This Novel is not my Novel

A short while later, Lausa returned after flying high into the sky and circling around behind the building.

"Was there anyone inside the building?"

"Kyee?"

"Did you hear any sounds from inside?"

"Kyeee."

"What kind of sounds were they?"

"Kyeek, sss-aahk, kak-kak."

"...It seems I asked the wrong question."

"Kyeet."

—That exchange made it clear why Fjodora had resorted to cross-checking.

Fjodora had appeared quite often in the original novel, but she had only entered the Demon Realm with Reisir twice.

And since Lausa had done nothing but fight on those occasions, I had never realized....

These two can't communicate at all, can they?

Fjodora was currently twenty-five years old, and spirit beasts were born when their partners turned eighteen.

That meant they had been together for a full seven years.

No, wait. Fjodora's birthday is next month, so they've effectively been together for eight years.

I couldn't decide whether to lament the fact that they still couldn't communicate after all that time or praise Fjodora for trusting her spirit beast enough to send her on solo missions regardless.

They seemed to work together quite well in combat.

Last Friday, during the Ribbon Snatching Game... Ríolíkin and Lausa also worked surprisingly well together when they marked Reisir. Maybe Lausa is simply exceptionally good at reading the situation and providing support on her own?

If so, the cause of this communication failure had to lie with Fjodora.

"Perhaps you should ask more specifically whether she heard sounds made by people, such as voices, footsteps, or breathing, rather than noises from clocks or other devices."

"That may be a good approach, but I believe there may be a more definitive solution."

Fjodora dismissed my suggestion and turned her gaze toward Yor.

My clever baby dragon was a spirit beast capable of clearly conveying her intentions in writing.

It wasn't difficult to guess what Fjodora meant by looking at Yor now.

She must mean that Yor can simply interpret Lausa's words for us.

Now that I thought about it, Fjodora's inability to communicate properly with Lausa wasn't her fault after all.

It was clearly because the original author had planned from the start to exploit Yor as a spirit-beast interpreter.

If I had noticed, then my wise baby dragon naturally must have noticed as well.

「 Me ≠ Bird 」

Yor wrote that on the whiteboard she took out of her wish-granting orb and held it up for us to see.

She meant that she wasn't a bird and therefore couldn't understand Lausa....

That's a false statement.

I had never found an appropriate opportunity to mention it in the narration, but Yor had conversed perfectly well with the Austri family's spirit beasts.

If Yor, a dragon, could understand feline spirit beasts, then she could naturally communicate with Lausa, an avian spirit beast, too.

They say Eastern dragons possess the physical characteristics of nine creatures: the camel, deer, rabbit, ox, snake, clam, carp, hawk, and tiger, don't they?

From that perspective, whether or not the setting allowed spirit beasts to communicate regardless of the species from which they originated, it was perfectly natural for a baby dragon to understand other spirit beasts.

For reference, the spirit beasts of the Vestri, Sudri, and Nordri ducal families, none of which had been mentioned yet, were bovids, lagomorphs, and aquatic creatures, respectively.

Please don't ask me why the Austri and Vestri families' spirit beasts were classified by family, the imperial family's and the Sudri family's by type and order, and the Nordri family's were all simply lumped together as aquatic creatures.

Author Senna was the one who decided all of that.

"Since Yor is not an avian spirit beast, it seems she is unable to interpret what Your Royal Highness's spirit beast is saying."

Since Yor had refused to act as an interpreter, I respected her wishes and told this lie.

"Is that so...? Scenes resembling conversations between the spirit beasts of different families have frequently been observed since long ago, so the prevailing academic theory held that spirit beasts could understand one another...."

"Humans and animals cannot understand one another either, but they still make sounds and ramble at each other one-sidedly, don't they? It was probably something like that. A form of collective monologue, perhaps...?"

"Ah, I understand. How unfortunate that such was the case."

Fjodora nodded in acceptance.

This conversation might cause the setting to establish that spirit beasts based on different species couldn't communicate with one another.

But even if it did, a baby dragon should still be able to communicate with all of them for the reasons mentioned above, so perhaps it didn't matter.

"In that case...."

Ultimately, instead of entrusting communication with her own spirit beast to a third party like Yor, Fjodora succeeded in obtaining the answer she wanted by personally asking a series of careful, specific questions.

"She reacted with uncertainty when I asked whether anyone was inside because she did not enter the building to check for herself. As Karvaldr suspected, the sounds coming from within were merely noises produced by various devices. She detected no sign of anyone's presence whatsoever."

"Meow!"

"Kyeee~!"

Apparently, Fjodora's interpretation was correct. Yor gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up in praise, while Lausa flapped her wings in delight.

Watching the eagle-like spirit beast, I realized why Yor had refused to act as an interpreter.

If Yor stepped in and relayed Lausa's words to Fjodora, Fjodora would stop making an effort to understand what her own spirit beast wanted to say.

Yor must have deliberately lied because she knew how sad that would make Lausa.

What a kind and thoughtful baby she is...!

Fjodora happened to take some jerky out of her Inventory and feed it to her spirit beast before stroking her head and beginning a praise session for completing her errand.

I didn't let the opportunity pass.

I hugged my admirable baby dragon tightly, vigorously stroking her head and the back of her neck while gently scratching and tickling beneath her chin.

I skipped giving her a treat.

Yor was a proactive baby dragon who kept homemade treats in her wish-granting orb and took them out herself whenever she wanted one.

"You seem rather possessive, Karvaldr."

It was at that moment that the protagonist of someone else's novel abruptly commented on the disposition of my possessed body.

He would need to raise the proficiency of 【Truth-Reading Eye】 by another level before he could read the "disposition" listed in another person's status window.

Besides, I had no idea how he could have discovered it while wearing a blindfold.

"...What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"When Yor gave Her Royal Highness a thumbs-up and praised her for doing well, I wondered if you got jealous and started trying to get her attention so she'd look at you instead."

Judging by the nonsense he was spouting, it seemed the protagonist of someone else's novel hadn't used 【Truth-Reading Eye】 to read this body's information after all.

Then again, if that was how he had learned it, he probably wouldn't have mentioned it so carelessly in front of everyone else.

"I was simply doting on Yor because she was cute."

"Oh! To think I'd hear the word cute come out of your mouth, Karvaldr...! How should I put this...? Hmm... I like it!"

Despite being nothing more than the protagonist of someone else's novel, Reisir had the audacity to raise his thumb and imitate Yor.

He wasn't cute in the slightest.

"Enough of your pointless chatter. Prepare for battle."

"Right, right. Of course. On that note, I'd like you or Yor to rain on that Boss Monster. Sveinn's masses of water were recognized as attacks when he launched them, but rain probably won't be."

Reisir hadn't said so outright, but that couldn't have been the only reason.

I wasn't even sure whether Sveinn's ability could send a mass of water all the way to that distant golem.

And even if it could, he would have to create and launch multiple masses of water to soak the enormous golem's entire body.

Not only would that take quite some time, but it would also consume a great deal of Ether.

Sveinn would most likely be exhausted afterward.

If we failed to defeat the boss in a single blow, someone would have to look after him....

We're already going to have to raid a boss with people who barely have any practical combat experience. Having dead weight on top of that would be more than a minor inconvenience.

In short, Reisir must have had no choice but to ask me because he knew Sveinn's ability wasn't sufficient.

He had probably mentioned only the nature of the ability instead of explaining every one of those reasons to protect Sveinn's pride.

"You mean to finish the battle without allowing the Boss Monster to recognize our presence? Not a bad idea."

Pretending I understood only the superficial reason, I replied with a slight nod.

I knew the original author had no intention of granting the original protagonist's wish.

But if I insisted it was impossible without even trying, Senna's readers would inevitably mark me as an unlikable character.

"Yor, I'm counting on you."

I gently stroked Yor's cheek and activated 【Encouragement】.

"Myaa~!"

The baby dragon answered brightly and adorably, then used 【Weather Change】 to gather rain clouds over the boss golem's body.

Was it because her proficiency had risen considerably, combined with the effect of 【Encouragement】?

Before long, the clouds darkened and released a heavy downpour.

"Then I suppose it's my turn?"

Once enough rain had seeped between the piles of stone, Reisir spoke.

No, he only spoke.

He didn't act immediately, merely standing there blankly. Perhaps it looked as though he was waiting for someone's command.

"Everyone, remain vigilant and prepare for any unforeseen developments."

As the highest-ranking person among us, Fjodora spoke while looking around at everyone.

After confirming that each of them wore a tense expression and had tightened their grip on the weapon in their hands, she turned to Reisir.

"Begin."

But then....

"One moment, please. I'm not ready yet."

Apparently, Reisir hadn't been waiting for her command after all.

If I had been Fjodora, I would have blushed from embarrassment.

Perhaps she was exceptionally thick-skinned, because her expression remained unchanged, showing nothing but confusion.

"You... require preparation? Until now, I believe you simply attacked immediately...."

"Karvaldr is here now."

"What difference does that make?"

Exactly.

I nodded in agreement with Fjodora.

What difference could my presence possibly make? Why did he suddenly need to go through some sort of preparation before attacking...?

Wait, could it be?

A sudden realization flashed through my mind.

And sure enough....

"Karvaldr. Would you give me some words of encouragement? I feel like your support would give me the strength to unleash more power than I'm normally capable of."

Those words came from the mouth of the protagonist of someone else's novel.

Since activating 【Encouragement】 truly did enhance his abilities, it was an honest statement founded on perfectly sound reasoning.

The only problem was that, to anyone unaware of that fact, it sounded utterly absurd.