“Ew, what a disgusting face you have, what is it?”
“Huh?”
”Hey, Nakano, are you all right? You look very pale.”
“Huh?”
“Don't be a clown.”
“Argh!”
With one punch, Kurone snapped back to reality. The scenery regained its color and Rory moved again, delivering a right punch to his stomach. At least the pain was proof that he was back in the colorful world.
What was that? A hallucination?
No matter how many times he looked around, he could no longer see the slender silhouette of that beautiful woman, but one thing was certain: that encounter had happened. The young man clearly remembered those frightening eyes.
“Would you like a glass of water?” asked Orcus, with a serious expression.
“N-no. I'm fine, I just need to sit down.”
How could he be fine? The woman's eyes were all over the walls. There was no doubt. The beauty who had met Kurone was the goddess Annie, the same one drawn and carved on all the walls of the cathedral.
It was just like the time he met Cecily again. The soul had separated from the body, and he had been thrown into a world separate from that one. However, with this goddess it was different. The goddess interfered directly in time.
“Looks like the Rector isn't here! Sorry to keep you waiting. What happened, my little brother, nyah?”
“D-don't worry, it's nothing. Can we go see the tank?”
‘And get out of here as fast as possible!’ thought Kurone.
╬╬════════════╬╬
‘It's right over there!’ Kawaii led the group through the interior of the cathedral. The place was empty. According to the little girl, the religious leaders were busy with preparations regarding the festival that would take place soon.
The sound of footsteps echoed through the empty building. Kurone still had a strange expression on his face. Not for nothing, there was a statue of the goddess Annie in every room.
After five minutes of walking around corners and opening doors, the group reached a room that could only be described as a huge garage.
“Here it is! Eragon's relic, and also one of the strangest objects we have! The war tank!”
‘… Leopard 1,’ Kurone deduced, after seeing the vehicle. It was a German model, how did something like that end up in that world? More importantly, did it still work?
Each made a different expression. Orcus widened his eyes, admiring the ‘metal chariot’, and Rory closed her eyes, making a gloomy expression visible. What was happening to her? Normally, the arrogant loli would show no expression other than sadism and disgust. No, no, no. It was better not to question the little girl, at least not yet.
Turning his attention to the vehicle, Kurone noticed that it was well-preserved, the green paint still shining brightly. Probably someone was cleaning the tank daily.
As he got closer, he noticed a few scratches on the left side. Apparently they were made by a stone chip or a sharp object. Anyway, no matter what the material, the fact was that the scratches were intentional. Written in giant, almost illegible scribbles were two words, both in different languages, but originating from Earth.
The first was a ‘wasei-eigo’ written crudely in katakana, one of the three Japanese writing systems. The other, just below, was clearly written in English. The translation would be something like:
“Raifurori Mission?…”
The characters written in katakana could be divided into two words that could be romanized as ‘raifu’ and ‘rori’. They could have several meanings…
“That's right, little brother is Japanyese! Nyone of us could understand what was written at the top, nyah!”
“It's no use coming with that hopeful look. I didn't understand what was written there, either. ‘Raifurori’ is not a word that I know.”
“Disappointed! Disappointed! Nyah!”
“By the way, does this contraption work? It looks like it's been stopped for a long time.”
“I don't know, it's out of fuel. But, from what the ‘Rector’ told mye, they used a Blue Myana Orb once to myake it work.”
“So it takes mana for fuel…”
‘It's like Rory's rifle.’
“Nyo, nyo, nyo. LOTS of myana as fuel. Somyething that can only be provided by an Orb of Myana.”
“I see… Huh? Rory? What's up? Now you're the one with the strange expression.”
“Hmm… I wanted to blow some stuff up with this, but it doesn't look like it's going to work. That was it.”
“So that's why you were so anxious to see the tank?! And I was worrying about it for nothing.”
The group admired the war vehicle for another ten minutes before leaving the cathedral. Orcus, being an ignorant man, was content with Kurone's half-hearted explanation: ‘this is a different kind of carriage, which a horse cannot pull.’
Kawaii suggested returning to the institute, and the group agreed. Among everyone, the young man in the white cloak was the first to shout ‘let's go soon’ without hesitation. He wanted to see the two girls he left there as soon as possible, and I also didn't want to be surrounded any longer by statues of the goddess Annie.
╬╬════════════╬╬
As said before, the ‘Institute for the Reincarnated’ was known as an orphanage by the people. This was not a total lie. Upon entering the place, a large number of children could be seen running around.
It really was an orphanage there, but the children there were not normal. Despite their appearance, they had the mentality of an adult. No wonder, for they were reincarnated.
There were four supervisors and more than thirty children there. All reincarnated. Kawaii Kyuto and Rhyan Gotjail were included in the count of the supervisors.
Kawaii's job was basically to go from town to town, looking for countrymen from the other world. According to the ‘Rector’, they could cause problems for the balance of the world if they were let loose. Mana manipulation, and thus the ‘Legendary Weapon’, were awakened at the age of ten. Imagine the damage done by a ten-year-old child discovering that he could use magic.
Brain once explained to Kurone that the flow of mana in children was disorganized. No matter how much they had the mentality of an adult, they could never master magic on their own. And that's where the Institute came in.
Children were taught from an early age about magic and the common sense of that world. That was something Kurone lacked. However, there was something more important to note.
Everyone there was reincarnated, but not Kurone. They started life from scratch. The boy was bothered from the moment he met Kawaii. She had been reincarnated as a half-human!
Listening to the girl's explanation on the way to the Institute, the young man was only more confused. Mainly because of the use of the term ‘Legendary Weapon’. This was probably connected to Kawaii’s Ingram and the AWM carried by Rhyan Gotjail.
It was a lot of information for Kurone to process at once, but of one thing he was sure: they were all reincarnated by the goddess Annie. The same goddess he had seen in the cathedral a few minutes ago.
Talking about Cecily could lead to trouble, so he would simply avoid touching the subject for the moment.
Kurone could obtain important information by talking to Rhyan Gotjail, considering his personality. The hard part would be for the boy to put his pride aside and say a word to that narcissistic redhead young man. Well, there were still two supervisors he didn't know, maybe one of them could collaborate.
“Nyaaaaah! We're here!” Kawaii spread her arms exaggeratedly and inflated her chest almost insistently.
Come to think of it, Kawaii usually referred to herself as ‘he’ when talking about her past life. Had she, or he, been a man before reincarnating? Or was it just the idiomatic difference of pronouns in that world?
“Ehh… Kawaii…”
“Miss Kawaii! You're back early…” Someone, coming out of the Institute, interrupted Kurone's question — this was happening a lot lately, it was as if God didn't want the young man to get answers.
The one who interrupted him was a tall, formally dressed man, his face hidden by wooden boxes that he carried heavily.
“Nyah! There's been an attack in the square.”
“I see… So…” The man's eyes widened abnormally, the boxes they were carrying were thrown open, and his body began to shake. “Yo-you!… No, not again! Not again, not again, not again, not again, not again, not again, not again, not again! Get away! Monster!”
The screams of horror were directed at a single existence, and to this man it was like the most horrific existence he had ever seen in his life. He crawled, pleading, as if someone was ready to give him a coup de grâce.
He was horrified, trying to process what was happening. However, the little girl, Rory, who was called a ‘monster’, and the victim of the man's other insults, remained indifferent. She shrugged and ignored him, heading for the entrance of the institute.
“I'm hungry. I hope they have meat there.”
Rory was unpredictable, sometimes frightening, and always mysterious. Somehow, she had deeply traumatized this unknown man, and yet she ignored him, as if he were a piece of nothing.
Kurone thought about doing something, but Kawaii was quicker and tried to calm the man down. She signaled to the young man. ‘Go with Rory, quick!’. It was the best thing he could do at that moment.
