Chapter 147: Hmm
"You two, please rest here for a while. There's something I need to take care of in the village."
Himiko led Ethan and Draco into a small house.
"Feel free to walk around the village. I'm very sorry, but I must excuse myself."
Himiko looked slightly apologetic.
"Please, go ahead."
Ethan nodded to her.
With that, Himiko turned and left the house.
Inside, there were only a few simple furnishings—a bed, a round table, and several stone stools surrounding it.
There was also a clay teapot and a few earthen cups on the table.
One glance was enough to tell—the owner of this house clearly had some kind of obsession with food and drink.
"Oh right, the barley tea on the table is free to drink. It's really good~~~"
"——————!!!"
Ethan jolted when Himiko suddenly reappeared.
He thought she'd caught him snooping around, but instead, she had come back just to cheerfully remind them.
Ethan could only give an awkward smile and nod.
"…Thanks."
"Alright, I'm really leaving now~~~"
This time, Himiko trotted off and decisively exited the house.
"Whew…"
Ethan sat down on a stone stool.
"Getting startled like that isn't good for my heart."
"You seem to be enjoying this treatment quite a bit."
Draco leaned against Ethan and sat down beside him.
"It's too cramped. Move over a little."
"...Can't you sit on another stool?"
"Hehe, I just want to see your awkward face. It helps kill the boredom."
Draco grinned in satisfaction.
Seeing Draco like this, Ethan felt that after some time around her, he was starting to get a grasp of her personality.
It seemed that even after becoming a Beast, she had retained part of her tyrant nature.
In short, she only found joy when others were unhappy.
Tell her to do something, and she'd immediately do the opposite.
In some ways, she was even more difficult to deal with than a tsundere like Jeanne Alter…
Mash and Jeanne Alter...
Where were they now?
Ethan fiddled with the bracelet on his wrist. The communication device only emitted static noise.
Chaldea was probably in complete disarray right now.
Given the situation, Doctor Romani and Da Vinci were surely scrambling to fix things.
Ethan himself had nearly 450,000 points. He should be fine for one guaranteed Servant summon.
But things weren't too urgent yet. He still wanted to save up more to 500,000 to unlock the Divine Servant summoning limit.
Though there was no guarantee, what if he did get one?
Everyone has dreams, right Giorno?
After surveying the area, he would start livestreaming to earn points. Hitting 500,000 should be a breeze.
Once he reached a million to unlock the Divine Servant summoning limit, with his current viewership, earning another pity summon wouldn't be hard.
By then, he would likely have finished exploring the area and could wait for contact from Chaldea while figuring out where Mash and the others were.
With that in mind, Ethan decided to ease relations with Draco a bit. After all, if he wanted the plan to go smoothly, he still needed her help.
"Hey, Draco..."
"Umu? What is it?"
"Can you sense any other Servants on this island? Besides Himiko?"
May as well ask.
"Ma~, even if there were, they'd probably have been scared off by this place's aura."
"Hmm? What do you mean by that???"
Ethan was a bit confused.
"Ahahaha, you really didn't notice?"
Draco burst into laughter.
"Not just that queen—but everyone in this village has been summoned to this era."
"——————?!"
"This place is…"
"Yes, this is the kingdom of that queen—or rather, part of her kingdom."
Ethan had considered the possibility. After all, some "DIO" had pulled similar stunts before.
But at least Ramses II had a Holy Grail. Himiko didn't seem to have one at all.
After saying that, Draco hopped off the stone stool and headed outside.
"And why things turned out this way? Not my concern."
"Hey, where are you going??"
Ethan called after her.
"Foolish. Are you the kind of person who obediently listens to others? If that queen plans something weird, I don't care—but you might have to end your journey here."
Standing by the door, Draco leaned on her hand and looked down at the ground. She seemed to notice something quickly.
"Oh, so it went this way."
She began walking along some kind of trail only she could see.
Ethan had no choice but to follow.
After all, she was the only combat power on his side right now. Even without a formal contract, she was still affiliated with Chaldea. As long as nothing went terribly wrong, she definitely wouldn't harm him.
...
Both of them followed the edge of the rice fields toward the right side of the village.
The villagers were working on the flooded paddies on both sides. When they noticed Ethan and Draco in their strange clothing, they whispered among themselves quietly.
Very quickly, the two of them discovered something unusual on the far right edge of the village.
There were several stone walls built in that area, but some seemed to have been destroyed by something.
Faint traces of something slithering in from that direction could be seen. Ethan moved closer, squatted down, and inspected the area carefully.
It looked like something had moved in an "S" pattern toward the rice fields beside the wall.
Just as Ethan was about to move in for a closer look—suddenly, something shot out from the water channel next to the field!
"Hissssssssssss————————!!!"
A shadow launched itself at Ethan at terrifying speed!!!
"——————————?!"
Ethan immediately dodged to the side—but to his surprise, the opponent twisted its body midair with shocking agility?!
"BOOMMMM————————!!!"
Suddenly, a blood-red flash shot over from afar, piercing directly through the shadow just before it reached Ethan.
"Hmph, a worthless thing like you dares to lay a finger on what's mine?"
Turning his head, Ethan saw Draco raising her right hand in this direction.
He quickly turned back to look at the collapsed shadow.
To his shock, it was a half-human, half-snake monster—upper body of a woman, lower body of a serpent.
Lamia?!
Why would a monster like that be in this village???
"Be more careful. Your life is something only I get to enjoy at the end. Don't go dying in some nameless place like this."
"Thanks… you saved me."
Even though Draco's tone was anything but pleasant, she did just save his life.
That lamia had petrification powers. If he'd accidentally looked into its eyes, he might've become a stone statue right then and there.
…Now that he thought about it, it was kind of thrilling.
"You wicked! Take a punch from me!!!"
Himiko's voice rang out from nearby.
"Haaaaa————————!!!"
A thunderous sound followed, then everything fell silent.
Moments later, Himiko stepped out from the nearby trees, rotating her arm.
In her arms was a small girl.
She looked a little surprised when she saw Ethan and Draco.
"Why are you two here?"
"Ah, we waited for you but you never came back, so we figured we'd walk around the village a bit. Didn't expect to run into you like this."
Ethan casually made up a reason.
"This area's a bit dangerous. You didn't run into that monster, did you?"
Before she could finish her sentence, she saw the corpse of the lamia lying nearby.
She rushed over, taking just a few strides to reach it, and looked down at the completely dead lamia.
"You guys took it down?"
"Umu, you could say that."
Ethan nodded.
There was no need to hide it—what, were they supposed to say the monster just happened to keel over and die?
"You two are seriously impressive!!!"
Himiko looked genuinely amazed.
"If that thing stares you in the eye, you'll be in pain for days!"
"Pain for days…"
That's petrification, isn't it?! This isn't a matter of pain anymore!!!
Which meant this woman in front of them was very likely a Ruler Class, and her Magic Resistance was definitely top-tier.
"What about the child you're holding?"
Ethan moved in for a look.
The girl's eyes were closed, her face twisted in pain.
Her right forearm had lost its natural color, turned to a pale gray-white stone-like hue.
She must have looked the lamia directly in the eyes.
"Umu, she was gathering wild herbs in the forest when that wicked creature ambushed her. But it's alright—I'll perform a ritual to heal her."
Himiko, as if soothing the child in her arms, gently whispered in her ear:
"It's okay now, you're safe."
After hearing those gentle words, the girl's ragged breathing slowly began to calm.
"I'll send someone to reinforce the wall on this side later, so no one else in the village gets hurt."
After that, Himiko carried the child back to her house. The girl's mother burst into loud sobs when she saw her daughter in such a state.
After comforting the poor mother with a few words, Himiko came out of the house.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Himiko spoke to Ethan and Draco.
"It's alright. Are you done with your business?"
"Umu. There shouldn't be any more issues now."
Himiko nodded.
"Now, I'll arrange accommodations for the two of you in the village."
Then, Ethan continued to follow Himiko along the rice paddies, heading to the opposite side of the village.
"Where did that monster earlier come from?"
"Those wicked creatures usually slither up from the sea under the cover of night, waiting for a chance to harm the villagers. I've already nearly wiped them out, but lately, they keep trying to emerge—some villagers have even spotted them in broad daylight."
Himiko spoke with a pensive expression:
"Even if I use purification rituals to undo the harm they inflict on the villagers… there will still be significant aftereffects."
"There's really no helping it. You've already done a great job."
"Thank you…"
Though she was clearly still unsettled, she did her best to stay composed.
"Sorry that you two had to encounter something like this right after arriving. Oh right—judging by your strength, you must be quite powerful. That monster was taken out in one strike!"
Faced with Himiko's sincere gaze, Ethan had to look away a bit.
"Ahaha, no no, it was just an emergency, that's all."
If she found out the one who struck the blow was actually the fragile-looking "little sister" behind him, who knows what she'd think…
"Alright, for now you two can stay here."
As she spoke, Himiko came to a stop. In front of them was a small wooden house.
She opened the door—it had beds, a table, chairs; a bit cramped, but clean and well-prepared.
"This place used to be a storage shed. I just had someone tidy it up, so it should be usable, right?"
"This is more than enough. Thank you, Queen of Yamatai."
Hearing Ethan call her that, Himiko smiled and waved a hand.
"No need to be so formal. Just call me Himiko. Oh, I haven't asked your names yet."
"I'm Ethan, and this is Draco."
"Umu, I'll remember that!"
Himiko nodded.
"If you need anything, just let me know."
"Then… I want to ask, is there a boat nearby?"
"A boat???"
Himiko tilted her head, seeming puzzled.
"You two need a boat?"
"Yeah, if possible, we'd like to have one."
It seemed Mash and the others weren't on this island, so he had no choice but to widen his search. And to go out to sea, a boat was essential.
"There are no shipwrights in this village, and we don't go out to sea… sorry, but we don't have any boats."
Hearing that, Ethan felt a bit disappointed, though he understood there wasn't much that could be done.
A wave of discouragement rose in his chest.
"We don't have boats—but if you want to leave by sea, there will be a merchant ship stopping by soon. Maybe you can ask them for a ride."
"A regular merchant ship?!"
That news shocked Ethan.
On a remote island like this, a regularly scheduled merchant ship? That was incredibly rare.
In this era, the seas were practically pirate territory—who would still dare do business on the ocean?!
But since Himiko said so, it wouldn't hurt to go take a look when the time came.
"I have one more question—may I ask?"
"Umu, of course you may!"
Himiko nodded.
Ethan hesitated slightly, but in the end, he asked:
"I want to know—is this place Yamatai? If you're Queen Himiko, then this must be Yamatai, right?"
"Umu, this is indeed Yamatai."
Himiko replied with great seriousness.
"My people and I were suddenly brought to this era. In order to survive, we settled here. So this place is Yamatai—or rather, New Yamatai!"
As queen of this land, Himiko seemed naturally born with the air of a leader.
"I see… sorry for asking so many questions."
"No need to apologize. Anyway, please rest easy while you're staying in the village."
After exchanging farewells, Ethan watched Himiko walk away.
"From the way she talks… it seems she doesn't have memories of being a Heroic Spirit? Amnesia, maybe?"
That happened sometimes when someone was summoned incompletely, or called in by the Counter Force.
Though it was unclear which case Himiko belonged to.
Then Ethan thought about the merchant ship Himiko had mentioned.
Being able to freely travel these pirate-infested seas for business… that definitely wasn't someone ordinary. It would be worth seeing who it was.
"Oi, Master!"
Draco, who had been standing behind him all this time, suddenly gave Ethan a terrifying smile.
"I'm hungry!!!"