Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

Editor: Thor’s Stone

When I received the key and started heading upstairs with Selena, someone ran into the inn. Eh? Selena?

I, Verse and Sara-chan kept looking back and forth at Selena who was about to go upstairs and the ‘Selena lookalike’ who just came in. They really look the same. Uh, I guess this is Sharon then. That was fast.

“Well I’ll be. So they’re twins huh?”

“Yes, that’s right! They really look alike. This is Selena and this is Sharon. Please look after the two of them too. It seems Sharon is a bit out of breath from her travels, so I’ll just bring them up to their room.”

Before Sharon managed to make her greetings, I got in the way and hurriedly pulled her upstairs. Selena and Sharon’s room should be here. When we went inside, I found that it was mostly the same as Cleria and Elna’s room.

“Sharon Conrad reporting, Your Excellency. I am sorry to greet you wearing such poor clothing.”

Sharon saluted me even as she seemed a bit out of breath. It looks like she really came in a hurry. Sharon was wearing clothes with the same type of design as Selena. The only difference was the color. So I guess these clothes were also made inside the ship huh.

“I’m Alan Corinth. Nice to meet you, Sharon.”

I also saluted in return.

The three of us sat in chairs inside the room, and I proceeded to tell Sharon about what happened today as well as the situation with Cleria and Elna.

“In other words, we will form an adventurer party with those ladies named Cleria and Elna, right?”

“That’s right. That’s going to be the case for a while. As I’ve told the both of you, once we’ve managed to meet up with Cleria and Elna’s compatriots, the situation may change once more though. That being the case, I hope you’ll try to get along with Cleria and Elna as much as possible, you two.”

“Understood. Please leave it to us.” Sharon replied.

“Um, Alan. About that magic you told us earlier. Can you really use such a thing?” Selena asked.

“I can. Basically, just like this.”

I turned my gaze on top of the empty cup placed on the table and casted the Water spell. Water started pouring out from the space ten centimeters above the cup and flowed inside it. I stopped the spell once the cup was filled.

“”Wow!””

“You look like you’re parched, Sharon. You can go ahead and drink it.”

Sharon brought the cup to her lips and took a sip.

“It’s cold and delicious!”

I was now able to bring out chilled water instead of the usual room temperature one.

“There’s a call from Iris.”

I wondered what it was about as I accepted the call. Iris’ face popped up on the virtual window.

『Please allow me to join your discussion via AR mode.』

Most likely, Iris was monitoring the conversation through Selena or Sharon so her interest was piqued.

(Sure. Permission granted.)

Soon afterward, a life-sized projection of Iris popped out behind Sharon. Her form was just being simulated through the Nanoms though, so it’s not like Iris was really present inside the room. The three of them really look like mother and her children when they line up like this.

“How amazing, Captain! So this is magic.”

The voice of the Iris projection didn’t come directly from her but is instead simulated but the Nanom and fed into my auditory nerves.

“I guess you didn’t have any opportunity to witness magic even though you investigated the pubs huh.”

“That’s right. I’ve learned about magic earlier on, but this is the first time I’ve actually witnessed it. Can you do more things using it?”

I cast the Fire spell, and a ball of flame appeared and hovered one meter above the surface of the table. The flame wisp was stationary in mid-air.

“””Oh!”””

“Can we also learn to use magic!?”

“I wonder. I think you probably can though. Oh, right. Nanom said you need to use a sensor that was developed on Salsa 2 of the Elider system.”

“Please send me the relevant data right away, Captain!”

Uh, I don’t think Iris can use magic though.

“Alright. I’ll send the data to the three of you right now.”

(Please transmit all the data we have on magic.)

『Acknowledged.』

“I’ll be taking my leave then!”

Iris disappeared in a hurry.

“Please don’t take too long on the update though. Alright then. Let me introduce you to Cleria and Elna, Sharon.”

“Understood.”

The three of us headed to Cleria and Elna’s room and knocked. Elna welcomed us in just like earlier.

When they got a look at Selena and Sharon, Cleria and Elna gawked in surprise.

“Sharon just arrived. As you can see, Selena and Sharon are actually twins. Sharon, this is Cleria, and this is Elna.”

“How do you do? I am Sharon Conrad. Please take good care of me from now on.”

She made a splendid introduction, unlike Selena. It seems Cleria and Elna were surprised at the difference in attitude as well.

“Please take care of me as well. I am Cleria Starvine.”

“I’m Elna Norian. Best regards.”

“It may be presumptuous on my part, but I told Selena and Sharon about your circumstances, Cleria. The two of them are my subordinates. I guarantee you can trust them.”

“If that’s what you think Alan, then I don’t mind at all. But it sure is amazing. It’s my first time seeing such identical twins.”

“We’ve heard that a lot. Cleria-san and Elna-san. The two of us are not very familiar with this continent, so we’ll be counting on you both.”

It looks like Sharon was quite sociable, unlike Selena. But why the difference in personality?

“Of course. We shall teach you anything you want to know, as long as it is within our scope of knowledge.”

“How about we all go downstairs for some tea? I’m kinda thirsty myself.”

We went downstairs to the dining area and ordered some tea. I’d like for them to get to know each other better as much as they can.

The tea served in this inn is quite similar to green tea on Earth. Thanks to my suggestion, we ended up having cookies along with the tea.

“This is delicious! But I wasn’t able to have lunch, so maybe that’s affecting my impression of the food though.” Sharon exclaimed.

“That’s because the recipe for those cookies was taught by Alan to this inn’s chef, so it goes without saying that they are delicious.”

“Eh!? Cap… Alan did? You can cook?”

“Cooking is my hobby after all. It seems my cooking is quite well received here too.”

“It’s more than just well received. In fact, I think the food cooked by Alan is the most delicious in the world. Alan, it looks like Sharon hasn’t had her lunch yet. Should we have dinner early today?”

It seems Cleria was actively trying to deepen their friendship. That’s great.

“Yeah, you’re right. Shall we have our dinner now then? I’ll go ahead and ask.”

When I asked Verse who was inside the kitchen, he said okay and claimed that the food can be prepared straight away, even though it was early for dinner.

After a while, the dishes were finally brought out of the kitchen. Oh, so today’s dinner is cheese hamburger steak huh. They sure look tasty.

“”This is cooking…””

Selena and Sharon both seemed a bit agitated as they looked at the food that was served. Don’t tell me they haven’t eaten anything apart from the emergency rations? Come to think of it, Selena did tell me earlier that she brought a lot of emergency rations.

“”Delicious!””

The two of them started eating and praised the food after getting a taste.

“What is this? It’s so delicious!”

Selena and Sharon got absorbed in eating their food. Cleria looked quite happy as she looked at their reactions for some reason.

“You can freely order seconds. Go ahead and eat your fill.”

Selena, Sharon, and Cleria ordered quite a bit of food and finished off a large number of dishes.

“Fuu. I can’t eat anymore. My tummy is full.”

“I can’t believe there’s something so delicious in this world.”

“These are recipes from Alan’s country, right? Have the two of you never tasted them before?”

“It seems they haven’t really tasted them before. These are all some popular local specialties from a faraway province after all.”

“Oh, so these are actually dishes from Earth? It’s the first time we’ve tried them.”

Selena and Sharon were probably both tired from their travels. Let’s go to bed early today.

I was drying my hair after having a bath when Sharon called through the communicator. It seems she wants to ask me something. I wondered what it was about as I went over to their room.

“I’m sorry, Alan. It’s not really something all that important, but Sharon kept insisting…”

“Alan, what would be our course of action from now on?”

“Are you asking as Selena and Sharon or members of the imperial military?”

“I’m asking in the capacity of a soldier of the empire.”

“……I see. Like I said earlier, the only survivor from the imperial military after that attack is me alone. I didn’t have any goals in mind when I started my journey and just happened to find myself aiding Cleria along the way. Honestly, I haven’t really thought of my next course of action after this. I’ll be receiving updates about the state of the ship and info about this planet from Iris later. I’ll have to look those over first before deciding on anything. About continuing on as a soldier of the empire or just retiring here, I mean.”

“Is there really a choice of retiring?”

“Of course. Even if we’re part of the imperial army, we really can’t fulfil our mission like this, right? We can’t even return back to the ship. There’s really no point in playing imperial soldiers in this situation. Well, I’m the one in charge, so I can’t just simply quit though. But I think it’s possible for you two to get naturalized and live your lives on this planet though. After all, you’ve already been born into this world. The both of you have every right to be happy.”

“……I don’t know about Sharon, but I will follow Alan.”

“Of course I will follow Alan as well.”

“You don’t really need to make your decisions in a hurry like that. I think I’ll be able to come to a decision by tomorrow. Please give me a little time.”

“Understood. I’m sorry to disturb your rest for this, sir.”

I went back to my room as I thought about the feelings of the two girls. They were probably feeling anxious right now. It’s natural for clones to feel insecure, given that they were born without any particular purpose apart from finding me, and now that they did, I’m sure they’re overwhelmed by the lack of duties. They were also at a biological age where their mentalities were not yet fully developed too. I really do feel guilty for the two of them.