques for coordination in their battle against the Entdragon.
“I guess that’s about it. I mean, it’s still raining even after nightfall.”
He looked outside upon the conclusion of his discussion with Mizuki.
The sun had unexpectedly gone down for an extended period of time. However, the rain persisted throughout the session, and what sounded like thunder could be heard from time to time.
“This is how things typically are at this time of year. So what are you going to do? With you and me dealing with the level of Entdragon, it doesn’t matter if it’s day or night, right?”
Behind Mizuki’s words lay the fact that while the Entdragon harbored vast volumes of magic power, they did not suppress the amount they released like Pumpkin, and for him, who can visually observe magic power directly, and for Mizuki, whose magic power was an entity with a will, she could accurately detect their presence irrespective of the time of day or night.
Therefore, it can be safely assumed that the Entdragon followed the rhythm of life of plants, and at night they were in a state close to that of sleep.
“Success results from being swift and decisive. Deception is a key element in the art of war. Unexpected attacks on the adversary are a core pillar of warfare, even though I can’t really remember who said it.” [i]
“Yeah, let’s move.”
Pumpkin and Mizuki figured that once everything was in place, the sooner they could begin their move, the development will work in their favor.
And when they were outside the base...
[Guruaaaaaaaahhhh!!]
[[!?]]
As the roar of the enormous beast, which had a mentally intimidating and physically destructive effect by imbuing the entire forest with magic power, resounded throughout the forest, Mizuki and Pumpkin hurriedly exerted all their strength so as not to be swept away by it.
“Mizuki... what was that?”
“It’s the voice of Entdragon. I hear it year after year, so there’s no way I could have mistaken it.”
His question was met by a slight agitation from Mizuki.
Even while they were talking, there was a crushing noise coming from the source of the roar, and occasionally a yellow bolt of lightning could be seen rising from the ground to the black clouds above.
Apparently, the dragon was a creature that belonged to the wood element of the Five Elements concept, which suggested that they could command lightning as well.
“Well... looks like the idiot from somewhere beat us to it, so what are we going to do?”
“We must get on with it. Who knows what might happen if we allowed this to go rogue.”
“Well, you’re right...! Hyulolooo!!”
Mizuki and Pumpkin then affirmed each other before moving in the direction of where they suspected the Entdragon was. | {
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目の昼、ようやくストラールの街が見えてきた。
あそこでガドルスが新しい宿を開いているらしい。
ストラールの街は意外と大きな街で、ストラ領の首都であると同時にこの地方の高等学院なども存在する。
魔術学院の先輩でもあったドノバンは、この地方の領主であり、現在はその高等学院に通いながら領主を
さすがにラウムの魔術学院のように巨大な建築物は存在しないが、高く頑強な壁に囲まれた、地方とは思えないほど発展した街だった。
「ようこそ、ストラールへ。すまないが、街に入る前に身分証の提示を」
を構えた門番が、まるで歓迎していないような口調で歓迎の言葉を告げる。
に何百人も出入りがあるであろう街で、日に何度も同じ言葉を口にしていれば、そうもなるだろう。
テムルさんは商人ギルドの身分証を提示し、レオンたちは冒険者ギルドの冒険者証を提示する。
無論、俺たちもレオンに従い、それぞれの冒険者証を提示した。
「ふむ、位に第一階位か。妙な取り合わせだな」
「この子たちの教育も兼ねていてね。有能過ぎて何も教えられなかったが」
「ほう? 見たところ未成年もいるというのに......先が楽しみだな。いろいろと」
「この子にちょっかい出すのはやめた方がいいぞ雄の
のものだ」
俺やフィニアの美貌やミシェルちゃんの胸を見て、好色そうな声を上げた門番に、レオンがそう警告を発した。
「六英雄! ということはあのガドルス様の宿に世話になるのか!?」
「ああ、その予定だ」
「しかし......」
そこで門番は困った表情を浮かべる。何か言いたげな顔である。
「どうかしたのか?」
「ああ、言うまでもなく『あの』ガドルス様の宿だ。開店と同時に客が殺到してな。今も満室が続いているという話だ。今から行っても部屋が取れるかどうか......」
「そうか......いや、考えてみれば当然の話だな。この子たちはともかく、俺たちは無理っぽいなぁ」
「だろうな。現にその宿目当てに冒険者が大量に流入して、俺も大変なんだ」
「それはご愁傷様。だが職務だ、がんばってくれよ」
「これほど慰めにならない激励は久しぶりだよ」
そして大半が英雄に憧れた新人や、身の丈に合わない野望を持った冒険者たちだ。人数が増えたほどの成果も上がらず、逆に治安が悪化したこともあったくらいだ。
だがそれも一時的なもので、やがて実力のない者は淘汰されていき、そこそこの力を持った人材だけが残っていく。
「ラウムに負けないくらい、大きな街ですね」
門番と別れ、街の中に入っていくと、往来の喧騒が俺たちを出迎える。
その賑わいも、人の多さもラウムとほとんど変わらない。フィニアがそう漏らしたのも、納得の賑わいだった。
見ればやたら豪華な装飾を施された馬車が、門に向かって爆走してくるところだった。
「な、なにごと!?」
思わず一歩退いた俺に、暢気に答えるミシェルちゃん。この子の肝は実は太いのかもしれない。
その馬車は門の前、いや俺たちの前までやってくると急停車し、中から一人の男が降りてきた。
その顔は俺も見覚えのある男の顔だ。
「ようこそストラールにいらっしゃいました、ニコル様!」
「ヒッ!? あ、こんにちは、ドノバン先輩。元気そうでなにより?」
勢い込んで乗り出してくるドノバンに、俺は思わず引き攣った声を上げた。
いや、くっつかんばかりに迫ってくれば、誰だって仰け反るだろう。しかしドノバンはそんな俺の態度に
「はい、六英雄の方々に後ろ盾になってもらったことで、問題も瞬く間に解決いたしました! いや、御方々には足を向けて眠れません!」
魔術学園を卒業し、この街の高等学院に通うドノバンは、俺の記憶よりややふっくらとしたように見える。
部下が従ってくれないというストレスもなくなって、食も進んでいるのだろう。
「おっと、立ち話も無粋でしたね! どうぞこちらに。ガドルス様の宿、『大盾の守護』までご案内します!」
「いや、わたしはまだ仕事中ですから」
「そうおっしゃらずに......」
「仕事中だから!」
ドノバンは、卒業間際に俺の取りなしで窮地を脱してからは、俺を主のように崇めている。
今回わざわざ出迎えにやってきたのは、コルティナやマクスウェルから先に連絡が行っていたからだろう。
これは俺たちの遠征の勉強でもある。最後まできちんとこなさねばならない。
「いまは依頼の最中なので、申し訳ありませんが、ご遠慮ください」
「くっ、確かにニコル様の仕事のお邪魔をするわけには行けませんね。わかりました、では一足先に宿の方でお待ちしておりますので」
「いや、待たなくていいから。到着したばかりで疲れてるから」
「おお、それは気が付きませんでした。確かにお疲れでしょう。では後日使いの者を向けますので、食事でもいかがでしょう?」
「気が向いたらね」
ドノバンも丸くなったものだ。当初は平民と見ると見下すような屑だったのに。
いうなればこれも成長と見えなくもない。偏見と鼻につく態度の領主よりはよっぽどマシだ。
「そうだ、この街でいい宿知ってる? レオン先輩たちが宿があるか心配してたんだけど」
「それでしたら、西門の近くにあるやまびこ亭の評判がいいですね。少々値段は高めだそうですが」
「だそうですよ?」
「ありがたい、ぜひ訪れてみますよ、領主殿」
やや引いた態度のレオンがそう答える。彼の視線はドノバンが乗ってきた馬車が掲げている紋章に向けられていた。
言うまでもなく、そこにはサルワ家、すなわちドノバンの家の紋章がある。
知る者が見れば、一目で彼が領主とわかるだろう。
「その、ニコルちゃんは領主様と知り合いなの?」
「魔術学院の先輩でした。ついでにコルティナが困りごとを解決したので、取り次いだわたしにも恩を感じているみたいで」
「それであの態度なのね......納得」
エレンがこっそりと俺に耳打ちする。
どうやらこの街でも、賑やかになりそうな気配が漂っていた。 | At noon of the fifth day, Stollar finally became visible.
Gadius had apparently opened a new inn there.
Stollar was a surprisingly big city, and at the same time as it being the capital for Stolla, it also had a high-grade academy too.
Donovan, who was my upperclassmen at the magic academy, was the lord of this region, and I heard he was acting as a lord while also attending that academy.
As expected, there were no giant buildings like Raum’s Magic Academy, but it was still an unbelievably developed city you wouldn’t expect from the countryside, with tall, strong walls surrounding it.
“Welcome to Stollar. Sorry, but let me see your documents before we let you inside.”
The gate guard with a pike in hand welcomed us with a tone that suggested he was not very welcoming.
I guess that’s how it would be when he had to repeat the same exact phrase over and over with hundreds of people going through the gate daily.
Temuru presented his identification documents from the Merchant’s Guild, while Leon’s party presented their Adventurer’s Guild IDs.
Naturally, we also imitated Leon and presented our own as well.
“Hmm, a fourth-rank and a bunch of first-ranks. That’s a strange combination.”
“Well, we were planning to educate these kids. In the end, they turned out to be so capable there was nothing to teach, however.”
“Oh? There seem to be minors with you... But they look quite promising. In various ways.”
“You better give up on meddling those girls. They are related to the Six Heroes.”
Leon warned the guard who muttered that with a lewd look on his face after checking Finia’s looks and Michelle’s boobs. Hearing that, the guard stiffened and became all proper.
“The Six Heroes! Which means you are staying at that Lord Gadius’ inn!?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”
“But...”
The guard paused with a troubled expression. It felt like he wanted to say something.
“What’s the matter?”
that
Lord Gadius. The guests rushed in the moment it opened up. I heard that it’s fully occupied even now. I’m not sure you can rent rooms there...”
“I see... I mean, I guess that was to be expected. These kids aside, it’s probably impossible for us, huh.”
“Probably. There are so many Adventurers flooding towards that inn, that even I’m having trouble actually.”
“Well, my condolences for that. But it’s your work, so gotta keep it up.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard such half-hearted encouragement.”
When Gadius opened his inn, the Adventurers flooded the northern territory. And the majority of those were newbies who admired the Six Heroes or those with ambitions beyond their means. The results didn’t bring about the increase in population, and instead just worsened the public order.
But that was also a temporary thing, and those with no ability were being weeded out, and only those with actual skill remained. This was an unchanging fact even if it was Gadius’ inn.
“This city does not lose to Raum in size.”
After we parted with the guard and entered inside, we were greeted with noisy traffic.
The bustling we were seeing here and the number of people were mostly the same compared to Raum. It was enough for me to agree with Finia’s comment.
However, the nature of that tumult suddenly changed. Looking closely, there was a carriage with extravagant decorations speeding towards the gate.
“W-What’s going on!?”
“I wonder?”
Michelle answered back carefreely as I took a step back in shock. This girl might actually have a lot of guts.
The carriage eventually stopped before the gate, or rather, before us, and one person disembarked from it.
It was a man whose face I remembered.
“Welcome to Stollar, Lady Nicole!”
“Eek!? Oh, good day, Donovan. You look to be in good health?”
I ended up raising a stiff shriek at him suddenly jumping out like that.
I mean, everyone would react like that if someone clung to them all of a sudden. Donovan didn’t seem to consider my state and continued talking.
“Yes, with the Six Heroes backing, my problems got resolved in the blink of an eye. I really am indebted to you people!”
After graduating from the Magic Academy and starting to attend the one in this city, he seemed to have grown a bit plump compared to how I remembered him.
With his stress about the followers not obeying him gone, his appetite probably increased too.
“Oh my, it is tactless of me to stand around and talk! Please follow me. I shall guide you to Lord Gadius’s inn, Greatshield’s Protection!”
“No, we’re still working now.”
“Please don’t be so modest...”
“We are working!”
Ever since Donovan solved his dilemma before graduation thanks to my mediation, he started to revere me as his master.
He probably went to the trouble of coming here because Cortina and Maxwell contacted him beforehand. Since he arrived with a carriage, he probably had an estimate of our arrival time. Cortina should have easily managed that much.
That said, we couldn’t move while our commission wasn’t completed. This served as sort of an expedition practice for us. We had to see it properly to the end.
“We are currently in the middle of a commission, so please refrain from that.”
“Ugh, it would do no good to get in the way of Lady Nicole’s work. Understood, I shall wait at the inn ahead of time.”
“It’s fine, you don’t have to wait for us. We’re all tired after a long journey.”
“Ahh, that was insensitive of me. Then I shall send a messenger at a later date, so may we share a meal?”
“If I feel like it.”
Donovan sure has mellowed down. He used to be trash who looked down on commoners whenever he came across one.
I guess you could call this growth too. It was far better than him being a prejudiced and arrogant lord.
“Oh right, do you know of a good inn? Mr. Leon here was worried whether there would be an open inn for his party.”
“I have heard good rumors about Yamabiko inn near the western gate. However, it is on the pricier side.”
“Thank you, Lord, we shall definitely visit it.”
Leon answered with a somewhat tame attitude. He looked towards the crest on Donovan’s carriage.
Needless to say, it was the Serwa crest, in other words, of Donovan’s household.
Anyone familiar would instantly realize that he was the lord.
“Uhh, are you acquaintanced with the Lord, Nicole?”
“He was my upperclassman in the Magic Academy. Cortina also helped him resolve a troubling matter, so he seems to feel a debt to me too since I intermediated things.”
“So that’s the reason behind his attitude... Makes sense.”
Ellen secretly whispered into my ear.
It seemed that we would be able to spend a hectic time even in this city. | {
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「あ、メルク。遅かったわね」
宿の食堂に行くとトトアラが嬉しそうな顔で目立つように手を上げてきた。メルクも軽く手を上げて、彼女の伸ばした腕よりも強調されている胸に目をやりながら近づく。
「もう朝食は頼んだのか?」
「ええ。余計なお世話かとも思ったけど、時間かかりそうだからメルクの分も頼んじゃった」
「構わないさ。別に宿の朝食なんてどれも似たようなものだ」
「もう、それ言ったら宿の人に怒られるわよ」
主食がパン、骨が抜かれた魚を副食のメインに置いた簡単な定食で、可もなく不可もなしといった見た目だ。食後のデザートとして小さな粒の果物が用意されているのは気が利いているのかもしれない。
「改めて、冒険者の世界へようこそ。おめでとう」
ちぎってパンを食べようとしたメルクはトトアラにそう声を掛けられ、口へ運んでいた手を止める。
「ありがとう、先輩......そう言えばトトアラは何等級なんだ?」
級よ。ついでに言えばザァール級ね」
』相手に、逃げを打つほかなかったトトアラやザァールを思い出して何気なく聞いた。
「そりゃあ、どの時代でも厳しいでしょ。あの『土竜』は『
』に近かった。もう少し小柄なら、並みの三等級が三人いれば倒せるはず。けどあのサイズとなると限りな級に近い三等級でもなければ太刀打ちできないわ」
「四等級のトトアラは?」
「歯が立たないわね。私はもうすぐ三等級に上がれるはずだけど、それでもお話にならない」
トトアラの返答に納得しつつ、メルクはちぎったパンを頬張った。最近は狩った獲物の肉ばかりが腹を膨らませていたので、やはりこう言った食事は有難い。
「そう、そういうもの......だから私、すごく楽しみなんだ」
「冒険者になる前に、独力で『土竜』を倒したあなたどんな存在になるのか。きっとこんなこと、勇者の弟子にだって無理だったと思うから」
「......」
』ならいざ知らず、駆け出しの頃であれば彼らとて苦戦を強いられたはずだ。そんな相手に対して一人で完勝したこの少女がいったい何者なのか。
トトアラが不思議に思うのも無理ない事だろう。
何と答えていいか分からずトトアラの視線を避けるように黙々と料理を平らげるメルク。そんな彼女にトトアラの苦笑が聞こえ、探るような気配が引っ込んだ。
「十四歳かぁ。若いわね。あなたの活躍はきっと、今後数十年は続くんでしょうね」
「......かもな」
もっとも、メルクは長寿で知られるエルフ族だ。下手したら百数年......いや数百年まで現役の冒険者であり続けるのかもしれないが。
そう言えば、自分がエルフであることをギルドにもトトアラたちにも黙ったままだ。しかし今さら言ったところでどうなるとも思えない。気付かれたときに話せばいいと、メルクは簡単に考えた。
「ねぇ、パーティーを組む心当たりってあるの?」
「パーティーか......」
そんなメルクに、トトアラが興味津々と言った様子で聞いてくる。
』だってエステルトに代わる仲間を見つけたか、あるいは三人だけの戦い方と言う物を身に着けたはずだ。もしくは現役を退き各々好きな事をしているか......どちらにせよ、今さらメルクの出る幕はないだろう。
なら、最近知り合った冒険者たち――『暴火の一撃』はどうだろうか? 彼らは近距離の剣士と中距離の槍遣い、さらに後方支援の魔法使いがいてバランスはとれているが、治癒術師がいない。きっとメルクの需要はあるだろう。
から見た時、彼らはすでに出来上がった連携を持っていた。『暴火の一撃』は各々の実力もさることながら、上手くバランスをとることで強さを増しているような気がする。
そこに、メルクが入ったらどうなるか......下手をすれば彼らの持つ強みを潰しかねない。それはメルクの本意ではなかった。
「――心当たりはないな」
少し考えてそう言ったメルクに、トトアラは「じゃあさ、じゃあさ」と身を乗り出してくる。
「う、ち、近い近い」
テーブルに両掌を突いて迫ってくるトトアラの顔の近さに、思わずメルクは身を縮める。正確には彼女の顔の下にあるたわわな胸に畏怖を覚えただけだが、トトアラはそんなことを気付きもしないだろう。
「どうもこうも......どうどう、落ち着け。まず、私はあなたたちのパーティーを知らん。それに、それはギルドの規約的にどうなんだ?」
「試験に受かった者を試験官が勧誘して即加入させるなんて......何か裏がありそうな気がするんだが」
「あ......」
メルクの言葉に、トトアラはすごすごと腰を椅子へと戻した。後ろ指差される可能性に、今頃になって気付いたらしい。
パーティーに加入させるために、試験官がわざと受験者の採点を甘くした。あるいは、採点を甘くしてもらった代わりに受験者が試験のパーティーに加入する。
そんなことがまかり通れば――たとえ真実ではなくともそんな噂が流れてしまえば――冒険者試験の価値が揺らいでしまう。それはギルドの意図するところではないだろう。おそらくはそれを阻止するための決まりなどがあるはずだ。
「......「試験官はその試験の合格者と、今後五年間はパーティーを組んではならない」――そう言う決まりがあるんだったわ」
「やはりか。じゃあ悪いが無理だな。諦めろ」
「くぅ。けど五年辛抱すれば......」
「その間に私が他とパーティーを組んでいるだろう」
落ち込んだように顔を下に向けてしまったトトアラ。しかし、自分の口で効果音を発する当たりあまり落ち込んでいるようには思えなかった。
「しっかりしているように見えて、トトアラも意外と抜けているな」
メルクは苦笑を浮かべながら、残っていたデザートに取り掛かる。
デザートはゴザの実と呼ばれる紫色の小さな果実で柔らかい皮に包まれている。種類によって甘かったり辛かったりするため、デザート以外にも酒の
通常はナイフとフォークを上手く用いて皮を
くのだが、メルクは昔からこれが苦手だった。
薬の調合で鍛えた手先の器用さなど、ゴザの実の皮の前では無意味なのかもしれない。
「う......この......あっ!」
力加減が上手く行かずにテーブルの下へと飛んで行ってしまったゴザの実。メルクはそれを呆然と見送り、対面のトトアラは呆れたようにメルクを見た。
、子どもでもゴザの実なんて上手に剥けるわよ――」
『――呆れました。不器用な方だと思っていましたが、ゴザの実一つ満足に剥けないなんて』
「へ? な、なに?」
当然、当り前のことを言ったつもりのトトアラは虚を突かれたような顔になっている。メルクが怒ったと思ったのかもしれない。
「......いや、何でもない。はは。相変わらず、私は不器用なもんだ」
久しぶりに昔の夢など見たからだろうか?
手厳しくも何故だか心が満たされるような、そんな幻聴が聞こえたのは。 | “Hey, Merc. You sure took a while.”
Totoara greeted Merc as she entered the inn’s cafeteria. Merc also lifted her hand, but instead of focusing her gaze on Totoara’s hand, she fixated it on her enhanced chest.
“Did you already order?”
“Yea. It’ll probably take a bit, so I also ordered for you as well, I hope you don’t mind.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like the food in inns is that different.”
“The owners would get angry if they heard that, you know.”
It was a simple set meal with bread as the side dish and boneless fish as the main course. It didn’t appear to be either good or bad. Small grains of a fruit were served as dessert.
“I’ll say it once more. Welcome to the world of adventurers. Congratulations.”
Totoara spoke out just as Merc was about to put a piece of bread into her mouth.
“Thank you, senior... Come to think of it, Totoara, what Grade are you?”
“Four. And Zal is Grade .”
“I see. Is it really so tough to take down a Yellow Grade with a Grade Adventurer of this age?”
Merc asked as she remembered Zal and Totoara ran away from the Guran that she’d fought for her final trial.
“It’d be tough for an adventurer from any age. That Guran was quite similar to a Ruzo Guran (Large Guran), which is an Orange Grade. If it was slightly smaller, then three Grade Adventurers would have been able to take it down. However, to beat the one we faced, we’d need at least Grade Adventurers approaching Grade .”
“And how about you, Totoara?”
“I wouldn’t stand a chance. Even though I’m almost at Grade , I wouldn’t be able to help.”
Merc nibbled the torn bread, satisfied with Totoara’s reply. She’d been eating mainly the prey she’d captured recently, so having food like this every now and then was nice.
“That’s right... That’s why I’m so eager right now!”
“What?”
“I’m curious to see what type of monster you’ll become, given that you were able to take down a Guran on your own before becoming an adventurer. I’d wager that not even the Hero’s disciple would have been able to do that!”
“......”
It was undoubtedly doable for the present Blazing Impact, but they would have had a difficult time doing so when they initially started out. And the fact that Merc had been able to take down such a monster on her alone begged the question of who she was.
It was no surprise that Totoara was ecstatic.
Merc, on the other hand, ate her food quietly, avoiding Totoara’s gaze since she was at a loss for what to say. Totoara chuckled bitterly and kept her enthusiasm in check after seeing Merc in such a state.
“But to think that you’re still . You’re so young. You’ll definitely be active for another couple of decades.”
“Probably...”
Furthermore, Merc was an elf. She could be active for a century or even more...
Come to think of it, I still haven’t told the Guild or Totoara that I’m an elf. Still, I don’t think anything will change even if I told them now. Well, I can just tell them if the topic comes up.
“By the way, Merc, do you have any parties in mind?”
Totoara inquired, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“A party...”
When Merc heard that she instantly thought of her original party, however, she quickly gave up the idea. After all, it had already been 15 years. Gust of Wind had most likely found a replacement for Estert or were just acting with the other three members. It was also possible that they had split and were each pursuing their own interests.
Which only left Blazing Impact. With a short-ranged swordsman, a middle-range spearman, and a magician for long-range support, Blazing Impact was a well-balanced team. However, they lacked a Healer. It would likely be easy for Merc to fill in that position.
When Merc had looked at them from the side, she had noticed that Blazing Impact had a strong synergy. Each of its members were powerful in their own right, and they had a solid balance between them, which accentuated their strengths even more.
If Merc joined them, she risked disturbing that balance and weakening them. And Merc didn’t want that.
“No, I don’t.”
Merc replied after a short delay. Totoara immediately sprung up and said, “Then how about my party?! We’re quite energetic!”
“C-Close! You’re close!”
Totoara pushed her face closer to Merc’s, causing Merc to shrink back. To be more specific, it wasn’t Totoara’s face that pushed Merc back, but Totoara’s bulging chest. Unfortunately, Totoara couldn’t know that.
“C-Calm down... First, I don’t know anything about your party. Second, wouldn’t this create some problems with the Guild?”
“Wouldn’t people think there was something shady if one of the examinees suddenly joined an examiner’s party?”
“Oh...”
Totoara immediately sat back down after hearing that. She recognized that her suggestion would cause rumors to spread.
She’d most likely be criticized for passing the examinee only so she could invite them to her party. Or that she had purposely been kind to the examinee in order to get them to join her party.
If news of anything like this got out, even if it wasn’t accurate, negative rumors would spread, and the adventurer exam would take the hit. There was no way the Guild hadn’t thought of such a scenario. They most likely had some measures to prevent such things.
“There’s a rule that states that for the next five years after passing their test, the examiner is not permitted to form parties with any of the examinees...”
“I knew it. I’m sorry, but as you can see, it won’t work. Give it up.”
“Urgh... Then after five years...”
“I’ll probably have a party by then.”
Totoara glanced down, disappointed. Totoara, on the other hand, didn’t appear all that disappointed based on her tone.
“Despite your appearance, Totoara, you’re quite the scatterbrain.”
Merc said with a smile as she reached her hand towards the dessert.
The dessert was a Goza, a small purple fruit with a thin skin. It could be sweet or sour depending on the variety, hence it was commonly presented as an aperitif with alcohol.
Normally, one would carefully peel the Goza’s skin with a knife and a fork
, but Merc had never been good at it.
It had been a while since she had attempted to peel them, but it was still difficult for her. Even though she had trained her hands by making medicine, she still couldn’t peel the skin of a Goza.
“Hm... You little... Ah!”
Due to her inability to regulate her strength, Merc dropped the Goza under the table. Merc merely stood there, dumbfounded, as the Goza rolled away, while Totoara looked at her and said,
“You really have some nerve calling others scatterbrained. Even kids nowadays have no problem peeling Goza...”
I’m amazed... I knew you were clumsy, but I didn’t imagine you couldn’t even peel a Goza...
Totoara remarked timidly, assuming that her last comment which she had said without thinking had upset Merc.
“N-No, it’s nothing. Hahaha. I’m as clumsy as always it seems.”
Could this be because of the dream this morning?
Merc’s heart was full of joy despite the harsh statement made by the voice that had sounded in her head like a dream. | {
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「全員集まれ! バラバラに戦ってたんじゃ勝ち目がねえ!
「タウルスだ」
アクアリウスが叫び、それに応えてタウルスがアリエスの上へ飛び乗った。
更にガニュメーデスもアクアリウスを持ったままアリエスへ飛び乗り騎士も続く。
流石にサイズ的に乗るわけにはいかないフェニックスとハイドラスはアリエスの両脇を固め、こちらを見下ろす龍へ負けじと睨みを返した。
だが俺達には幸い、奴に対抗出来る手段がある。
『“ギガグラビトン・ラピットファイア”!』
アクアリウスがこれから取るべき作戦を仲間達へと伝えようとするが、戦闘の最中にわざわざ会話を待ってくれるほど龍は優しくない。
の遠慮なく圧縮した重力弾を乱射し、アリエスが必死に駆け回って避ける。
一発一発の威力はレオンを倒したテラ・グラビトンには及ばない。
だが威力を落とした代わりに連射性が上がり、まるで機関銃のように重力弾が飛来しては大地を抉り星の形状が面白いように変わっていく。
それはまるで、泥団子を上からスプーンで少しずつ削っていくような、そんな光景に似ているかもしれない。
だが、威力を落としたその重力弾ですらアリエス達にとっては脅威だ。
ルファスが完全に力を取り戻した今、アリエス達のレベルは1000に達している。必然、防御とHPも上昇している。
だがそれでも、恐らく三発も受けてしまえば動けなくなるだろう。
「バカヤロー! 作戦会議中くらい待ってろってんだ!」
土龍に対しアクアリウスが野次を飛ばすが、まるで効果がない。
アクアリウスは小さく舌打ちをし、それから先程までの言葉の続きを口にした。
「とにかく、お嬢ちゃんは奴の攻撃をある程度相殺出来るし、俺のスキルなら範囲攻撃以外は回避させてやる事が出来る。
「タウルスだ。いい加減覚えろ」
「俺が回避、お嬢ちゃんが防御。タロウと羊が攻撃を担当だ。焼き鳥と青蛇は援護に徹しろ」
「水蛇です!」
「......最早何も言うまい」
アクアリウス本人は至って真面目に指示を出しているつもりなのだが、いかんせん人の名前を覚えないのでイマイチ恰好がつかない。
しかし指示そのものは的確だ。全員がアリエスの上に乗れば防御と回避は最低限でいい。
アリエスに飛んでくる攻撃をアクアリウスのスキルで逸らし、どうしても命中してしまうものはウィルゴが相殺する。
相手の防御はタウルスが砕き、そしてアリエスの炎でダメージを与える。
フェニックスやハイドラス、三翼騎士は援護に徹して相手の気を少しでも逸らせれば上出来だ。
レオンですら一撃で倒す相手に個々の力で挑んだのでは絶対に勝てない。
全員が一丸とならなければ勝ち目が見えないのだ。
「いくぜ......『サダクビア』! 突っ込め羊!」
アクアリウスにより絶対回避を付与されたアリエスが蹄の裏から炎を発して空を走った。
それに対し龍は口を開き、重力弾を次々と発射する。
だがその悉くがアリエスから逸れ、掠りもしない。
スキルによる効果と理解した時には既にアリエスが目の前まで迫っており、その頭の上でタウルスが斧を薙いでいた。
アルデバランの一撃で斥力場が砕け、アリエスの炎が直撃する。
そしてすれ違うようにアリエスが離れ、方向転換をして再び駆けた。
『小癪な......』
土龍が少しばかり苛立ったように呟き、再び口から重力弾を発射した。
放たれたそれは先程と違い、周囲の物を取り込み始めた。
先刻までのものはいわば『重圧』。圧縮した重力で相手を押し潰す技だ。
対し、今発射したのは『引力』。周囲の全てを引き寄せて砕く技であり、回避が出来ない。
即ち、これもまた絶対命中スキルの一つと言えた。
「絶対命中なら俺のスキルを無効化出来ると踏んだか!? 舐めるなよ!
ガニュメーデスが水瓶を構え、現身の少女が中へ引っ込んだ。
それと同時に、引力弾を逆に自らへと吸い寄せて、サイズ差を無視して飲み込んでしまう。
――反射。
引力弾をあろう事か土龍自身へと叩き付け、その動きを一瞬だが止める事に成功した。
その一瞬にアリエスが突撃し、再び神殺しの炎が炸裂する。
『......!』
「吸い込むのが自分の専売特許とでも思ったか? 甘いんだよ!」
土龍は言葉を返さず、周囲全体へ拡散する重力波を以て返答した。
これならば回避は出来ず、吸い込んでからの反射も不可能。
だがそれはウィルゴのスキルで打ち消され、重力が消えた僅かな隙間を通って再びアリエスが突撃した。
タウルスが斥力場を砕き、アリエスが焼き、さらにそこに他のメンバーが畳み掛ける。
「今だ、鱗が砕けた場所を狙え!」
「了解! いくぜハイドラス!」
「おうよ!」
アクアリウスの攻撃指示を受け、フェニックスとハイドラスが口を開いた。
そして火炎と水の弾丸を次々と発射し、アリエスが鱗を砕いた場所へ集中砲火を浴びせる。
更に三翼騎士のパーヴォ、アプス、コルブスが龍の眼球を狙って斬撃を放ち、視界を晦ませる。
流石に龍となれば眼球すらが尋常ではない強度だが、それでも僅かな時間視界を塞ぐ程度は可能だ。
その間にアリエスはレオンの近くを通り、ウィルゴが回復術を施した。
倒れていたところに全体攻撃の重力波に巻き込まれたレオンはあわや、死ぬ寸前まで弱っていたがこれで復帰出来るだろう。
しかし土龍は未だ動揺の一つもない。
当たり前だ。彼は全然本気など出していない――これから出すのだから。
『よかろう。我輩も本腰を入れてやる』
土龍がそう言うと同時に、彼へと向けてアリエスが吸い込まれた。
咄嗟に踏み止まるも、身体は少しずつ引き寄せられていく。
フェニックスやハイドラスも同じで、ウィルゴは必死にパルテノスを掴んでアリエスから落とされないようにするだけで精一杯だ。
だがその抵抗を嘲笑うように、虚空から流星が降り注いだ。
土龍自身が引力となり、宇宙を漂う流星を呼び寄せたのだ。
「やべえ、避けろ羊!」
降り注ぐ流星を、アリエスが必死に駆け回って避ける。
次々とミズガルズの大地に隕石が突き刺さり、至る所から炎が吹き上がった。
地面は巻き上げられて空から雨のように降り、まるでミズガルズ全体がマグマに覆われたような状態となる。
こうなっては最早このミズガルズは生物が住める惑星ではない。
その中でもアリエスは速度を落とさずに流星を回避していたが......ミズガルズの広範囲を影が覆い隠した事で全員の顔色が変わった。
そこにあったのは――直径数km規模の流星だ。
同じ流星でも、今までのは精々数十メートルあればいい方であったし、それでも地表に激突すれば半径数十kmを壊滅状態にするだけの破壊力を有していた。
だが今度のは桁が違う。こんなのが衝突してしまえば、ミズガルズそのものが砕けかねない。
アクアリウスは想像を絶する苦境の中で悟る。
龍は......いや、女神は惑星へのダメージなど、最初から全然気にもしていない。
もしかしたらという期待は少しだけあった。
もしかしたら、星へのダメージを気にして全力を出せないのではないかという淡い、そして浅ましい期待があった。
だが理解した。そんなものは奴等にはない。
だからルファスは可能な限り生物を避難させた......乱暴な一手ではあったが、彼女が正しかった。
「っ、撃ち落とせええええ!」
アクアリウスの悲鳴にも近い指示が木霊し、攻撃に回れる者が同時に迎撃へと切り替えた。
アリエスは回避に手一杯だが、その上に乗っているアクアリウスならば攻撃へ移行する事が出来る。
三翼騎士も同時に飛翔して流星へと斬りかかり、フェニックスとハイドラス、そしてレオンが上を向いた。
「ちいっ! ハイドラス!」
「わかってる!」
フェニックスとハイドラスが口からありったけの威力を込めた火炎と水流を発射して降り注ぐ流星を迎え撃った
それはアクアリウスの発射した魔法、レオンの咆哮と混ざり合い、まるで天がそのまま落ちてきたかのような巨大隕石と衝突して砕き散らす。
砕けた隕石は無数の破片となって降り注ぎ、フェニックス達はそれを次々と撃ち落とした。
全て落とせるわけではないが、少しでも数を減らせばアリエス達の助けとなる。
『......“グラビトン・ウェーブ”』
だがそれを目障りと判断した土龍が口を開き、重力の波とでも形容すべき不可視の砲撃がフェニックスの前を横切った。
そして重力が過ぎ去った時、フェニックスの前には誰も居なかった。
先程まで確かにそこにいたはずのハイドラスが、跡形すらも失われていたのだ。
余りにも呆気ない消失――ハイドラスは自分が消えた事にすら気付けなかっただろう。
「ハ、ハイドラス......? お、おい......何処に行った......ハイドラス......」
突然消えてしまった喧嘩仲間の名を呼び、フェニックスが呆然とする。
だが自失したのはほんの一瞬。次の瞬間には憤怒の炎となって怒り猛った。
「......ッ、野郎ォォォォォォ!! テメェかああ! テメェがハイドラスを!」
「落ち着け焼き鳥! 思う壺だ!」
全身を炎で包んだフェニックスが、アクアリウスの制止も聞かずに怒りに任せて土龍へ突貫する。
だが正面からの愚直な攻撃などが土龍に通じるはずもなく、その攻撃は鱗の一枚を罅割れさせただけだ。
土龍の返しの重力波で右半身が消し飛び、それでも怨嗟の言葉を吐き出しながら動こうとしたが、続くでフェニックスもまた跡形もなく消滅した。
いかに不死鳥といえど、全身を消されては死は免れない。
「フェニックス! ハイドラス!」
「気にしてる余裕はねえぞ羊! スキルが追い付かねえ、避ける事に専念しろ!」
アリエスが空を走り、流星の嵐を必死に避ける。
普段ならばこの程度を避けるのはわけもない。
だが今は土龍に引き寄せられてしまっている。普段の一割も動けていない。
アクアリウスとて指示を出しているだけではない。絶対回避スキルを何度も使っていてかろうじて今があるのだ。
だが次々と飛来する攻撃によってすぐに付与した絶対回避が消えてしまい、まるで追いつかない。
その精細を欠いた動きは相手にとっては好機であり、アリエス達にとっては致命的な遅れだ。
三翼騎士が回避し切れずに流星を受けて消し飛び、更に味方の数が減る。
土龍がアリエスを狙って口を開き――そして、血飛沫が舞った。
アリエス達とは別の場所で、ポルクス達もまた苦しい戦いを強いられていた。
彼女達が相対するのは木の龍。
それに対し、こちらは妖精兄妹にアイゴケロス、ピスケス、カルキノス、サジタリウスというそうそうたる顔ぶれだ。
更にそこにアルゴー船や、ポルクスが呼び出す英霊達までが助力している。
だというのに、戦況は決してよいものではなかった。
否、ハッキリ言って劣勢そのものだ。
龍の防御が強固過ぎる上に、ダメージを与えたそばから回復してしまう。
龍とは世界のバランスを司る存在だ。故にそこには必ず世界からのバックアップが生じる。
ポルクスもまた、その力で無限のSPを誇っていたのだ。
ならばその本体である龍が同じ力を有しているのは自明の理であり、生半可なダメージなど無いに等しい。
まずダメージを通す事そのものが困難だというのに、そのダメージすら消えてしまうのだ。
控え目に言って反則と呼ぶ他ないだろう。
「なんて事......私達の本体である木龍がまさか、こんなにも......」
ポルクスが悔しそうに唇を噛む。
苦戦は覚悟の上だった。楽な戦いではないと分かっていた。
だがそれでも予想出来ない事はある。
ああ、そうだ。予想出来るものか、こんな事が。
自分達の本体たる木龍がこんなにも――。
ほれほれ、どうした? もう終わりかのう?
ほれほれ、もっと攻撃してええんじゃぞ? 反撃しないで受けてやるから。
ほおーれ、この爺の顔に一発入れてみい? ん~? ほれえ』
「――こんなにも、むかつくクソジジイだったなんて!」
『ひょひょひょひょひょ、くやしいのう、くやしいのう!』
木龍は何というか、ポルクスが想像していたものとは全く異なる性格であった。
神の代行者というからにはもっと、威厳に溢れていて厳格なものだと勝手に考えていた。
確かに会いもしない相手の性格を勝手に想像していたのはこちらだ。想像の押しつけだった事は認めるしかない。
だがそれにしたって、もう少しマシであってもよかっただろう。
煽るように(というか実際煽っているのだが)首を左右に振り、馬鹿にするように舌を出す木龍は控え目に言っても、とてもウザかった。
来なさい英霊達! 全員、一斉放火!」
ポルクスが怒りに叫び、英霊を更に召喚する。
向こうが最強の質ならばこちらは最強の数だ。
彼女の前に数多の英霊達が飛来し、一斉にそれぞれのスキルを発動した。
空を埋めるほどに眩く、色取り取りの閃光が迸って木龍へと着弾し、だがまだ終わらない。
アルゴー船からは大砲が発射され、サジタリウスとアイゴケロス、ピスケスにカストールも魔法を叩き込む。そして魔法を使えない蟹はとりあえずハサミを鳴らした。最終決戦だというのに相変わらず役に立たない男である。
天まで貫く火柱が上がり、地球で言う所のアフリカ大陸相当の面積を持つ大陸が一つ消し飛んだ。
しかしその爆煙が晴れた時、そこにあったのは何ら変わらぬ木龍の姿だ。
......あ。もしかして今のは攻撃じゃったのか? なら悪い事を言ってしまったのう』
「~~~ッ!!」
ポルクスが声にならない叫びをあげ、苛立ちの余りちょっと人に見せられない顔になる。
そして更に英霊を召喚し、数の暴力で木龍を打ち倒さんとスキルを連続発動した。
だが、その瞬間今まで感じた事もないような無気力感が彼女を襲い、アルゴー船の床に膝をついてしまう。
「......え?」
床に何とか手をついて倒れる事は避けるも、その腕にすら力が入らない。
腕が震える。足に力が入らない。
視界がブレ、汗が流れる。
何だ......何が起こった? ポルクスは己の身に起こった事がまるで理解出来ず、原因不明の現象にただ混乱した。
その彼女の異常を察知し、カストールが慌てて近くに寄るが怪我などはまるで見られない。毒を受けた形跡もない。
本当に何も、原因が思い当たらないのだ。
そんな彼女達に、木龍が答えを与えた。
『ふむ、思ったより早かったの。まあ頑張った方じゃ』
「な、なにを、したの?」
『儂は何もしとらんよ。お前が勝手に力を使いすぎて倒れただけじゃ。
SP切れ――それは戦いの場に身を置く者ならば一度は味わう事になるだろう感覚であり、そしてポルクスには無縁のものであった。
妖精姫であり、龍のアバターであった彼女は常に世界からのバックアップを受けており、そのSPは無限だったのだ。故にSP切れなど一度として起こした事はないし、起こすはずもない。
「わ、私がSP切れ......? まさか......」
『察したようじゃな。そうじゃ、お前の無限の力は儂のアバターだったから......その儂と敵対してしまったのじゃ。もうお前に世界のバックアップなどありゃせんよ』
『もっともそれは儂も同じじゃがの。世界がこうまで壊れてしまっては、バックアップといってもたかが知れとるわ』
』はその反則的な性能の代償として、極めて燃費の悪いスキルである。
それでも問題なく使えていたのはポルクスに無限の力があったからだ。
しかし今や彼女の力は無限ではなく有限であり、考えなく使い続ければすぐに枯渇してしまう。
少し考えれば予想出来て然るべきだった。予想しておくべきだった。
ポルクスは己の迂闊さを呪い、この最終決戦で晒した醜態を心から恥じた。
そんな彼女へ追撃をかける事もせずに、木龍が穏やかに話す。
『もうこれくらいでよかろう。力の差は理解出来たじゃろう?』
ポルクスは顔をあげ、気丈に木龍を睨む。
睨んでどうなる相手でもないが、それでも心が折れたわけではないとせめてもの意思表示をしたかったのだ。
力の差は理解出来た。だから何だ?
だが、次に木龍の口から出た言葉はポルクスがまるで予想していないものであった。
『今ならばまだ間に合う。戦いを止めて女神様に許しを乞うのじゃ。
まるで聞き分けのない子供に言い聞かせるように。諭すように。
優しくすらある声色で、木龍はそうポルクスへ告げた。 | “Everyone, let’s work together! We have no chance of winning if we each fight him on our own! Ganymedes, put me on top of the sheep brat! Tauros, you come too!”
“It’s Taurus.”
After Aquarius shouted that, Taurus got on top of Aries as per her instructions.
Furthermore, Ganymedes also jumped onto Aries’s back all the while holding onto Aquarius. This action was replicated by the Three Winged Knights.
Phoenix and Hydrus, who were unable to get onto Aries themselves due to their sizes, each stood to either side of him and then stared back at the ouroboros.
“Alright, listen up, everyone. It’s vexing, but that b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲’s leagues above us. If we challenge it without coordinating our movements, we don’t stand a chance. Fortunately for us, we have a way of fighting against him. The little girl’s (Virgo) Vindemiatrix is...”
「Giga Graviton Rapid Fire! 」
Aquarius tried to convey a strategy to her allies, but the ouroboros they were facing was not a naïve enemy who would leisurely wait whilst the enemy had a conversation mid-battle.
It started firing barrages of gravity bullets without holding back, causing Aries to run around desperately trying to avoid them.
Each shot was not as strong as the Tera Graviton which had knocked Leon down earlier.
Nevertheless, in exchange for the decrease in power, the interval between each individual shot was shortened to the point where it looked like a machine gun. The whole spectacle of the gravity bullets gouging into the earth and making the planet full of holes almost looked hilarious.
It looked just as if balls of dirt were gradually being scooped away, bit by bit, using a spoon.
In any event, even after the might of the individual shots were weakened, those gravity bullets were still a threat for Aries and the rest.
Now that Ruphas had completely regained her powers, their levels were at level . Inevitably, their defence and HP had increased.
Yet, even then, they were likely to become unable to move if they were hit by just three of them.
“You piece of s̲h̲i̲t̲! Can’t you wait while we’re having a strategic meeting!?”
Aquarius jeered at the Earth Ouroboros, but it was pointless.
She then clicked her tongue and continued what she had been saying before.
“Anyways, our little girl here can negate that guy’s attacks a bit, combining that with my skill, we can avoid his attacks as long as it’s not an area-of-effect skill. The only one who can penetrate through his defence is Tauros. Whilst the only thing that did any damage to him was the sheep’s flames.”
“It’s Taurus. It’s about time you start remembering my name properly.”
“I’ll be on evasion duty, while the little girl’s on defence. Tauros and the sheep will be on offence. The grilled bird and the blue snake, you two will act as support.”
“It’s Water Snake!”
“... I don’t even know what to say anymore.”
Although Aquarius herself thought that she was giving orders earnestly, her disposition of being unable to remember people’s names caused her orders to come across as a bit weird.
Nevertheless, the instructions that she gave were very precise. If everyone got on top of Aries, then they would only need to put in minimal effort towards defence and evasion.
The attacks aimed towards Aries would be redirected by Aquarius’s skills and the attacks which could not be avoided would be negated by Virgo.
The opponent’s defence would be shattered by Taurus and Aries would ultimately be the one dealing damage.
If Phoenix, Hydrus and the Three Winged Knights were able to provide support and distract the enemy’s attention, it would be perfect.
The enemy was someone who could defeat even Leon with a single hit. There would be no chance of winning if they fought separately in their own accord.
If everyone did not work together, there was no way they could win.
“Let’s go... [Sadachbia]! Charge in, sheep!”
After receiving the absolute evasion buff from Aquarius, Aries fired flames from his hooves and ran in the air.
In response, the ouroboros opened its mouth once again and continuously fired more gravity bullets.
But all of the shots were automatically redirected from Aries and could not even scratch him.
By the time the ouroboros understood that what was happening was due to the effect of a skill, Aries had already gotten right in front of its face and Taurus was swinging his axe down on its head.
With a single blow of Aldebaran, the repulsion force field was shattered, allowing Aries’s flames to directly connect.
Subsequently, Aries slid by the ouroboros and created some distance before he changed direction and charged in once more.
「Impudent... 」
The Earth Ouroboros muttered in annoyance and fired gravity bullets once again.
But the ones that were fired this time were different from before, as they started pulling in everything from their surroundings.
The ones that had been fired before could be described as a form of “heavy pressure”. It was a skill to crush an enemy down using gravity.
In contrast, the ones fired this time were based on “attraction”. It was a skill that pulled everything in its surroundings towards it and could not be evaded.
In other words, this was one form of an absolute accuracy skill.
“Did you assume that you can ignore my skills just by using absolute accuracy skills!? Don’t look down on me! Skill, [The One Who Swallows (Albali)]!”
Ganymedes positioned the water pitcher and the figure of a little girl disappeared into it.
At the same time, she sucked the gravity shot towards herself. Despite the difference in size, it was swallowed by the water pitcher.
– Reflect!
Of all things that could have happened, the gravity shot hit the Earth Ouroboros. This successfully caused his movement to momentarily stop.
At that moment, Aries charged in to attack, unleashing the god-slaying flames on it once again.
「...!」
“Did you think that sucking things in is exclusive to you? You’re too naïve!”
The Earth Ouroboros did not respond to her with words, but instead increased the gravitational effect of the entire place.
With this, evasion was impossible and it also could not be sucked away like before.
However, this effect was negated by Virgo’s skill, giving Aries a small opening to charge in again.
Taurus shattered the repulsion force field, Aries burned the ouroboros and the other members applied further pressure.
“Now! Aim at the spot where its scales got burned!”
“Got it! Let’s go, Hydrus!”
“Alright!”
After receiving instructions from Aquarius, Phoenix and Hydrus opened their mouths.
They then correspondingly and rapidly fired shots of flame or water one after another, concentrating at the particular spot that Aries had scorched.
Furthermore, the Three Winged Knights, Pavo, Apus and Corvus, aimed and shot their attacks at the eyeball of the ouroboros, creating a smoke screen to block its vision.
As an ouroboros, even its eyeballs were strong beyond all common sense, but nevertheless, it was still enough to hinder its vision for a brief period of time.
In that duration, Aries passed by Leon, allowing Virgo to use healing skills on him.
Because Leon had been hit by the area-of-effect gravity amplification attack, he was moments away from death, but this would be sufficient to allow him to return to battle.
Notwithstanding that, the Earth Ouroboros was still not agitated in the slightest.
It was only natural too. After all, it had not gotten serious yet – but it was planning to do so from now on.
「Very well. I will also fight properly.」
As soon as he said that, Aries was sucked towards him.
Although Aries quickly got ahold of himself and tried to ground himself, his body was still being pulled little by little.
The same thing was happening to Phoenix and Hydrus. During this time, Virgo was desperately holding onto Parthenos with one hand and Aries with the other so that Parthenos would not fall off, thus she was preoccupied.
But as if to mock the predicament that they were in, a shower of meteors came closing in from outer space.
The Earth Ouroboros itself was serving as a gravity-inducing mass, pulling all of the stray asteroids from space towards it.
“Not good! Avoid it, sheep!”
Aries madly dashed about and dodged the meteor shower.
One after another, meteors gouged into the earth of Midgard and flames riled up from everywhere one could see.
The ground itself, on the other hand, was splattered upwards and then came falling back down from the sky like it was raining. The whole situation was as if the entirety of Midgard was being blanketed by magma.
With how things had developed, Midgard was no longer a habitable planet.
Yet even then, Aries’s speed did not drop and he continued to avoid the meteor shower, but... when a vast area of Midgard was suddenly covered by a dark shadow, everyone paled.
What they saw was a giant meteor with a diameter of a few kilometres.
Whilst they were all categorised as meteors, the ones up until now were only a few metres wide. Even then, each had enough destructive power to create a crater dozens of kilometres wide, destroying everything within that range.
But the one coming down this time was on a completely different scale. If something like this were to hit the planet, it was very possible that Midgard itself would be destroyed.
Faced with this despairing predicament, such a thought ran through Aquarius’s mind.
From the very beginning, the ouroboroses... no, the Goddess never minded the damage which would be inflicted on the planet itself.
They had had a faint hope that she would mind it a little.
They had held onto the fleeting hope that perhaps the enemy would not give it their all in consideration of the damage which would be done to the planet.
But now, they understood. It had never been in their consideration.
This was exactly the reason why Ruphas had evacuated as many of Midgard’s inhabitants as possible... Whilst it might have been a forceful move, Ruphas’s decision was in the right.
“Tsk, shoot it down—!”
Aquarius’s command almost sounded like a scream and everyone who could attack began attacking simultaneously.
For example, although Aries was fully occupied with avoiding the other falling meteors, Aquarius, who was on top of him, could switch to destroying the incoming one.
Similarly, Phoenix, Hydrus and Leon looked up whilst the Three Winged Knights flew up towards the falling meteor and started hacking at it.
“Tsk! Hydrus!”
“I know!”
Phoenix and Hydrus gathered as much power as possible in their mouths and launched a jet of flame and a stream of water respectively at the falling meteor.
Those two attacks, combined with Aquarius’s magic and Leon’s roar, hit the descending gigantic meteor that was making it look like the sky was falling, and blasted it into pieces.
The meteor, which had now shattered into countless smaller pieces, hailed all around the area while Phoenix and the rest shot them down one after another.
Of course, they were not able to shoot all of them away, but nevertheless, lessening their number helped Aries.
「... Graviton Wave.」
But seeing their action as an eyesore, the Earth Ouroboros opened its mouth. This was followed by an invisible roar, which could only be described as a gravitational wave, passing by in front of Phoenix.
Right after the gravitational wave passed in front of him, there was no one left in front of Phoenix.
Until just a moment ago, Hydrus had certainly been standing in front of him. But now, not even a single trace of him was left.
Hydrus had disappeared very anti-climatically – he probably would not have even realised that he had disappeared himself.
“H, Hydrus...? O, oi... where did you go...? Hydrus...?”
Calling out the name of his rival, Phoenix stood there dumbfounded.
But he was only stupefied for a fraction of a moment. In the very next moment, he had turned into a raging flame and was filled with anger.
“.... Y, you b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲—!! Was it you—!? You were the one who did that to Hydrus!”
“Calm down, grilled chicken! You’re playing right into his hands!”
Phoenix, who was now enveloped in flames, failed to listen to Aquarius’s restraining words. Losing himself in his anger, he charged straight towards the Earth Ouroboros.
Unfortunately, there was no way that a straightforward frontal assault would be effective against the Earth Ouroboros. In the end, all that his attack managed to do was crack one of the scales on the Earth Ouroboros.
He was then hit by the gravitational wave that the Earth Ouroboros used as a counterattack, and the right side of his body was erased away. Even then, he continued to spew words of resentment and attempted to attack. Regrettably, Phoenix was erased by the Earth Ouroboros’s follow-up attack without a trace, just as Hydrus was.
Whilst he might have been an immortal bird, he was not able to avoid dying when his whole body was erased.
“Phoenix! Hydrus!”
“There’s no time for you to be minding what happened, sheep! Our skills won’t be able to keep up, so focus on avoiding things!”
Aries continued to run in the air and desperately avoided the meteor shower.
Normally, there was no way he would have been able to avoid something of this degree.
However, at that very moment in time, he was distracted by the Earth Ouroboros itself. Aries was unable to maneuver at even % of his full capacity.
It was not as if all that Aquarius was doing was giving out orders. They had only managed to survive up until this point because she had been continuously and relentlessly casting absolute evasion skills.
But unfortunately, due to the constant stream of attacks, the absolute evasion skills that had been endowed on them had already been used up. The skills were not able to keep up with the constant barrages of attacks.
Noticing the delay in their actions, it turned into a prime opportunity for the opponent and an extremely detrimental lapse in judgement for Aries and the rest.
The Three Winged Knights were unable to dodge in time and were also erased after being hit by the meteor shower, dwindling their numbers further.
Subsequently, the Earth Ouroboros opened its mouth wide and aimed at Aries...
While Aries and the rest were fighting the Earth Ouroboros, Pollux and the others in her group were also engaged in a hard battle at a different place.
Her group’s opponent was the Ouroboros of Wood.
Going against it were the fairy siblings, Aigokeros, Pisces, Karkinos and Sagittarius.
, and the heroic spirits called forth by Pollux.
Nevertheless, the progress of the battle was by no means in their favour.
No, if one were to be honest with themselves, they were definitely in a disadvantaged position.
Not only was the ouroboros’s defence extremely solid, any damage which could be dealt to it was quickly regenerated.
The ouroboroses were the beings which maintained the balance of the world. As a consequence, they would always be backed up by the very world they existed in.
This was how Pollux had access to unlimited SP.
As her true original body, it was only natural that the Wood Ouroboros would also be able to utilise the powers that she had. As a result, any superficial damage done to it was no different from having done no damage whatsoever.
Not only was it extremely difficult to deal damage in the first place, any damage done would ultimately be negated.
Calling it a cheat would still be an understatement.
“How could this be...? The Wood Ouroboros, which is our original body, is...”
Pollux ground her teeth, mortified.
They had been prepared to have a hard time. They knew that it would not be an easy battle.
But even then, they could not have predicted that it would turn out like this.
Yes, that’s right. There was no way that they could have predicted something like this.
That the Wood Ouroboros, which was their real body, was so...–
「Hyoo hyo hyo hyo hyo hyo hyo! Delightful, delightful. Hey, hey, what happened? Are you done already, hmm? Even though you were so pumped up when you first arrived, you look so pitiful now, don’t you, hmm? Yeah, yeah, it’s fine even if you attack me more, you know? I’ll receive it all without fighting back, you hear? Heerree, why not try landing a hit on this old man’s face at least once, hmm? Mmmm~? Riiight here. 」
“— is... such an annoying old geezer!”
「Hyo hyo hyo hyo hyo, how mortifying, how mortifying! 」
The Wood Ouroboros had turned out to be... how should one put it...? It had a completely different personality from that which Pollux had predicted it would have.
As a representative of the creation deity, she had assumed on her own accord that it would be overflowing with a majestic aura and would be stern and rigid in personality.
Indeed, she was the one who had assumed the personality of someone she had never personally met before... She could not help but be forced to admit that she was the one who had wrongly imposed her own assumptions on others.
But even then... she had wanted it to be something more... “reasonable”.
The appearance of the Wood Ouroboros, which was turning its head from side to side as if to flame the situation (in fact, was flaming the situation) and sticking its tongue out as if to make a fool of his opponent, was very annoying, to say the least.
“Fine then! Fine, I’ll do just that! Come here, heroic spirits! Everyone, attack at once!”
Pollux shouted out in anger, then summoned even more heroic spirits.
If the opponent was the greatest in quality, then she would be the greatest in quantity.
Numerous heroic spirits flew in front of her and all activated their skills simultaneously.
There were so many arrays of different coloured beams that they filled up the entire sky. They were all aimed towards the Wood Ouroboros and landed on it directly, but that was not all.
fired, Sagittarius, Aigokeros, Pisces and Castor also slammed the Wood Ouroboros with their arcane magic. The crab, which was unable to use arcane magic, decided to at least clank his scissors. Even though it was already the final battle, he was a useless man as usual.
A flame pillar rose, piercing the sky, and an area of land equal to the area of the continent of Africa on Earth disappeared at once.
However, after the residual smoke cloud from that explosion lifted, what remained was the unaffected appearance of the Wood Ouroboros.
「Delightful, delightful. Mmm, it was a good massage. Next time, message my back, alright? You see, I’m a bit stiff after having just woken up. ... Oh. Wait, was that supposed to have been an attack just now? In that case, I might have said something rude, hmm?」
“~~~~g!!”
Pollux wordlessly screamed before, in her fury, making an expression that she normally would not show to others.
She then summoned even more heroic spirits and continuously activated skills to strike at the Wood Ouroboros with the intention of brute-forcing her way through using numbers.
However, the moment she did so, she was assaulted by a sense of lethargy that she had never felt before and collapsed onto the floor of the
“... Eh?”
Although she somehow managed to catch herself by using her hands to break her fall, she was unable to put any strength into her arms.
Her arms were trembling and she was unable to put any strength into her feet as well.
Her vision distorted and she started to sweat.
What... what happened?
– Unable to understand what was happening to herself, she was left in a state of confusion whilst suffering from an unknown phenomenon.
Sensing an abnormality with Pollux’s condition, Castor went to her but was unable to find any injury whatsoever. There were also no traces of her being poisoned.
They were truly unable to figure out what might have been the cause.
In response to their predicament, the Wood Ouroboros provided an answer.
「Hmm, it happened much quicker than I was expecting it to. Well, never mind, regardless of that, you did well.」
“W, wha, did y, you do?”
「I haven’t done anything, you know. You just used too much of your power and collapsed on your own. Well, in other words, you just ran out of SP.」
– for those who participated in battles, it was a sensation that they would no doubt have to endure at least once, but it was something which was generally unrelated to Pollux.
She was the Fairy Princess. As an avatar of the ouroboros, she was constantly backed up by the world itself, and as such, her SP was infinite. As a consequence, she had never once ran out of SP. It just could not happen.
“I, I ran out of SP...? Could it be...?”
「Looks like you figured it out. That’s right, you had infinite power because you were my avatar... and you became an enemy to me. You’re no longer backed up by the world, you know?」
「Although, it’s the same for me. Now that the world is breaking apart to this extent, it’s laughable to talk about this backup thing.」
The skill, [Return of the Heroic Spirits (Argonautai)] had an overpowered effect, but in return, it had an extremely high SP consumption rate.
The only reason Pollux was able to use it despite this was because she had access to unlimited power.
Now that her power was no longer infinite and had become finite, one would not need to think hard to understand that her reserves would be quickly exhausted if she continued to use the skill.
If she had thought about it a little, she should have been able to predict it appropriately. She should have thought about it beforehand.
Pollux cursed her own carelessness and felt ashamed that she had allowed such a disgraceful behaviour to happen during the final battle.
Even though they were in this predicament, the Wood Ouroboros did not follow up and attack, and instead spoke to them refreshingly.
「Isn’t this enough? You should understand the difference in our strength by now.」
Pollux looked up at the Wood Ouroboros and boldly glared at it.
It was not an enemy that would be taken aback just because she glared at it. However, she at least wanted to show that her heart had not yet been broken.
Yes, she understood the difference in their strength. So what?
Was she supposed to just let it kill her without resistance?
But the subsequent words spoken by the Wood Ouroboros were not something that Pollux had anticipated.
「If you stop now, it should still be fine. You should stop fighting and plead with the Goddess for forgiveness. If you do so, the Goddess will most likely forgive you. I’ll come and plead with you... so, my child, why not put a stop to this and grow out of this somewhat late rebellious phase?」
It was as if the Wood Ouroboros was coaxing a child who was not listening to what they were being told. It was as if it was trying to persuade her.
With a kind and gentle voice, the Wood Ouroboros said this to Pollux. | {
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まあ 自分が出会えるのはせいぜい 地球上の変な生物くらいだろうと 分かってたけどね
大人になって 僕は昆虫の研究者になった
僕は昆虫に夢中で、 特にその飛び方に興味を持ってる
昆虫の飛行という進化は、おそらく 生命の歴史において最も重要な 出来事のひとつだろう
昆虫がいなければ 被子植物も出現せず
被子植物が存在しなければ 賢いサルたちが TED で話をすることもなかっただろうからね
さて 先ほどの デヴィッドとヒデヒコとケタキの3人が とても興味深い話をした ミバエと人間の類似点について 確かに、類似点がたくさんあるから ミバエと人間が似ているのかと 思う人がいるかもしれない たとえば ミバエの好きな行動はこれだとか -- でも、今日は、人間とミバエの類似点ではなく 両者の違いについて、
そして、ミバエの長所について紹介しようと思う
まずは、高速カメラで撮影したものをお見せしましょう 毎秒7000コマの赤外線映像だ 画面から外れた右の方に 捕食者が迫っていて ハエを狙っている
ハエが捕食者を察知している
脚を伸ばして
スッと逃げる 命拾いしたね
この映像は人間の瞬きと 同じ時間にカットしてある 人間が一回瞬きをする間に ミバエが捕食者を発見して 位置を確認して 飛び去るための筋肉運動を開始した 毎秒220回も羽ばたきながら
これはハエの脳がいかに高速に 情報を処理しているかを示す 興味深い動きだ
では飛行だけど -- 飛ぶには何が必要かな?
飛ぶためには飛行機と同じように 十分な空気力を生み出す翼が必要だ 飛行するための力を生み出す十分なエンジンと 制御装置も必要だ 人類初の飛行機の制御装置は、基本的に コクピットのライト兄弟の脳みそだった
これをハエと比べるとどうだろう
研究者になりたての頃 僕は ハエの羽がどのようにして十分な浮力を 生み出しているか、との謎を解き明かそうと必死で研究していた
聞いたことないかな? 航空力学の計算によると マルハナバチは飛べないことになるって
昆虫の羽の働きを飛行機と同じように 考えていたのが間違いだったんだ
この問題を解くため 動力学的に拡大した 巨大な昆虫のロボットを作って 実験を行った ロボットを大きな鉱物油の中で羽ばたかせ 空気力学の力を観察した
そこで分かったんだけど 昆虫の羽ばたき方は とても賢くて 大きな迎角によって羽の先端に 前縁渦と呼ばれる 竜巻状の流れを生み出す この渦によって昆虫の羽は 十分な浮力を生み出すことができるんだ
しかしながら、一番興味深いのは 羽の形ではなくて羽の形状組織だ。
なんて賢い羽の動かし方をしているんだろう! 羽の動きは、結局のところ、神経で制御されていて そのおかげで ハエは自在に飛び回れる 注目すべきは、飛行の巧みさ
じゃあ エンジンはどうだろう?
ハエのエンジンはとても面白い
ハエには2種類の飛行筋があるんだ 力筋と呼ばれるものは 伸展活性型なんだけど それ自体が活性型なので、 伸縮の度に神経による制御を必要としない
飛ぶための大きな力を生み出す 目的に特化した筋肉で ハエの胸部を占めている それ故、フロントガラスにハエが衝突した時 見えるのは ほとんどこの力筋なんだ
でもその他に 羽の付け根には 力は弱いけど 反応が非常に速い 小さな制御筋があって 力は弱いけど 反応が非常に速い 小さな制御筋があって 羽ばたきごとに 羽の蝶番を 調整することができる これによって ハエは羽ばたきを調整して 空気を操って 違う方向に飛ぶことができる
これを全て制御しているのが 神経系統だ
では制御装置を見てみよう
ハエは優れたセンサーの持ち主だが それがいいことばかりとは限らない
彼らは、匂いと風向きを感知するアンテナの持ち主だ
彼らは高度な眼を持っている それは、地上最速の視覚システムなんだ
さらに 頭頂部にも一対の眼がある
その眼はどんな役割りをはたすのか、 私達がさっぱり分からない。
それらが、羽にセンサーがある。
羽がセンサーで覆われていて、 そのセンサーの中で、 形状の変形を感知するセンサーもある。
羽で味覚まで備えている
ハエのセンサーの中でも優れているのが 平均棍と呼ばれる器官だ
平均棍はジャイロスコープのような器官で
飛行中は200ヘルツで振り子運動する ハエはこれを使って 体の回転を感知し 素早く 飛行姿勢を修正することができる
しかし センサーからの情報は、すべて 脳で処理しなければならない そうだよ ハエにも脳があるんだ 10万個の神経細胞からなる脳がね
このコンファレンスの出席者の中にも ミバエの脳機能は単純だから 神経科学の研究に適している なんて言う人がいるようだね
でも、侮るなかれ! 僕に言わせれば、それは全くの勘違いだよ
ハエの脳は単純なんかじゃないと思うんだ
素晴らしいモデルだ
ハエにしてみればね
では なぜ単純だと思われてしまうのだろうか?
残念ながら、神経科学者はね、 僕たちは自己中に考えがちだと思う
「脳」というと 自分たちの脳を基準に考える
でも、思い出してみて。こんな脳だよ。 こんなとても小さい脳が -- 1000億個ではなく 10万個の細胞しかない -- 地球上で最も一般的な形態であって それは4億年前から続いている
これを単純だと言い切って良いのかな?
神経細胞の数は確かに少ない でもその基準で大丈夫なのか?
僕は違うと思う
ちょっとこれについて考えてみよう まずこの比較から見てもらおう -- 脳の大きさとでその脳が何ができるか 比較しなくちゃならない
トランプ数という指数があるとしよう トランプ数の行動パターンの数を 神経細胞の数で割った値だ
同様にハエについても計算してみる
どうだろう! ハエのトランプ数の方が高い と思う人いますか?
(拍手) 今日お越しの皆さんは頭がいいね
そうなんだ、大きさと機能は必ずしも比例しない ハエと人間の行動パターンの数を比べるのは
あまり合理的じゃないかも知れない じゃあ 他の動物はどうだろう? たとえばネズミ
ネズミはハエの1000倍の神経細胞をもっている
昔 ネズミを研究していた。その当時は 僕だって ゆっくり喋っていた
でもハエの研究を始めてから 何かが変わったんだ
ハエとネズミは 博物学的に見て共通点がある 食べ物を漁ったり
求愛行動をしたり
交尾をしたり 捕食者から隠れたりする
共通点はたくさんあるけど
ハエの方が行動パターンが多いと 僕は思う
たとえば これから見せる映像 ああ、ちょっと言っておかなくちゃ。 実を言うと、僕は、軍から一部、資金援助を受けているんだ。 だから、この極秘映像を見たことは内緒だよ 決して誰にも口外しないでね! OK?
ハエのお尻にぶら下がっている 爆弾に注意しながら見てほしい
近くに来て、よく見てごらん。 うちの6歳の息子が 神経科学者になると 言い出した理由が分かるから
タイミングを計って
ドーン
少なくとも、ハエがネズミほど賢くない、という事はお分かりでしょう。 少なくとも、ハト並の知能を持っている。 まずはね、それは、神経細胞の数だけじゃなく、 ハエはあんなに小さな神経細胞で 全ての情報を処理しているんだ、という事をお伝えしたい。
これはジェフ・リックマンから借りてきた ネズミの神経細胞の美しい写真だ その脳の美しい画像を見られるよ 彼は、講演で画像を見せたんだ。
右端の上にあるのは 同じ縮尺で示された ハエの神経細胞だ
拡大してみよう
素晴らしく細かな神経細胞だよね。
生物物理学的には こんな小さな神経細胞で 大量の情報を処理しようとするんだ。
神経細胞はどこまで小さくなれるのか? ここに面白い虫がいる
見た目はハエに似ているね 羽・眼・アンテナ・脚があり ライフサイクルも複雑 実は毛虫に寄生する寄生虫なんだ 実は毛虫に寄生する寄生虫なんだ そして、それは、塩粒と同じ大きさの脳というだけでなく、 ミバエと比べると 体全体が塩粒くらいの大きさしかない
他の生命体と大きさを比べてみよう
ゾウリムシやアメーバと同じくらいの大きさだけど 非常に小さな7000個の神経細胞からなる脳を持っている 君達、聞いた事があるかな?これらの細胞体と呼ばれるもので 神経細胞の核は細胞体に入っているんだ。
これは、この大きさでさえ、あまりに場所を取りすぎるから 取り除かれている
今回のテーマは神経科学の最前線なんだ
ある神経科学の最前線では、脳が機能する仕組みを解き明かすことができる、と仮定してみよう 含まれているだろう
一緒に考えみよう。少数の神経細胞でたくさんの処理を行うには どうすればいいのか?
工学的観点から見ると 君たちは、多重化と考えるかもしれないね。
ある機器を用いて、その装置に 違う時間にに違う処理をさせる 又は、その装置の他の部分で違う処理をさせるんだ。
僕が調べてみたいのは2つある
これらの概念は僕が思いついたものではなく 他の人たちが過去に提唱していたものだ
その一つは カニの噛み方からヒントを得ている
僕らがカニを噛むんじゃないよ
僕はボルチモア育ちだから カニを噛むのは超得意だけどね
いま話してるのは カニ自身の咀嚼行動についてだ
カニの咀嚼行動は実に興味深い
カニの甲羅の下には 複雑な器官があって 咀嚼器と呼ばれる いろんな風に食べ物をかみ砕くことができる
これは咀嚼器の内視鏡映像
咀嚼器の何がすごいかというと わずか20個程度の神経細胞で 多様な筋肉運動のパターンを 作り出している点だ これが可能なのは カニの小さな神経節が 多種の神経調節物質に浸されているからだ
神経調整物質については、さっきのスピーチにも登場したね
神経細胞よりも多くの 神経調節物質があって それを変化させたり、実際に、その器官の神経細胞の数よりも多くを刺激したりしている そして、その事が 複雑な運動パターンを生み出す事を可能にしている
ここにイブ・マーダーと仲間たちの長年の研究成果がある 彼らは素晴らしい組織の研究していて それは、どんな少数の神経細胞の集まりでも いろんなことができる という事を明らかにしているんだ というのも、根本的に、神経調節は刻々と発生するからね
すなわち、これは基本的には、時間的多重化という事だ
1つの神経調節物質に、1つの神経細胞網があると想像してごらん。
ある神経調整物質といくつかの細胞に ある行動を割り当てて 別の神経調節物質と細胞に 別の行動を割り当てていくと 非常に複雑な運動パターンが可能になることが これで想像できるだろう
ハエも同じだろうか?
長年に渡り 私の研究所でも、世界中の研究所でも 小さな飛行シミュレーターを使って ハエの行動を研究してきた
ハエを棒の先にくっつけて
空気力を計測するんだ
ハエがテレビゲームをやっているような格好になる 映像の中にハエを飛ばしておくことによって
この続きを少しお見せしましょう
一匹のハエがいるね 飛行シミュレーターの中のハエの大きな赤外線映像で、 これは、ハエが好むゲームの一つなんだ。
ハエが 小さな縞模様の方に飛んでいくように仕向けると ハエは 長時間 これを続けようとする。
ハエの視線誘導システムに もともと組み込まれている働きなんだ
でも、ごく最近では こうした行動領域を 生理学的に変更することが可能になっている
これは、以前、ここでギャビー・メイモンがポスドクだった頃に研究していた準備段階のものなんだけど、 今、彼はロックフェラー大学でこれを完成させたんだ。 それは 単なる飛行シミュレーターではなく ハエの脳に電極を挿入して 遺伝子的に特定された神経細胞の 電流を記録することができる
これらの実験の様子のひとつがこちら。
実験室では、ポスドクから後任のポスドクへ実験が引き継がれていたんだ。 後任者は ベッティナ・シュネル。
画面下の緑の線は ハエの脳細胞の膜電位だ。 ほら、ハエが飛び始めたよ。 模様の回転は ハエ自身が羽の動きで制御している 模様の回転は ハエ自身が羽の動きで制御している 視覚介在神経が見えるよね ハエが飛ぶ時に、 これが羽の運動パターンに 反応するんだ
だから、初めて我々が ハエの脳神経の電流を記録することができるようになったんだ 飛行など という高度な行動を行っているときでもね
その結果、我々が学んだ事の一つは 細胞生理学だ。 我々は長年に渡って、 静止状態のハエの神経細胞を研究してきたんだけど、 そこには 生理学的な違いがある 彼らが運動中の時のハエの神経細胞では- 飛行や歩行などの運動って事なんだけど。
なぜ生理学的な違いが生じるのか?
実はね、神経調節物質が重要な役割を 果たしていることが分かったんだ。 カニの場合と同様 ここでも
これはオクトパミン系の写真だ
オクトパミンは神経調節物質だ。 それは、飛行などの行動に重要な役割を果たすらしい
これは、多くの神経調節物質の一つだ そう、ハエの脳だよ
だから研究を進めていけば その事が明らかになるだろう。 ハエの脳全体が、カニの咀嚼器の神経節と同じようであり、 そして、どうして少ない神経細胞で多くの処理を行えるのか、という理由の一つ
もう一つの考え方、そして他の多重化の方法について考えてみよう 空間的多重化では 神経細胞の別々の部分で 同時に別々の処理を行う
これは2種類の標準的な神経細胞 脊椎動物と無脊椎動物からの ラモン・イ・カハールによる 人間の錐体細胞の図 右にある他の細胞は、ノンスパイキング介在神経細胞の図 そして、これは、ずっと以前のアラン・ワトソンとマルコム・バロウズの業績なんだ マルコムは面白い考え方を提案した ある昆虫の神経細胞に基づいていて、 活動電位を発火させないんだ。
それがノンスパイキング細胞だ。
僕たちの脳神経細胞の様な 、一般的な神経細胞は 樹状突起と呼ばれる部分があって そこで受けた入力がたまると 活動電位が発生して 軸索突起を伝わり 神経細胞の出力部分を活性化させる
でも、ノンスパイキング神経細胞は もっと複雑だ というのも、入力シナプスと出力シナプスが 複雑に絡み合っていて 全ての出力を駆動する 単一の活動電位というものがない つまり同じ時間に全てを出力するようにできているからなんだね。
とすれば ある可能性が出てくる。それは計算用のブロックが区切られていて 一つの神経細胞の別々の部分で 別々の処理を行っている可能性がある という事なんだ。
時間的な多重化という これらの基本的考え、 そして 空間的な多重化は 基礎概念としては 人間の脳にも当てはまる でも 昆虫の多重化の方が発達しているんだ
今日の話で 昆虫に対する考え方が変わったかな? 今度ハエたたきを振り回す前に 今日の話を思い出してください | But basically, I figured out that I could find those alien creatures right on Earth.
And what I do is I study insects.
I'm obsessed with insects, particularly insect flight.
I think the evolution of insect flight is perhaps one of the most important events in the history of life.
Without insects, there'd be no flowering plants.
Without flowering plants, there would be no clever, fruit-eating primates giving TED Talks.
Now, David and Hidehiko and Ketaki gave a very compelling story about the similarities between fruit flies and humans, and there are many similarities, and so you might think that if humans are similar to fruit flies, the favorite behavior of a fruit fly might be this, for example -- but in my talk, I don't want to emphasize on the similarities between humans and fruit flies, but rather the differences,
and focus on the behaviors that I think fruit flies excel at doing.
And so I want to show you a high-speed video sequence of a fly shot at 7,000 frames per second in infrared lighting, and to the right, off-screen, is an electronic looming predator that is going to go at the fly.
The fly is going to sense this predator.
It is going to extend its legs out.
It's going to sashay away to live to fly another day.
Now I have carefully cropped this sequence to be exactly the duration of a human eye blink, so in the time that it would take you to blink your eye, the fly has seen this looming predator, estimated its position, initiated a motor pattern to fly it away, beating its wings at 220 times a second as it does so.
I think this is a fascinating behavior that shows how fast the fly's brain can process information.
Now, flight -- what does it take to fly?
Well, in order to fly, just as in a human aircraft, you need wings that can generate sufficient aerodynamic forces, you need an engine sufficient to generate the power required for flight, and you need a controller, and in the first human aircraft, the controller was basically the brain of Orville and Wilbur sitting in the cockpit.
Now, how does this compare to a fly?
Well, I spent a lot of my early career trying to figure out how insect wings generate enough force to keep the flies in the air.
And you might have heard how engineers proved that bumblebees couldn't fly.
Well, the problem was in thinking that the insect wings function in the way that aircraft wings work. But they don't.
And we tackle this problem by building giant, dynamically scaled model robot insects that would flap in giant pools of mineral oil where we could study the aerodynamic forces.
And it turns out that the insects flap their wings in a very clever way, at a very high angle of attack that creates a structure at the leading edge of the wing, a little tornado-like structure called a leading edge vortex, and it's that vortex that actually enables the wings to make enough force for the animal to stay in the air.
But the thing that's actually most -- so, what's fascinating is not so much that the wing has some interesting morphology.
What's clever is the way the fly flaps it, which of course ultimately is controlled by the nervous system, and this is what enables flies to perform these remarkable aerial maneuvers.
Now, what about the engine?
The engine of the fly is absolutely fascinating.
They have two types of flight muscle: so-called power muscle, which is stretch-activated, which means that it activates itself and does not need to be controlled on a contraction-by-contraction basis by the nervous system.
It's specialized to generate the enormous power required for flight, and it fills the middle portion of the fly, so when a fly hits your windshield, it's basically the power muscle that you're looking at.
But attached to the base of the wing is a set of little, tiny control muscles that are not very powerful at all, but they're very fast, and they're able to reconfigure the hinge of the wing on a stroke-by-stroke basis, and this is what enables the fly to change its wing and generate the changes in aerodynamic forces which change its flight trajectory.
And of course, the role of the nervous system is to control all this.
So let's look at the controller.
Now flies excel in the sorts of sensors that they carry to this problem.
They have antennae that sense odors and detect wind detection.
They have a sophisticated eye which is the fastest visual system on the planet.
They have another set of eyes on the top of their head.
We have no idea what they do.
They have sensors on their wing.
Their wing is covered with sensors, including sensors that sense deformation of the wing.
They can even taste with their wings.
One of the most sophisticated sensors a fly has is a structure called the halteres.
The halteres are actually gyroscopes.
These devices beat back and forth about 200 hertz during flight, and the animal can use them to sense its body rotation and initiate very, very fast corrective maneuvers.
But all of this sensory information has to be processed by a brain, and yes, indeed, flies have a brain, a brain of about 100,000 neurons.
Now several people at this conference have already suggested that fruit flies could serve neuroscience because they're a simple model of brain function.
And the basic punchline of my talk is, I'd like to turn that over on its head.
I don't think they're a simple model of anything.
And I think that flies are a great model.
They're a great model for flies.
And let's explore this notion of simplicity.
So I think, unfortunately, a lot of neuroscientists, we're all somewhat narcissistic.
When we think of brain, we of course imagine our own brain.
But remember that this kind of brain, which is much, much smaller — instead of 100 billion neurons, it has 100,000 neurons — but this is the most common form of brain on the planet and has been for 400 million years.
And is it fair to say that it's simple?
Well, it's simple in the sense that it has fewer neurons, but is that a fair metric?
And I would propose it's not a fair metric.
So let's sort of think about this. I think we have to compare -- — we have to compare the size of the brain with what the brain can do.
So I propose we have a Trump number, and the Trump number is the ratio of this man's behavioral repertoire to the number of neurons in his brain.
We'll calculate the Trump number for the fruit fly.
Now, how many people here think the Trump number is higher for the fruit fly?
It's a very smart, smart audience.
Now I realize that it is a little bit absurd to compare the behavioral repertoire of a human to a fly.
But let's take another animal just as an example. Here's a mouse.
A mouse has about 1,000 times as many neurons as a fly.
I used to study mice. When I studied mice, I used to talk really slowly.
And then something happened when I started to work on flies.
And I think if you compare the natural history of flies and mice, it's really comparable. They have to forage for food.
They have to engage in courtship.
They have sex. They hide from predators.
They do a lot of the similar things.
But I would argue that flies do more.
So for example, I'm going to show you a sequence, and I have to say, some of my funding comes from the military, so I'm showing this classified sequence and you cannot discuss it outside of this room. Okay?
So I want you to look at the payload at the tail of the fruit fly.
Watch it very closely, and you'll see why my six-year-old son now wants to be a neuroscientist.
Wait for it.
Pshhew.
So at least you'll admit that if fruit flies are not as clever as mice, they're at least as clever as pigeons. Now, I want to get across that it's not just a matter of numbers but also the challenge for a fly to compute everything its brain has to compute with such tiny neurons.
So this is a beautiful image of a visual interneuron from a mouse that came from Jeff Lichtman's lab, and you can see the wonderful images of brains that he showed in his talk.
at the same scale, a visual interneuron from a fly.
And I'll expand this up.
And it's a beautifully complex neuron.
It's just very, very tiny, and there's lots of biophysical challenges with trying to compute information with tiny, tiny neurons.
How small can neurons get? Well, look at this interesting insect.
It looks sort of like a fly. It has wings, it has eyes, it has antennae, its legs, complicated life history, it's a parasite, it has to fly around and find caterpillars but not only is its brain the size of a salt grain, which is comparable for a fruit fly, it is the size of a salt grain.
So here's some other organisms at the similar scale.
This animal is the size of a paramecium and an amoeba, and it has a brain of 7,000 neurons that's so small -- you know these things called cell bodies you've been hearing about, where the nucleus of the neuron is?
This animal gets rid of them because they take up too much space.
So this is a session on frontiers in neuroscience.
I would posit that one frontier in neuroscience is to figure out how the brain of that thing works.
But let's think about this. How can you make a small number of neurons do a lot?
And I think, from an engineering perspective, you think of multiplexing.
You can take a hardware and have that hardware do different things at different times, or have different parts of the hardware doing different things.
And these are the two concepts I'd like to explore.
And they're not concepts that I've come up with, but concepts that have been proposed by others in the past.
And one idea comes from lessons from chewing crabs.
And I don't mean chewing the crabs.
I grew up in Baltimore, and I chew crabs very, very well.
But I'm talking about the crabs actually doing the chewing.
Crab chewing is actually really fascinating.
Crabs have this complicated structure under their carapace called the gastric mill that grinds their food in a variety of different ways.
And here's an endoscopic movie of this structure.
The amazing thing about this is that it's controlled by a really tiny set of neurons, about two dozen neurons that can produce a vast variety of different motor patterns, and the reason it can do this is that this little tiny ganglion in the crab is actually inundated by many, many neuromodulators.
You heard about neuromodulators earlier.
There are more neuromodulators that alter, that innervate this structure than actually neurons in the structure, and they're able to generate a complicated set of patterns.
And this is the work by Eve Marder and her many colleagues who've been studying this fascinating system that show how a smaller cluster of neurons can do many, many, many things because of neuromodulation that can take place on a moment-by-moment basis.
So this is basically multiplexing in time.
Imagine a network of neurons with one neuromodulator.
You select one set of cells to perform one sort of behavior, another neuromodulator, another set of cells, a different pattern, and you can imagine you could extrapolate to a very, very complicated system.
Is there any evidence that flies do this?
Well, for many years in my laboratory and other laboratories around the world, we've been studying fly behaviors in little flight simulators.
You can tether a fly to a little stick.
You can measure the aerodynamic forces it's creating.
You can let the fly play a little video game by letting it fly around in a visual display.
So let me show you a little tiny sequence of this.
Here's a fly and a large infrared view of the fly in the flight simulator, and this is a game the flies love to play.
You allow them to steer towards the little stripe, and they'll just steer towards that stripe forever.
It's part of their visual guidance system.
But very, very recently, it's been possible to modify these sorts of behavioral arenas for physiologies.
So this is the preparation that one of my former post-docs, Gaby Maimon, who's now at Rockefeller, developed, and it's basically a flight simulator but under conditions where you actually can stick an electrode in the brain of the fly and record from a genetically identified neuron in the fly's brain.
And this is what one of these experiments looks like.
It was a sequence taken from another post-doc in the lab, Bettina Schnell.
The green trace at the bottom is the membrane potential of a neuron in the fly's brain, and you'll see the fly start to fly, and the fly is actually controlling the rotation of that visual pattern itself by its own wing motion, and you can see this visual interneuron respond to the pattern of wing motion as the fly flies.
So for the first time we've actually been able to record from neurons in the fly's brain while the fly is performing sophisticated behaviors such as flight.
And one of the lessons we've been learning is that the physiology of cells that we've been studying for many years in quiescent flies is not the same as the physiology of those cells when the flies actually engage in active behaviors like flying and walking and so forth.
And why is the physiology different?
Well it turns out it's these neuromodulators, just like the neuromodulators in that little tiny ganglion in the crabs.
So here's a picture of the octopamine system.
Octopamine is a neuromodulator that seems to play an important role in flight and other behaviors.
But this is just one of many neuromodulators that's in the fly's brain.
So I really think that, as we learn more, it's going to turn out that the whole fly brain is just like a large version of this stomatogastric ganglion, and that's one of the reasons why it can do so much with so few neurons.
Now, another idea, another way of multiplexing is multiplexing in space, having different parts of a neuron do different things at the same time.
So here's two sort of canonical neurons from a vertebrate and an invertebrate, a human pyramidal neuron from Ramon y Cajal, and another cell to the right, a non-spiking interneuron, and this is the work of Alan Watson and Malcolm Burrows many years ago, and Malcolm Burrows came up with a pretty interesting idea based on the fact that this neuron from a locust does not fire action potentials.
It's a non-spiking cell.
So a typical cell, like the neurons in our brain, has a region called the dendrites that receives input, and that input sums together and will produce action potentials that run down the axon and then activate all the output regions of the neuron.
But non-spiking neurons are actually quite complicated because they can have input synapses and output synapses all interdigitated, and there's no single action potential that drives all the outputs at the same time.
So there's a possibility that you have computational compartments that allow the different parts of the neuron to do different things at the same time.
So these basic concepts of multitasking in time and multitasking in space, I think these are things that are true in our brains as well, but I think the insects are the true masters of this.
So I hope you think of insects a little bit differently next time, and as I say up here, please think before you swat. | {
"source": "iwslt2017",
"missed_lines": null,
"inserted_lines_src": null,
"inserted_lines_trg": null
} |
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This dataset contains document-length Japanese-English parallel texts from various sources. The intended use case is for translation tasks. The cumulative dataset is under an apache 2.0 license, but the sources differ on that account. If there are conflicts, assume the more restrictive clause takes priority (?)
I am unfamiliar with licenses in general, so if someone sees any issues with the licensing situation, please let me know.
Metadata meaning:
source: self-explanatory
specific to manual fanfic:
missed_lines: number of lines in the document where the index matched between the unaligned source and translation, but the content of the lines did not meet the match threshold. This number being high relative to the number of lines in the document indicates either a poor translation, or some other factor causing the source and translation to differ beyond the norm.
inserted_lines_src: number of lines that only appear in the source document, and matches are found surrounding them, indicating the line is some kind of insertion (like a note, afterword, title, etc). Is generally safe to ignore unless it's significant compared to the number of correctly aligned sentences, which would indicate a poor matchup between source and translation sources, for one reason or another.
inserted_lines_src: same as above, but for the target document instead
Dataset Sources
news_commentary (unknown license?)
iwslt2017 (cc-by-nc-nd-4.0)
https://www2.nict.go.jp/astrec-att/member/mutiyama/ (gpl v1.2)
manually scraped fanfiction and translations (apache 2.0)
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