Plantorsomething

I went all perfectionist with the edits of this chapter lol. I better post this now while I’m satisfied before I can think of something else to do with it and accidentally stuff too much in here. Also yes, it’s the same poll lol. It’s just cuz not too many people answered last time, I think because I added in the poll a few hours after publishing.

         Outside in the zen garden, Kishino finally allowed himself to let out a sigh as he stretched his back with a satisfying pop, rocking his legs back and forth under the wooden bench. He had been doing a lot of those types of talks since he had… woken up, as Harold. But even so, among all of them, Tasuku-sama’s talk had been the most stressful one by far. The only negotiations that could even somewhat compare to it were his bargaining with high level knights at the barracks trying to trade monster parts for food. Other than that, most of his discussions were only with people like Jake, who were working towards the same goal as Kishino. 

         -If I wasn’t in a rush, I could’ve landed a much bigger deal, by the way.

         -Maybe. But you did rush, and you can’t take that back now. Just remember that for next time, that’s all you can do, right?

         -I know that! Just, if I thought about it as much as you, I could've done better, obviously. Though… You did well too. 

         -Thank you! You did not bad yourself, actually. You said a lot of the things you needed to say, putting aside how you said it. Just to be sure, maybe I should take control for most of the big negotiations while you practice on Jake at home? So you can show Tasuku only your very best next time!

         -Well… I suppose I wouldn’t mind skipping out on more boring things… 

         Kishino found himself smiling and mentally patting Harold’s head. They still needed a lot of work on their coordination, and he regretted ignoring it for so long. It was practically the definition of procrastination actually; they’d put it off until the very moment they needed it, and suffered for it. If he hadn’t written out several possible directions of the talk, if Tasuku had been any less tolerant at the beginning, and if he hadn’t simulated the discussion over in his head countless times last night and before they had even arrived in the territory, Kishino believed he would have been utterly demolished in that conversation. Though, there was still a ton of improvisation involved. And even with all of that, the results he obtained were barely sub optimal at best.

         Even so, the confidence he inherited from merging with Harold’s consciousness wasn’t enough to last him the entire talk; If Kishino didn’t wear any overcoat, the massive stains from his armpits would have been exceedingly obvious. If Tasuku-sama had ever managed to take control of the momentum at any point in that negotiation, Kishino felt he would have immediately broken down. And he drew extremely close to that when he mentioned Erica’s engagement. 

          Despite their planning, Kishino and Harold never seriously considered the engagement; they didn’t even know their opinions on whether they wanted to keep it or abolish it yet. Kishino could only blurt out the neutral statement that he didn’t care, but he wondered if that was the right thing to say? He didn’t know what might have happened if the Sumeragi head pressed them further on the underprepared subject. Then, as stated before, there was the fact that they never considered if other people might be able to perceive Harold and Kishino tagging each other out; that was an extremely important detail to just overlook like it was nothing! The whole entire thing was a completely underprepared mess, and they relied way more on improv than they should have. Kishino felt like he’d just scrambled to finish his math homework five minutes before class started.

         As Kishino was staring exhaustedly up at the sky and swinging his legs with increasing intensity, running the conversation over in his head and discussing with Harold about what they could have done better, the familiar, rhythmic clicking sounds of wood sandals approached him on the shaded bench. Kishino groaned in his head; he was too tired to deal with any more bullshit today. He was supposed to rest until tomorrow while Tasuku prepared various things and his father continued his sightseeing trip.

        Sitting up straight to make an attempt at politely declining the random attendant, he stopped when he saw it was Erica who was approaching him. Kishino was suddenly no longer holding the wheel, and Harold quickly shifted in his seat so he was directly facing Erica as he tried to quench his nervousness as he tried to think of what he could possibly say. Trapped in indecision as his legs slowed to a halt, he ended up remaining completely silent until she made it all the way to the bench he was sitting at. Panicking now that he ran out of time, Harold tried to say one of the only things he felt the trash-translator might not be able to screw up.

         “...I made an error.”

         Erica only stared at him with a confused head tilt. Unlike before, she wasn’t bothering to hide her indignance toward Harold. She didn’t know what was written in the letter or papers, but she knew it was something suspiciously ‘good,’ and they don’t know the motives of Harold nor the benefactor. And so, she was instructed to come here and see if she could wring out any information, since she was his fiance. She figured that Harold would just shoo her away rudely, but suspiciously, he seemed to want to apologize for something.

          “...Is this some sort of ploy?”

          Though it might have been smarter to play along, she accidentally voiced out her real thoughts. Seemingly embarrassed, Harold turned his head as if he suddenly found the river two feet to her right to be incredibly interesting.           

         “Well, no, but I guess there’s no way for you to comprehend that.”

         For someone who was supposedly apologizing, the noble boy seemed to be just as stuck up as ever. Hearing the words spewing out of his own mouth, Harold struck a moment of genius as realized that there might possibly be a way that he could say genuinely kind things. If he tried to make his words overwhelmingly gentle and kind, maybe the translator wouldn’t be strong enough to make it horrible? It required further testing, but...

          “...You were hurt yesterday. I shouldn’t have said what I did. (I sincerely apologize for my actions yesterday. I said something horrible and made you upset.)”

          “...”

          Chills ran up Harold’s spine as his words deviated so far from his norm, but the result was absolutely worth it. Seeing Erica not even bother hiding her suspicion, Harold gave up on convincing her right away, but the fact that he was so close to an apology filled him with a blazing inferno of excitement and hope.

          -Wait, what!? I tried back in the barracks, and it barely did shit!

          Praising himself for coming up with such an ingenious solution before his equally genius headmate ever came up with it, Harold tuned out Kishino’s excuses and quickly tried to keep the momentum by moving on to another topic. As Kishino told him in his pep talk last night, he made sure to pick something he was genuinely interested in. 

         Thankfully, his translator was more lenient about casual things like this; Harold had been developing somewhat of a sixth sense for the horrible curse over the past month, and was able to predict the translator with some accuracy, though he and Kishino still couldn’t puzzle together it’s full functions yet. The only thing they knew with near-certainty was that the more they tried to sound ‘kind’ or ‘polite’, the worse it felt when their words were translated. Crass or rude words were easy and comfortable in comparison.

          “Well, hm… Anyways, if you’ll indulge me, I have been wondering for a while now; what kinds of stories do your history textbooks cram into your head?”

          “What… ?”

          Erica was confused with the sudden topic switch. Was Harold embarrassed by his past behavior? She couldn’t be sure, but Erica would lend him her ear if he was willing to speak. It was what she’d come here for in the first place, after all.

         “Well, since I was born in ‘that kind of household’, obviously all the books I could read were written by some opinionated old men who thought they were better than everyone else.”

          “Do we not have the same education?”

          “What kind of question is that? My parents tried to teach me to think the same things they think, and your parents did likewise for yourself. Obviously we would be learning from different texts.”

          Erica had honestly never thought of something like that; she always just assumed that what she learned was the truth, or at least somewhat reliable. But then, wasn’t Harold also blatantly acknowledging that what he learned could possibly be false? And he described his own home as ‘that kind of household,’ using her own words from yesterday. Was it like father said, that there was a possibility that Harold might be less of a puritan than Erica had assumed? Or was it all part of an act to acquire some future gains? Though, Erica found the latter somewhat difficult to believe now.

         “... I suppose you have a point… What part of history do you want to know about in particular?”

         “Firstly, the founding of this country. According to what I was taught, everyone was miserable under the previous kingdom’s rule until courageous noblemen from the north rebelled and took over the country, uniting the reluctant masses under a greater rule. The allies to the east, your ancestors, were allowed some territory and governance in exchange for some assistance to end the war without wasting too many lives.”

          Erica couldn’t hide the bewilderment on her face if she tried. Such a perspective was so wildly wrong that she had no idea how some arrogant historian managed to spin such a story. She quickly spoke to correct this blatant misinformation.

          “T-thats… ! How could… ? No, that’s not right; those supposed courageous noblemen were under siege from the Sarian empire, and they needed to call upon our ancestors to rescue them! As we aided them in their defense, the empire weakened considerably through multiple unlucky battles and skirmishes, so the north then took that opportunity to conquer some of their lands as a counter offensive.”

           Erica’s voice petered out as she realized halfway through her rant that she just called the founding noblemen weak in front of someone who might be a blood puritain, but Harold only seemed enraptured with her explanation. It seemed that her father’s deduction held some weight after all.

           “-And according to my books, Rosaria required no help in defeating the south?”

           Seeing that Harold was still willing to listen, her voice picked up again, and she continued her explanation with confidence.

           “No, that’s- that’s just spinning the story differently! The east refused to help with the attack because we were still on somewhat neutral terms with the south, and wanted to keep the peace instead of fanning the flames of war. Rosaria eventually won because the war was starting to drag on, and the south wanted to prevent further casualties. The Summeragi were still given credit for their protection, and this land was dubbed the Summeragi territory. The military general who contributed the most in the war was given control over this land with hopes of keeping good relations with the two countries.”

           “How intriguing… Then, how did your texts depict the fracturing of the country specifically, and it’s cut off from its initial lands?”

           If Harold was being honest, he thought both his version and Erica’s version were biased. But before he could open his mouth, Kishino swiftly warned him that the trash translator could twist that neutral standpoint into a disaster. Though he was reluctant, he only tried to further the conversation as it was now. He’d only venture into riskier territory once he repaired Erica’s opinion of him.

          “Well, basically the old rulers grew... arrogant, when they conquered the remnants of the fractured empire. They used their sudden influx of power to suppress the cultures and religions of the conquered peoples. But some of the more liberal rulers, persuaded by our ancestors who were disgusted by the suppression, opposed their policy, leading to infighting. The eastern allies helped the new country defeat the older rulers, and Rosaria as we know it today was formed. Since then, it grew strong and prosperous due to its ideals of freedom.”

           Well that was certainly… simplified. From what Kishino knew about history, it was bound to be endlessly more complicated and less based on any moral ideals. After chewing on it in silence for a time, Erica spoke up again, bringing him back to reality. 

          “So… What do you think? Do you believe in your side, or ours?” 

          What kind of unfair question was that? He couldn’t just lie about it, but if he tried to be honest… ah well, why the hell not? It would feel terrible, but Harold determinedly sucked in his breath as he tried to put on his nicest persona possible.

          “It’s stupid to believe in just one side. I don’t really have anything to base this on, but my current theory is that there was some sort of political split, and the Eastern Allies favored one side in particular. But since it was hard to get one side of the country to split willingly, the excuse of cultural diversity was used as an incentive for everyday citizens to support the North. 

          Erica’s eyes narrowed as he wordlessly implied that she might be incorrect, but she continued listening until Harold was finished.

          “The Eastern allies continued to supply the north despite their separatist ideologies, enraging the south and dragging the east into the war. It’s also possible that a leader did sincerely want to free the citizens, but it would be impossible to convince everyone with moral obligation alone, so he needed logical reasoning. The only thing I’m certain of is that ‘my’ side of the story heavily favors the puritans, and I don’t believe in all of it.” 

          After taking some time to digest Harold’s proposal, Erica questioned him in a careful voice.

          “So… you don’t think morals are a good enough reason to do anything? Is that it?”

          “Don’t be an… Sigh, no, I don’t think so. In fact, I agree human nature is controlled by emotion and desire much more than logic. And that is precisely why I think that liberating the citizens is most likely not enough incentive for most politicians to support the separation.”

          “Wait, what…? That doesn’t make any sense. You said-”

          “I said that freeing the citizens more than likely wasn’t the only reason for the separation. There is only one flaw with your reasoning; you are assuming that every seperatist was a shining beacon of morality that only wanted to start soup kitchens, rescue kittens from trees, and knit sweaters for homeless kids.”

          Erica laughed at the image in spite of herself.           

         “Well, I never said that ever seperatist was perfect. But why else would they separate…?”

          Erica's voice died down toward the end of her sentence as she tried to digest his words, and Harold let out what he hoped was an invisible breath of relief as he moved his jaw back and forth to ensure it was under his control again. He desperately held back the urge to cough and clear his throat, and he wondered if he could ever possibly get used to the feeling. Kishino was also worried that they would unconsciously start to get used to crude speech through pavlovian conditioning. Maybe they needed to add daily speech training to their schedule; Kishino was beginning to think that the translator might also respond to their emotional state and intentions, which is why talking to the shit-eating soldiers had little to no effect.

         Regarding Erica, since her views were largely eastern, Harold wouldn’t be surprised if she easily could think of some incidents of people from early Rosaria being idiots or scumbags, even if they were technically on the same side of the war. Harold also couldn’t blame her for not questioning what she was taught; without Kishino’s memories, he would have probably never realized how utterly complicated the world actually is at his age. In fact, he still had a lot of trouble digesting all of those memories even today. Realizing that he might have just spoken like he thinks he knows everything, Harold quickly spoke up again.

           “Well, I don’t actually know too much. God knows how biased the texts that I’ve had shoved down my throat actually are, and I haven’t even advanced my history lessons far enough to begin to argue my point. It’s only a baseless theory; my real point is that I think humans are too annoyingly complicated for either of our sides of the story to be without some tampering from biased old men.”

           “Right… I suppose you’re right. I hadn’t thought of that before, thank you!”

           “......Thanks. You actually listened to me. I’m glad you’re- willing to open your ears. (Thank you so much for listening to my point of view and acknowledging that my opinion has value to it. I am immensely grateful that you have been so kindly patient and understanding with me.)”

           “Of course! If I refuse to listen to anyone, I’d wake up one day and only be able to hear my own voice after all.”

           Choosing to ignore the question of whether Erica was being serious or not, Harold felt like he’d just drawn a perfect portrait of his father from memory alone; he’d just managed to say both a half-apology and an actual ‘thank you’ within the same conversation! 

           -You did it! Holly shit, you really did it man!

           -Did you hear me just now!? Did you hear me say that!? I actually said ‘thank you!’ I really said thanks!

           -You did!!! I heard you! Fuck yeah, man! Haha!

           Harold even managed to catch and stop himself from saying something rude like ‘I’m glad you’re not irrational.’Any time he’d ever attempted to thank literally anyone, it was always ‘you worked hard.’ or ‘you’re useful after all’ at the best. But this time, he actually managed to say ‘thanks’ in a neutral tone! And he only sounded slightly arrogant! Harold was completely lost in his own world, paying minimal attention to his surroundings as he celebrated his achievement with Kishino, only barely refraining from laughing out loud.

           Erica, meanwhile, had no idea what to do as the red-eyed boy suddenly brightened up with the biggest and most genuine smile she’d ever seen since his arrival yesterday as he thanked her for simply listening to him, before happily zoning out into his own little world. Was Harold truly that grateful for Erica merely lending him her ear? For the first time since seeing him, she never even considered the smile to be one of deceit or ulterior motive. He didn’t seem to be trying to indoctrinate her into a puritain mindset, which would’ve been an impossible goal either way, and he even directly criticized his own education. Something like that was only possible if he thought that the beliefs he was raised in could be wrong.

            As she was struck with indecision as to whether she should interrupt Harold’s happiness and what they would talk about next, Erica also wondered about something; what kind of life could Harold have possibly lived so that he’d be this happy from someone simply listening to his thoughts? Erica often talked with those that disagreed with her, but it wasn’t like no one took her seriously or dismissed her altogether. She was even able to convince her mother and father to give her more lessons in medicinal magic despite her being a noble, so that she might one day find a cure for the disease plaguing the territory. Though that was mostly rendered mute now, she supposed. Now feeling an unexpected sympathy for the boy, Erica wanted to get to know him a bit better. Thankfully, Harold chose the next topic himself.

            “...Ah, sorry for the pause. Hm, what would you say is your favorite practice of magic? Or just something you enjoy about it in general.”

            “Oh, I love archery magic! Seeing the bright light soar across the field and blow up on the target, or create a fiery explosion is so satisfying! And I just recently got into health too.”

            “Oh? Do you pull the string with your thumb and index finger, or with two fingers?”

            Erica raised her eyebrows in surprise.

            “Thumb and index; I’m actually impressed that you know about it, since Eucranians are usually puzzled when they see us practice and claim that we’re doing it wrong.”

            So that was the same as the game animation at least. Harold was somewhat surprised that she was training her skill set so early on in her life, but it wasn’t particularly unbelievable; Erica joined the party late in the game, and as such, had a decently strong starting level. If he could encourage or help her with practice, he wondered if he could make her stronger for the time of the game events?

           “Archery was somewhat more troublesome than I’d imagined when I tried it. Your back muscles would have to be incredibly strong to seriously take up the art. Did you know that archers’ skeletons, particularly their shoulders and back bones, are different from normal persons because they have to adapt to the strength required?” 

           “I know, it’s awful, but I also feel so strong the day after, it’s completely worth it! But, where did you read that fact about skeletons?”

           Knowing the changes of the skeleton for archers might be good to know for various healing magics, after all. There was a good chance that other useful information could be found in the same book where Harold read about it.

           “It was told to me by the person who came up with that list.”

           “Oh…”

           Erica suddenly remembered what she actually came here for, and felt a bit hypocritical that she was the one judging Harold for his ulterior motives considering that she was the one to initiate the talk in the first place. Still, it reminded her of something she forgot to ask about.

           “By the way Harold, I know you apologized but I want to know; did you really mean what you said about the Summeragi house being pathetic?”

           “No. I didn’t mean what I said. I was particularly irritable yesterday.”

           Surprisingly, Harold answered without any hesitation, and didn’t even bother trying to deny his actions. That certainly raised him up a notch in Erica’s view, but she still had yet to hear a certain word.

           “I see… But, aren’t you forgetting something else you should be saying? Hm?”

           “Right… I apologize.”

           Choosing his words extremely carefully, Harold managed to bring himself to apologize with only the bare minimum hints of disingenuous attitude. But even as Kishino congratulated him, it was not enough for Erica to be satisfied. It had been long drilled into her head that when you do something wrong, you have to genuinely apologize for your actions, and never do it again.

           “I see, but if you’ll allow me to be selfish, I was largely hurt by your words, and you had dishonored my family. I might be being a bit pushy right now, but please give the Summeragi a genuine apology.”

           Before Harold could flare up in indignation at the blatant disregard for his efforts, Kishino wrestled him away from the front temporarily, and reminded him that Erica had no idea how difficult this actually was for him, and that Harold shouldn’t take his frustration out on her. If he was being honest, Kishino was actually impressed that Erica was standing her ground so well, and saw it as a good thing. After a moment of silence in which Harold calmed himself down, he thought of the kindest, most genuine apology possible within the limits of vocabulary. In the heat of the moment, Harold even had a sudden flash of intuition as he remembered that the more formal he sounded, the more the translator was willing to let him off easy. And so, he stood up from the bench and bowed ninety degrees towards Erica as he stated his genuine apology.

           “Erica Summeragi, I apologize on the behalf of the Stokes family name that I had insulted your house and it’s efforts to protect it’s loyal citizens.”

           “...I accept your apology on the behalf of the Summeragi house! Please raise your head.”

           There it was. Harold had given Erica a genuine apology towards her family, and she could finally stop wasting energy holding a grudge. Erica couldn’t be angry at someone if they apologized so genuinely after all. Though, now that things were so formal, she had no idea where to steer the conversation from here on. Harold looked similarly lost, but after a few ‘Um’s’ and ‘well…’s’, he seemed to pick up where they left off.

           “...Ah! By the way, I’m curious about medical magic. I only got as far as treating skin wounds, headaches, and the like. Do you have recommendations for how I can go further?”

          Erica was surprised; she was just thinking of that topic a few seconds ago! What she didn’t know was that Harold deliberately chose this topic, knowing that Erica would grow up to be the primary healer of the Hero Party, who would perform convenient medical magic in between battles. But even if he chose the topic on purpose, Harold wasn’t lying when he said he was interested in the field. It was considered one of the most complex and difficult forms of magic for a reason, and he couldn’t suppress his burning eagerness to rise up to that challenge and learn new magics.

           “Oh, sure! I’m barely a beginner, but my family says I’m a natural at it, and I’ve studied quite a lot on my own time. There are a few tricks I can teach you that would’ve gotten me much further if I’d known them sooner. I’m mostly learning about the body for now though; I don’t have too much practical experience.”

           Erica jumped at the chance to dispel the awkward atmosphere, not caring how sudden or abrupt it was. She also didn’t really know how to interrogate people subtly, so she mostly gave up on trying when Harold blatantly avoided her attempts to prod him, and just enjoyed the conversation. Harold actually knew a really surprising amount about the human body, even more than Erika in quite a few places. Luckily, he didn’t know much about how magic interacted with it, and she was able to give him a lot of what she felt were useful tips for a beginner like her, but there was a lot more back and forth to the discussion than she thought there would be, and she actually learned a lot from him, and him from her in return.

           Unbeknownst to Erica, Kishino tagged in a few times in multiple parts of the conversation, signalled by his sudden unwillingness to sit completely still. But what was surprising was that Harold actually ‘fronted’ for the majority of the discussion, only unconsciously switching out when talking about a few particularly technical non-magic related aspects of health. He supposed even if it involved science, Harold had a real passion for pretty much all things magic related. It was the same with Kishino, who’d lived without it his whole life, but it seemed Harold also really wanted to talk with Erica, and would take control as long as he wasn’t uninterested. 

          What was most interesting was that most of her medical knowledge was remarkably accurate, with virtually no alchemical or pseudo-science involved, assuming most of the magic parts were actually accurate. It was also surprising just how much magic was able to simplify some things that he thought should have been incredibly difficult to achieve. When asked about it, Erica confirmed that the knowledge came from the same place as the game lore; the medical knowledge and various other information, general loot, or technologies were hidden in the depths of the abandoned temples from a forgotten civilization, which had served as typical rpg dungeons in Brave Hearts, and were a source of interest for many theory crafters.

          The conversation eventually veered into magic in general, with Kishino refraining from ranting about magic chants so Harold could actually have time to talk with a kid his age. He was also ninety nine percent sure Harold also had a bit of a crush on Erica, and their interests in magic quickly brought the two closer together despite their less than ideal first impression. Secretly laughing to himself, Kishino figured it would make for a hilarious how-I-met-your-mother story. 

           The two hung out with each other as she showed Harold around the mansion until dinner, when the evening ended with a visibly more relaxed Erica at the table, though she kept an unenthusiastic look as much as she could in front of Hayden and Jessica, as Harold requested her to do. Unbeknownst to Harold and Kihsino, the shinobi were also tailing them disguised as normal servants to eavesdrop on them. After dinner, Erica wanted to hang out a bit more, but Kishino and Harold needed to make sure they were ready for tomorrow, and that they got a good night’s rest. 

           Surely enough, Harold completely forgot what they were supposed to do tomorrow, and Kishino had to remind him to prepare. That night, the shinobi in the walls noted that Harold slept much more comfortably, though with the occasional tossing and turning as Kishino couldn’t stop thinking of the plan for a few hours before they finally passed out.