The 'I' on the Stele That Points to the Location of the Book That Points to the Location of the Legendary Sword

"People grow through life, which means I've grown a lot."

'Life is written with the characters for "person" and "living," but you haven't lived as a person.'

"How philosophical."

'I meant it as a quibble.'

"That said, I've gotten better at cooking. I made ajillo."

'Your story about being a kept man in your previous life doesn't really connect to that. You didn't use the olive oil your body produces, did you?'

"Come on, I wouldn't do something yandere-like and mix in my own bodily fluids."

'Even a yandere probably wouldn't use olive oil from their own body.'

"But now I can hear the voices of olive oil."

'Have you gone mad?'

"No, no. I can sense the state of ingredients through the olive oil."

'That's an occasional condition among chefs. It is delicious, certainly.'

"For now, it's limited to olive oil. Next time, I need to become a different ingredient."

'Then here's the suggestion box. I like sweets, so please draw sugar or something.'

"Sure. If you'll excuse me."

'Don't put your hand inside a goddess's clothes. That's beyond rude; it's blasphemous.'

"To think you'd douse me with boiling-hot ajillo without hesitation. You're ruthless."

'I'm starting to fear you, calmly sitting there after having boiling-hot ajillo poured on you.'

※The leftover ajillo was used as fertilizer for the staff (mandragoras).

"My ninja skills have improved."

'You were just the cord used by a ninja.'

"Let's see... The prompt is from Kou: 'The "i" on the stele that points to the location of the book that points to the location of the legendary sword.'"

'Say that again?'

"The 'i' on the stele that points to the location of the book that points to the location of the legendary sword."

'I see. I don't really understand.'

"Isn't the content clearly written out?"

'No, I meant the intent of the person who submitted the prompt.'

"True, a stele pointing to the location of a book that points to the location of the legendary sword would be a step backward in civilization."

'That's not what I mean.'

"But normally, it would be more sequential to have a book pointing to the location of a stele that points to the legendary sword, wouldn't it?"

'Would it? Maybe it would. I don't really care.'

"If this is acceptable, then something like a legendary sword that points to the location of the stele that points to the location of the book that points to the location of the legendary sword would be fine too, right?"

'This is getting complicated, so let's stop that train of thought.'

"Even with options, I'm worried I'll have served my purpose by the middle of the story."

'Yes. You'll just be a stepping stone.'

"Hmm, that makes it hard to feel satisfied with my life."

'I'm shocked you remembered that was your goal.'

"I think I'd be satisfied if I ended up with you."

'Die and try again.'

"Aren't I already considered dead?"

'That's right.'

◇

'Hmm, I can't make ajillo as delicious as he does. As a goddess, I'm deeply offended that my cooking is inferior. It would be humiliating if he tried it and said his was better.'

"I'm back."

'Welcome back. Now eat.'

"To think you'd douse me with boiling-hot ajillo as soon as I got back. Ah, but it's delicious."

'Is that so? Good. Though my fear is growing more than my happiness.'

※The leftover ajillo was used as fertilizer for the staff (mandragoras).

"By the way, I've become the 'i' on the stele that points to the location of the book that points to the location of the legendary sword in a fairly ordinary fantasy world."

'That's too long. Please abbreviate.'

"I'm the 'i' on the stele. Here's a picture."

【The book that points to the location of the legendary sword sleeps in the northernmost cave, under the protection of a red dragon】

'Hmm. The fact that it's a book is already prompting a comment, but I don't see an "i" anywhere.'

"There is one. Here's a picture of it when it moved."

'It shouldn't move.'

【The book that points to the location of the legendary sword sleeps in the northernmost cave│under the protection of a red dragon　i】

'Ah, there it is. I see—the hiragana "ni" does indeed contain an "i."'

"I can also transform quickly into the hiragana "ko" as an ability."

'Isn't that a rotation ability?'

"By the way, if I recognized something as the character "i," I could move other letters too."

【The Mlegendary sword's locatiion is shown by the book in the northernmost cave│, protected by a red Drigoni│, iiiiiii】

'You can move dakuten and katakana too? But now it's just gibberish.'

"The radical in the kanji for sword, the "knife" component, looked a little like an i, but it was still read as part of the word, so it was difficult."

'I don't really care.'

"Well, I usually kept quiet."

【The Mlegendary sword's location is shown by the book in the northernmost cave, under the protectiion of the red Drygon】

※This removes the katakana イ and the sideways hiragana い from the kanji 伝 in 伝説 (meaning "legend").

'It won't sit still. I might almost believe "Drygon" if I heard it, and it's also so shugoi.'

"It's cute when you say "shugoi," Goddess-sama. My ears are happy."

'I'll pour ajillo into your eardrums later.'

"That sounds like it'd give me otitis media. By the way, Drygon is a fruit called a gon that's been dried in the sun."

'A dry gon? What's a gon?'

"It's a fruit unique to that world, covered in a hard shell. When the fruit grows large, it falls and makes a loud sound."

'I see. That's why it's called a gon. The gods in the worlds you visit often have poor naming sense.'

"By the way, the first hero, looking confused and wondering what "Mlegend" meant, was digging under the red mold-covered Drygon lying in the northernmost cave."

'I wish the hero had questioned it at "Mlegend." And they dug under the "shugoi bottom," huh?'

"When rumors of that reached me, I realized I'd gone too far, so I moved a little."

'I'm shocked you have a conscience.'

【The Mlegendary sword's location is shown by the book in the northernmost cave, under the protectiion of the red Idrygon】

'That's barely moved. And the "shugoi" hasn't moved at all.'

"Moving letters takes stamina."

'You moved it all the way from the left edge. Also, what even is an Idrygon?'

"An Idrygon is a gon of id."

'I don't really understand.'

"Idols are ideas that explain human preconceptions (prejudice, assumptions, errors, and so on) through inductive reasoning."

※From Wikipedia.

'This suddenly got complicated.'

"They're apparently translated as idols or illusions. You know how food someone gives you can taste better? It's the sort of thing that doesn't exist, but feels as if it might."

'I see. So, a gon of id—a gon of illusion. I still don't understand.'

"The second hero, saying, 'I see, Mlegend,' dug under the enormous red gon illusion floating in the northernmost cave."

'What exactly did the hero see? If they could see an illusion, they must've been pretty out of it. And did the second one read it as "shugoi bottom" too?'

"The one who found this strange was the red dragon in the northernmost cave."

'I wish the first two heroes had noticed before it did.'

"A huge hole had been dug in front of its home, and the dragon wondered what was going on, so it came to the stele."

'That's a pretty intelligent dragon, if it knows about the stele.'

"I figured I'd be in trouble if it found out I'd been messing around, so I hurried back."

【The Buddha's teaching sword's location is shown by the book in the northernmost cave, under the protectiion of the red dragon】

'The genre's changing. And the "shugoi" still hasn't moved back.'

"The dragon saw the stele and thought, 'I see, it must've read that as "shugoi bottom."'"

'It accepted that?'

"But it also realized someone had tampered with it, so it corrected it and went home."

【The book Sesta Grimoire, which points to the location of the Legendary Sword (Lunagrayze Sword), sleeps in the northernmost cave under the protection of the red dragon Blazing Dragon】

'You added ruby readings, but it's actually harder to read now.'

"And it even wrote the official names."

'But with ruby readings written in, it'll be harder for you to prank it.'

"Yes, so I had no choice but to use the power of my options."

'You used them after all.'

"I'd reincarnated in another world of ninjas before, but barely used any ninjutsu, so I picked some up."

'Letters as ninjutsu?'

"This is what it looked like when I used the Clone Technique."

【The legiendiary sword Lunai-grayi-ze-sordi's locai-tion is shown by the book Sestai-tagi-rimoi-wairi in the northi-ernmost cavei, under the protectiion of the redi Blazingi Dragoni】

'This is just a bug now.'

"The third hero appeared and said, 'I see.'"

'No way.'

"Apparently, the hero thought it was a cipher, and decided to try removing all the i's."

'The hero was pretty clever, actually.'

"Then the hero defeated the red dragon in Sahoku Cave."

'The hero read the ruby text instead? It says northernmost if you read the kanji.'

"The one who found this strange was the red dragon in Sahoku Cave."

'Where is Sahoku?'

"It's the name of a region at the southernmost tip of this world."

'That's pointlessly far away.'

"The dragon wondered why heroes kept attacking despite there being no items there, so it came to the stele."

'That's a natural thing to wonder. But how did it know about the stele?'

"Apparently, it's the Dragon Network."

'They're sociable.'

"The dragon saw the stele and thought, 'I see, it must've read the ruby text as Sahoku.'"

'It's intelligent and perceptive.'

"But it didn't want to keep getting attacked when it had nothing, so it corrected the stele and left."

'Makes sense.'

【Go to the northernmost cave】

'It's getting pretty vague.'

"I used the Clone Technique again."

【i-goi toi thei northi-ernmost cavei】

'It turned into a cipher again.'

"The fourth hero decoded it in no time."

'By removing the i's?'

"By the way, this is what it looks like with the i's removed."

【Sahoku Cave, go】

'Sahoku again.'

"The fourth hero thought this was a hint about the legendary sword and scattered a huge amount of hair around Sahoku Cave."

'The hero had the brains to think it was a clue to the legendary sword, but the response was psychotic.'

"The one who found this strange was the red dragon in Sahoku Cave."

'It probably found it creepy instead.'

"But the perceptive dragon figured the hero had removed the i again and went to the stele."

'It's remarkably perceptive in the face of a hero's bizarre behavior.'

"And here's the corrected stele."

【↑.】

'It's just a sign now. But hasn't your existence been erased?'

"Actually, right before I was erased, I used the Shrinking Technique to hide. Here's a photo while I was undoing the technique. I lined them up so it's easier to see."

【↑.】【↑i】【↑i】

'So you were the mysterious period.'

"By the way, the fifth hero who saw this was a party animal, so they got excited and went off somewhere."

※Party people.

'Was that "Wheee!"? I don't think that person can be called a hero anymore.'

※In a vertical PDF, the arrow gets flipped. Can't be helped. Maybe writing "↓i" will make it say "wheee"?

"The one who found this strange was the red dragon in the northernmost cave."

'How did it find that strange?'

"The excited fifth hero headed north to the northernmost region for no reason and started a party inside the cave."

'What a nuisance.'

"The dragon came to the stele and was shocked. The stele it had made had been turned into a sign."

'So Blazing Dragon made it by hand.'

"The dragon thought the hero must've gotten excited by the "↑i" and admired how energetic they were to come all the way to the far north to party."

'It's a dragon that's somehow foolish despite being intelligent.'

"The dragon thought that anyone who could find their way here from a sign like this must be a true hero with a destined fate."

'It's all in how you look at it.'

"Then the dragon gave the fifth hero the book that pointed to the location of the legendary sword it had been guarding."

'It gave it to the hero. But if the book reached a hero, I suppose there was nothing else to do.'

"As a final twist, the fifth hero couldn't read kanji, and never did anything particularly heroic. They lived out their life as a consultant."

'So it didn't turn out well after all.'

"After that, the stele in my home was worshipped as a sacred site for party people far into the distant future."

'How did that happen?'

"A legend remained that a hero who deciphered the stele and gained power received a precious gift from a dragon."

'It's all in how you look at it.'

"But some badly behaved people chipped off pieces of the stele as souvenirs. Then it got smaller, and someone even worse took it away, so it was lost."

'I sense the sad fate of a sacred site.'

"And that's how I came back. I wasn't satisfied with a lot of it."

'I can't imagine you'd be satisfied just by being worshipped.'

"And here's your souvenir: a gon."

'Can you eat it?'

"It's a little hard, so it's tricky to cut. Heave-ho... Here you go."

'Let's see... This is a coconut.'