At one point, I even thought about just coming out and saying it straight, like a man: 『I want to pretend play』.
But for some reason, that line didn’t sound manly at all, so I decided to hold off.
Honestly, I don’t really have the luxury of putting it on hold anymore, since Ralina-chan has already made it clear she doesn’t want to pretend play again.
Well, nothing I can do. On hold it is. I’ll just forget about pretend play for now.
「Anyway, Ralina-chan, you’ve gotten really good at using 『Earth Magic』」
「Thank you, onii-chan」
「Your 『Earth Wall』 was amazing, and besides the dishes, you even made little hills and valleys. That’s incredible, Ralina-chan」
「Ehehe」
Yeah. It really is amazing. The hills sprouting out of the ground are one thing, but valleys too?
Actually, wait. That’s strange, isn’t it? Where in the world did the dirt go…?
「Onii-chan, you seemed kind of different from usual though…?」
「…Yeah, I guess so」
She must mean the shooting practice I did without focusing only on the target, keeping watch of my surroundings too.
From the outside, I must have looked pretty suspicious.
「Did I maybe get in your way?」
「Not at all. I was just practicing while thinking about a few things, and it actually turned out to be good training… thanks to you, Ralina-chan」
「Really? Then I’m glad…」
But honestly, I’m not too sure. Keeping an eye on your surroundings probably is important though… I’ll ask my parents later.
「Still, onii-chan, you’re amazing」
「Hm?」
「I’m still not used to shooting arrows while chanting a spell」
「Ah, you mean 『Paralyze Arrow』」
『Paralyze Arrow』—a skill art from the 『Bow』 skill that I learned about half a year ago.
Just like its name, if I activate it and then shoot, the arrow is supposed to paralyze whatever it hits… supposedly.
I’ve never actually hit anything with it, so I wouldn’t know. I haven’t even done my first hunt yet, so I’ve never used it against a monster.
And of course, I can’t exactly experiment on people. If it left some kind of lasting side effect, that’d be a problem. …Well, Jisrare-san would probably cure it anyway, but still, that’s pushing it.
「I always thought it was strange how you go 『yah』 when you shoot, but you were really thinking about the skill art, huh, onii-chan?」
「Eh? Ah… yeah, that’s right」
……I hadn’t really thought about it.
There wasn’t any special reason, but Mother used to say that when she loosed her arrows.
It must have left a strong impression, because before I knew it, I was saying 『yahー』 too when I shot.
「Also, shouting a spell while shooting an arrow feels a little embarrassing for me……」
Huh? Could it be that Ralina-chan has been watching me all this time thinking I’m just some embarrassing guy?
Well, I do feel a little embarrassed myself.
But I can’t deny that a part of me thinks it looks kind of cool.
In my previous life, I went through a phase where I admired that sort of thing.
It was a shameful piece of my dark history back then, but in this life, I can openly shout cool attack names without hesitation. Thinking about it like that, I can’t say there isn’t a part of me that feels a little happy or even excited……
「Well, you know. Whether it’s chanting a spell while shooting, or feeling shy about it, either way you just have to get used to it」
「Get used to it, huh」
「It’d be scary to mess up at an important moment just because you stumbled over the chant」
「Yeah」
In anime or manga from my previous life, I don’t think I ever saw a scene where someone flubbed their chant in a crucial moment, but in reality, that’s exactly when you’d be most likely to trip over your words.
「Maybe I should practice to improve my diction or something like that」
「Diksyon?」
「Ah, um, it’s like『the way your mouth and tongue move when you talk』. If your mouth and tongue move smoothly, you can speak clearly, right? That’s what it means to have good diction」
「Heh」
「If your diction improves, then you probably won’t trip over your spells」
「So how do you improve diction?」
「Eh? Umm…… tongue twisters, maybe?」
「What’s that?」
Well, what can I say. So, this world doesn’t have tongue twisters, huh?
「It’s practicing by repeating hard-to-say phrases three times. Or rather, more like a game」
「Hard-to-say phrases?」
「Uh, for example――――for example…… uhh, for example……」
This is a problem. There’s no Tokyo Patent Approval Bureau in this world……
Well, apparently there isn’t one in Tokyo either, since that kind of office doesn’t even exist in the first place.
What else is there? Raw barley, raw rice, raw eggs…… no, this world doesn’t even have rice. No rice at all……
And no buses either. Which means no gas explosions from buses. That’s actually a good thing……
TN: Yeah, how do you expect to translate tongue twister?
「For now, frogs then」
「Frogs?」
This world does have frogs. So 『Frogs hop hop, three hop hop. Altogether hop hop, six hop hop(Kaeru pyokopyoko, mi pyokopyoko. Awasete pyokopyoko, mu pyokopyoko.)』 actually works.
Well, works or not, I never really understood what that tongue twister was supposed to mean anyway.
「Yeah. For example――Frogs pyokokyoko, three kiyokokokyo. Altogether pyokyokyokyo…… yeah」
……I gave up halfway. Looks like I can’t even say 『pyoko pyoko』 properly.
I mean, this is seriously hard. What? You’re supposed to repeat this three times? No way, that’s impossible.
「Frogs pyokokyoko, three kiyokokokyo. Altogether pyokyokyokyo? Yeah, that really is hard to say」
「Eh……?」
「So you’re supposed to repeat this three times?」
Wow, Ralina-chan is amazing. Seriously amazing. She picked it up in one go and repeated it back perfectly……
My tongue twister attempt was so disastrous that it might have been easier than the real frog version, but even so, her diction seems incredible, doesn’t it?
「Ah, wait, no, that’s not it」
「Eh?」
「Uhh, Frogs pyopoko pyo……」
「Frogs pyopoko pyo?」
「No, Frogs kyokopo kyo……」
「Frogs kyokopo kyo?」
No good, I can’t say it. And Ralina-chan is just too good. She’s repeating my messed-up frog lines perfectly.
I’m starting to feel like I’m being made fun of a little here.
「Uh. Frogs pokyo…… fog…… ahh……」
I can’t anymore. I can’t even say “frog” properly now……
「Onii-chan?」
「Sorry…… Let’s save the tongue twisters for later, when we get back home. Until then, could you forget about frogs for me?」
「Sure, I don’t mind……」
I’ll write it down on paper…… and have her read it aloud.
That said, judging from how she handled things just now, I don’t think Ralina-chan needs any diction practice at all.
As for me, I should probably take this a bit more seriously and practice properly……
Next chapter: Onii-chan, if you want to test out 『Paralyze Arrow』………… you can try it on me, okay?
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