Chapter 3: Lost in translation

From the dark depths of his slumber Yuuto's consciousness emerged pulling back every strand of memory, experience and personality. He could feel his senses return and his whole body welcoming him back in the physical world with numbed pain, but the reigns was still not in his mental hands.

His eyes were still shut, so he instead relied on his nose and ears. The air around him was in uproar. He could hear vague but loud chatter and whisper around him. He could make out the distinct voices of people, but the tongue the voices spoke in were strangers to his ears.

"[Who is this, a noble?]"

"[No way, look. Those are a sword and shield. A noble has no need for these things.]"

"[A commoner then, huh? That's quite a fancy outfit for such a low-life.]"

"[Maybe he hails from an affluent merchant family.]"

"[Yeah, the wealth of some of those could rival some noble's riches. By Brimir, some of them indeed bought the title of a noble in Germania.]"

"[Doesn't look like a merchant, though. What kind of merchant needs weapons like these?]"

"[Some kind of soldier, I suppose. A sellsword is probably more likely.]"

Additionally to the unrecognisable murmur he could make out the salty, sour scent of sweat among the earthly mix of wet, fresh grass behind his back and the dry, dusty dirt fluttering on his front. By the intensity of the sweaty odour Yuuto ascertained that he was surrounded by a group of people unknown to him. He also guessed that his orange target rotted not far from him as he noticed the faint but incomparable rusty iron flavour of blood in the background of the other aromas.

The numbing pain in his limbs also has subsided by now, although he still felt heavy and sore all around like getting sucker-punched by a hip check of a Plesioth. He shuddered by the very thought of it as he reminisced some of his earlier encounters with one in the desert or the jungle.

Quickly abandoning those nightmarish memories he instead tried to open his eyes and was greeted by the radiant smile of a sun at high-noon. Irritated he groaned loudly followed by a snapping flinch of both his arms to cover his sensitive eyes from the cruel sunlight.

His unoccupied ears registered a shift from casual whisper in the background to shocked gasps and cries.

"[By Brimir, did you see that? He just moved.]"

"[Then he's all right, right? Maybe he can talk. I am eager to know, what happened.]"

"[I am glad that it's nothing serious. A dead person, even a meagre commoner, isn't something I wished for my second year here.]"

After a moment Yuuto's vision adjusted to the bright daylight and he raised his torso up. Sitting upright with his right hand resting on the knee of his angled right leg and his left hand stemmed on a damp, leafy fleece of a meadow he was faced with a crowd of youngsters around him staring at him in shock or out of curiosity.

They were all clothed in a caped uniform with various minor differences and chattering agitated.

"[The commoner woke up!]"

"[He looks weird. I mean, aren't his eyes too small?]"

"[Maybe he's not from Halkeginia? You know. A foreigner.]"

"Where in Gog's name am I now? Where are all the palm trees?" thought Yuuto aloud as he ignored the crowd and realised the change in scenery.

The youngsters fell silent before the background murmur returned.

"[Did the commoner just spoke?]"

"[What kind of language is that gibberish?]"

"[I heard from my parents that the people of Rub' al Khali have a strange tongue.]"

But again the prattle was cut short. This time by a harrumphing, loud bark from Yuuto's right side.

"[Silence please! Enough of this chatter, this is still a lesson!]" let the bespectacled, robbed man with balding head out as he rose from his kneeling position to his feet.

Startled by the unnoticed person at his right side Yuuto jerked his body and hopped back a few inches out of surprise.

"Gogdammit! Don't scare me like a bunch of Giggis in the dark!" he exploded in anger for a moment but settled down immediately as his curiosity took hold of him.

"Are you a researcher from the Wycademy? What's with all these people? Is this some kind of excursion for young apprentices?"

Instead hearing answers his ears shifted to the beat of four people running towards him and the maybe Wycademy researcher.

"[Here is it, Madame Head nurse!]" shouted short boy in glasses garbed like the other gawking youngsters leading the group of four.

He was followed by an elder woman dressed in a long, immaculate white robe. Her hair was bound in a bun. Not far off were an older man and a young girl carrying a stretcher.

The man was clad in dirty white uniform speckled with smeared marks of various shades. His head was crowned with a puffed out, elongated hat and a red scarfed encircled the large man's brown skinned neck. Yuuto to his visibly pleasant surprise recognized the outfit of a chief cook.

At the rear end of the arriving stretcher was the young girl wearing an ebony uniform overlaid with a long apron, fancy collar and sleeves in addition to a fabric head crown, everything in ivory white. The only other colour in this monochrome costume was a yellow orange fan out scarf around her ample bust. And again Yuuto cheerfully recognized this pattern of clothing. However he remembered it with different colouring.

"Is that a new uniform for a Receptionist of the Guild? If so, is this girl with the Guild …" speculated Yuuto silently and examined the young girl thoroughly.

She had the same silky black hair as him but it was sharply cut at chin length with loose fringes covering her forehead. She also had the blue eyes like him, but her large eyes were clouded making more a blueish grey instead of his deep marine blue. Yuuto was not sure, but he felt some kind of familiarity from her.

"Maybe a parent of hers moved out of Yukumo," he speculated with a frown before he loosened up and shrugged nonchalantly.

"It doesn't hurt to ask her later! For now, I keep still and try to get some information out of this mess."

He crossed his legs to make it comfortable for him as he straightened his spine to observe the people in front of him. His hands rested on his thighs like he did when he meditated in his little room before a great and lengthy hunt.

The maybe researcher from his jump scare earlier turned to the white robbed woman and greeted her.

"[Ah, thank you for coming here. But I am afraid to inform you it was in vain. The young man seems to have recovered. I apologize for the inconvenience,]" he said in a friendly manner.

"[Thank the Founder! You don't know how much trouble it would have caused me and the other nurses. Our little sick bay here is not the best equipped department of this academy,]" answered the old woman relieved.

"[Yes, I am well aware of it. I will notice this in my report to Principal Osmond later. You can return back. You two as well,]" pointed the robbed man with his torch-like staff out.

And the group of three disappeared in the sea of people.

"[Now back to business, we still have to wrap up the ceremony of the Springtime Summoning,]" he directed to the surrounding youngsters.

"[Mademoiselle Vallière! Please, finish your summoning.]"

The attention of the masses shifted from Yuuto and was focused on a slender, pink haired girl behind him. He turned his body while still remaining seated on the ground as he saw the girl approaching him and the robbed man at his left now.

"[Professor Colbert, I deeply apologize for my failure. By Brimir, I will not disappoint you again,]" shrieked the young girl in earnest.

"[There is no need for a second summoning,]" said the man calmly causing all colours of the girl in front of him to fade out of her horrified and teary face.

"[Do not worry. I will not expel you, if that thought crossed your mind.]"

"[Re-Really?]" asked the girl timidly as she wiped the little tear drops off the corner of her eyes that had formed in response.

"[All you need to do is to proceed with the familiar contract,]" instructed the balding man.

"[But how, my familiar stranded dead on this ground,]" she barely breathed out because she tried to quell the urged to cry.

"[Yes, that dragon is now gone, but this young man here is doing well it seems,]" he pointed out with his staff in Yuuto's direction.

"Hey, be careful, old man!" shouted Yuuto because of the uncomfortable closeness of the stick to his face.

"[What? I mean. I beg your pardon?]" exclaimed the young girl shocked and startled.

"[You suggest that I form a contract with this commoner!]"

She took out a thin, delicate, and little wooden stick and aimed at Yuuto's head, almost stabbing one of his eyes out, if he did not reacted respectively by swaying his head to the side.

"Oi, be careful, little girl. I still have a need for my eyes. Learning to gun isn't easy if you're blind," he yelled in anger.

"[Shut, up!]" responded the girl without understanding him.

"[Hmpf, I refused to take a commoner as my familiar.]"

She crossed her arms and averted her gaze from Yuuto with a bratty, pouting face.

"[I cannot allow a second summoning as this would desecrate the sacred ritual bestowed upon us. Whether you like it or not, this young man was chosen to be your familiar. Otherwise I have to resort to expulsion from this academy,]" countered the stern man.

The young girl winced visibly but took a deep breath afterwards before she regained her posture.

"[I understand,]" she grumbled and lowered herself to Yuuto.

Suddenly Yuuto heard the crowd going off in joyous cheers with loud whistling amidst it.

Distracted by the noise he did not noticed the approaching girl before she grabbed the back of his head with her delicate left hand twisting his face to meet hers.

Yuuto was now staring at her up close and personal. He was right with his assessment to label her as a little girl as he could not make out any womanly curves. But as he looked in her vibrant, quartz pink eyes framed with a frustrated frown, he noticed the charms of her beautiful face.

Her small lips were crisp and hued in arousing pink. With her little snub nose, they helped her give off a childish but cute aura. Her voluminous hair looked fluffy as the fur of Moofah but pink in colour like a Poogie's hide. In Yuuto's eyes she looked like a delicate, tenderly crafted doll.

But his time of admiration was cut short as the thin outline of her wooden stick took the space between their glances.

"[Be grateful for this!]" she declared haughty in front his confused face.

"[Normally a noble lady would never do this to a peasant boy.]"

Then she touched his sweaty forehead with a poke of her little stick and began to chant unrecognisable words in her stranger's tongue.

"[My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière.]"

"[By the Pentagon that rules the five powers, bless this individual and make him my familiar!]"

In a blink of an eye later, her moist, little lips touched to Yuuto's startling surprise his own dry lips.

Writer's comment:

This is the actual introduction to Yuuto as a character. What do you think about my Monster Hunter curses and phrases? I quite liked them, so they will appear more often.

Here I tried to play up the miscommunication aspect of the summoning ritual.

As always comments of any kind are appreciated.