Vol 1 Chapter 35 – The Original Goal Was the Dad, Actually

“Oh, right — Ros.”

“Yes?”

“There should be a doctor somewhere in this town. I’d really like to meet him.”

The whole reason I needed to come to Calselm in the first place was that Clara and Cleo’s father was supposed to be here. The cockroach extermination was a bit of an unexpected detour, but sooner or later I was going to have to meet him — and if I can do it now, I’d rather just get it done.

Another person reincarnated — or transported — into this world—someone who’s been here long enough to build a family and still stayed. I have more questions than I know where to start.

“Let me check on that. I don’t believe there’s a physician in Calselm proper, though.”

“He’s the father of the twins at the Enju.”

“Oh! You mean Dr. Takamitsu — in that case, I’m sure I can find him quickly.”

Dr. Takamitsu. After a steady diet of fantasy-sounding names lately, something that the Japanese felt was almost nostalgic.

“Confirmed. It seems he evacuated to Tostria. I’ll let him know we’re on our way.”

“Thank you.”

“So we’re going to Tostria?”

“Yeah. I’ve got a lot to ask him. But bringing Fia along would be a problem.”

“Uu, I’m sorry.”

She was the commanding officer of an invading Demon King army. And her non-human nature isn’t exactly something you can hide at a glance. We’d get cold looks at best — and at worst, they might turn us away too.

“Can you stay and handle the cleanup?”

“Sure thing~ Can I eat them?”

“Eat every last one. Preferably leave nothing behind.”

“Leave it to meeee~”

Has to be an Ashidaka, right? I can’t imagine any other creature having eaten the cockroaches as a first instinct. What does Fia even eat on a normal day? She’s not small, either. Her upper half is roughly the same build as Elena’s, but her lower half looks like it stretches nearly two meters. She’s actually quite large.

“By balloon, Tostria is about fifteen minutes away.”

“What are you going to do when you meet Dr. Takamitsu?”

“There are things I want to ask him. About how this world actually works.”

“Is something off about this world?”

“From where I’m standing, it’s question marks all the way down.”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what would seem strange about it… But I suppose that’s what it means to be from another world.”

Yeah. Exactly. Why do so many things here feel too close to what I know? Why the Demon King exists at all. None of it makes any sense to me. But maybe after meeting Dr. Takamitsu, some of it will. Whatever happens, I just have to try.

Vol 1 Chapter 36 – No, Wait. I’m Not Marrying Your… Son.

“Thanks to you, Calselm came through this safely — I don’t know how to begin to thank you. I’m the physician here, Takamitsu. Minagawa Takamitsu.”

We arrived in Tostria and were met with a welcome that bordered on a hero’s triumphant return, which was absolutely not what I came for — so I handed all of that off to Elena and the others without a second thought.

We’re currently in a small café tucked into the town. The owner is apparently a friend of Dr. Takamitsu’s, and he’s let us have the whole place to ourselves.

Dr. Takamitsu’s name in kanji is 南川 孝充. He’s 48 this year, and was transported to this world — not reincarnated. He said it happened over twenty years ago now.

“At the time, I was an unremarkable newly minted medical school graduate—a forgettable resident with no girlfriend to speak of, spending most of my time with textbooks. Embarrassingly few friends, I’m afraid. It was nothing but confusion, one thing after another.”

The circumstances of his arrival weren’t too different from mine. He’d been reading, waiting for a train — and when the next train just never came, he looked up and found himself standing in a forest. No collision, no physical impact. He was just suddenly there.

“The person who found me and helped me — much like Elena helped you — was my wife. Emeria. She was a survey corps member at the time. It was… a revelation. I remember thinking she was beautiful.”

“I heard she hasn’t been well lately.”

“That’s right. An illness with no known cause. All we know for certain is that she cannot die.“

“She can’t die?”

“She cannot. While she’s afflicted, she doesn’t age, doesn’t die. So she still looks like she’s in her early thirties. Have you met her?”

“Briefly, yes — her daughters were very kind to us.”

“I see. That’s part of why I’m stationed in Calselm — it gives me access to local water sources, the geology, mountain flora — medicinal plants for my research. I’ve been working on a treatment.”

He’d come out here both to research a cure and, in the meantime, to help the people of a town with no physician of its own.

He’s more cut out for the whole hero business than I am.

“Utaki, was it? I hear you have something you’d like to ask me.”

“Yes. I just… never expected Clara and Cleo’s father to be Japanese.”

“Those two do take after me more than I’d like to admit — very Japanese of them, I suppose. However, their eyes are their mother’s. A lovely shade of green. I’m glad their hair ended up taking on their elemental color, at least.”

He smiled warmly as he said it, clearly fond of them.

This is a close family. That much is obvious. It made me feel something unexpectedly warm — and then a little sad, thinking about the last real conversation I had with my own father. I was more stubborn than I needed to be. I wonder what he’s up to now.

“Sorry, I interrupted you.”

“Not at all. What I wanted to talk about — I suppose I have to start with Cleo.”

“Cleo? Not Clara?”

“Ah — yes, Cleo.”

“Cleo looks the way he does, but he is, in fact, a boy.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that—”

“Well, if Utaki is asking about Cleo, I won’t stand in your way…”

“Hold on, that’s not — this isn’t a marriage proposal, please wait—”

I did not expect this man to be such a natural airhead.