Translator Corner
This is Yukkuri demasu!
Sorry for being late. As usual, schedule is not that so forgiving to me……
But now I got at least one-week worth break per month. Let’s see how it
fare.
Also, I found a quite nice rare Japanese Space-SF story. I want to
translate it fr you guys, but I had so many project on my hand already, so
perhaps next year?
Anyway, here another Yuuji chapter…… Yuji can’t have his happiness, huh?
DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee that my translation is 100%
correct. Please correct me if I was wrong.
Author:
Bandou Tarou (坂東太郎)
Translator:
Yukkuri Oniisan
Editor, Proofreader:
So-Chintzy
Chapter 6. Yuuji, Changing Job from Pioneer to Farmer
Part 7: Yuuji, Meeting with the long-awaited Kemomimi
「Finally, with this, the west side is OK, right? They wouldn’t be able to
pass…….」(Yuuji)
「Yuuji-nii, does the outside still need to be dented?」(Alice)
The season was late autumn.
Yuuji was constructing a fence around the cultivated
fields.
Alice was “helping!” Yuuji with her magic and enthusiastically
watching Yuuji working.
By the way, Kotarou was patrolling the surroundings.
He began constructing fences as a measure against harmful
animals like deer and boars and to momentarily impede the monsters. The
workload for this was relatively high.
This was reasonable. Since there were no corrugated galvanized
iron (CGI) sheets[1], he
couldn’t make an CGI fence. The garage had a CGI wall, but he hesitated to peel
it off for the fence. Since he didn’t have any wire netting, he also couldn’t make
a simple chain-link fence. An electric fence was also out of question. Of
course, there wasn’t any barbed wire, either.
In the end, he could only do this the primitive way: driving
wooden stakes into the ground, which were tied to each other using rope. The
stakes were pointing forward, but this might only be mere consolation for his
peace of mind. To begin with, he realized that he didn’t have any wooden boards
and only a few nails. The result was this wooden fence for preventing harmful
animal and to momentarily stop intruders.
「Mr. Earth, get down for a bit!」(Alice)
On the land opening area, Alice’s magic took an active
role in the tree roots removal.
Indenting the ground outside the wooden fence that
Yuuji constructed, she also made a small dry moat, although a shallow one.
A tear-provoking effort from a small girl.
The autumn season had entered its last legs.
The beautiful red leaves on the trees had fallen, it
wouldn’t be strange if the snow started falling any time soon.
The potatoes growing in the fields had also been
harvested, so they were only waiting for Kevin’s arrival.
By the way, last year they had cultivated potatoes and
this year they had done the same, too, but the harvest was unfavorable. It
seems to be the hurdles of repeated cultivation. Yuuji felt how dire his need was
of a person who possessed this world’s agricultural knowledge.
“Hmm, Kevin-san should soon come.”
In the forest of shedding leaves, Yuuji’s murmur could
be heard.
□ □ ■ ■ □ ■ ■ □ □
Yuuji and Alice, who returned home, ate a light lunch.
Today’s lunch was kofuki
imo[2] made from nothing but the harvested
potatoes. It seems that today they settled on a simple-to-make-dish to fill
their belly.
*munch*munch*mnch* Alice ate the potatoes with swollen
cheeks. A few days ago, she turned eight, so her way of eating was still
childish.
*fuh* Yuuji turned his line of sight outside the
window.
The snowfall bugs were floating inside the forest. Before
long, the snow will fall, the sign that winter will begin.
“Oh, so, it will be winter soon?” Yuuji leaked out his
monologue. Even though this was a fairytale-like sight, this was his third time
so he had been used to it.
「Yuuji-san! Sorry to make you wait!」(?)
There was someone calling Yuuji from outside.
“Woofwoof”, Kotarou also called out. Her bark was as
if she was saying, “I met with them midway, so I led them here.”
Yuuji put down his chopsticks in a flash.
He stood up.
He rushed out from the dining room and put his sandals
on at the entrance.
Opening the door with a clutter, he ran off to the outside.
Kevin the peddler made his visit.
Behind him were the usual adventurers trio and several
other figures.
Yuuji ran towards the gate with a record breaking speed.
He approached them.
And in the next moment, he caught the sight of the
beastkin that Kevin had brought with him.
Perhaps because this was typical of their[3]
species, there were large ears dangling besides the top of their head.
Gentle looking eyes that were looking a bit nervously
at Yuuji.
A simple long sleeved tunic and trousers. Perhaps
because of the cold, there was a shawl-like cloth twined around their upper
body.
From between their legs there was a long furry tail
that could reach the ground.
The back of the hands that came out from the sleeves, were
furry.
The chest and neck that were peeking out from the
tunic, too, were furry.
The face, also was furry.
Or rather, it was a dog.
A golden retriever.
There was a bipedal walking, cloth wearing golden
retriever.
Yuuji’s sight traced the left hand of the bipedal walking
golden retriever.
There was a small golden retriever holding hands with
the bipedal walking golden retriever.
Of course the small golden retriever was also standing
on two feet.
It was also wearing a cloth.
Of course it was furry.
Perhaps they were parent and child as their faces were
the same.
The small golden retriever made a tense expression as
if to hide its resolution.
Yuuji’s sight traced the left hand of the small golden
retriever.
There was a bipedal walking black cat.
Its height was about 160 cm.
On the top of its head, there were erect pointed ears.
The very picture of kemomimi. Or rather, it was
nekomimi (cat ears).
Of course, its face was that of a cat.
Its tail was moving left and right, sometimes slowly, other
times greatly.
Perhaps it was a female, no… a woman, its chest was
pushing the cloth a bit.
In Yuuji’s field of vision, at the left was the 180 cm
tall big golden retriever.
At the center was the resolute faced small golden retriever.
And on the right was the restless, and curiously
looking at the surroundings, black cat.
The three animals… no, the three people, were standing
on two legs and wearing clothes.
Yuuji stood still, his expression collapsed and his
body frozen.
While watching each other, the time slowly flowed
forward..
“Woofwoof” Kotarou barked as she rushed to Yuuji’s
side, as though she wanted to say, “Is something wrong? Get yourself together.”
Yuuji finally came to his senses.
「Hello, nice to meet you, I am Yuuji. Umm, hmm, huh? Kemomimi? Yes, well, certainly
this is kemomimi, yeah. Umm, first, Kevin-san, why three people?」(Yuuji)
For now Yuuji was playing ignorance of the feeling that
this was a bit different from the kemomimi he had hoped for.
Although he was frozen at the start, he unexpectedly
asked a valid question.
「Good morning Yuuji-san. I am sorry for being late. That’s right, first let
me explain about that matter.」(Kevin)
“These three people are a family”, Kevin the peddler
began his explanation. The big dogfolk and the catfolk were a husband and wife,
the small dogfolk was their child.
There are cases where paired beastfolk of different
races could produce offspring and the offspring would be born with the characteristics
belonged to one of their parent’ races. Of course, there were also cases of
races that couldn’t produce offspring when paired.
The village where they resided in was assaulted by
monsters. They could repulse the monsters without any casualties, but their
fields were ruined. Of course, they received compensation to some degree from
the village, but it wasn’t an affluent village in the first place and neither was
the family. They couldn’t pay the tax, so it became a situation where they
couldn’t resolve it without selling themselves.
However, the dogfolks, especially fathers, were a race
that cherished their relationships with their family. They couldn’t endure being
separated by selling their children, but on the other hand, selling themselves
would also end up with them being separated, too. Even if they sold their house
and fields, it would be only amount to a very small sum of money, which
wouldn’t be enough to cover the tax. Kevin happened to hear the story of this
problem.
Kevin proposed that the father become a slave, which
the money will be used to cover the remaining unpaid sum of tax, and, while
still keeping the mother and child as freemen, to move to a new land as a
family.
Although they would be separated from the land that
they had lived on until now, since they could stay together as a family, they
accepted it.
「Hence, I brought this family with me. Since this was outside Yuuji-san’s
expectations, I also brought additional food for two people. I wouldn’t charge for
the cost for this food, so please be at ease. Of course, since only the father
is a slave, I will charge for one person. Then, the greetings-」(Kevin)
When Kevin was about to end his talks, there was a
pitter patter sound approaching. It was Alice.
It seems that she was coming after eating the lunch in
the kitchen. What an admirable girl. We couldn’t deny the possibility that it
was only to satisfy her gluttony, though…
「Ah, it’s the beastfolks! There is a child! Alice is Alice! Recently became eight
years old! Let’s get along from now on!」(Alice)
Alice was running, but at the same time she made an
energetic greeting. Her opened right hand was put under the collar bone of her
left chest. It was the greeting gesture of this world.
「I am Marcel. It is my pleasure to meet you. I will work hard as Yuuji-sama’s[4]
slave from hereafter. I have been working in the fields for a long time. Also,
I can do simple carpentry.」(Marcel)
The dogfolk father, Marcel, made this world’s greeting
gesture similar to the one that Alice made. He added “-sama” to Yuuji’s name,
but it was a correct manner, considering their position as slave and master.
「Ninya, Marcel’s partner. I can do hunting, I can do housework. Cooking is
my strong point. It’s good to meet you.」(Ninya)
Ninya made a bow. Her tone sounded blunt, but her
curiosity was shining. It seems that her blunt tone wasn’t because of a hostile
attitude, but because it was her default one. Since she wasn’t Yuuji’s slave,
Kevin also didn’t rebuke her.
「Mother, you accidentally said your name as Ninya. Mother’s name is Nina. I am
Mark. Twelve years old. Ah, even though I am not a slave, I will also work with
all of my might. Y-you can touch my ears and tail, s-so please don’t touch
father’s ears and tail.」(Mark)
It seems that the catfolk mother’s name was not Ninya
but Nina. It seems that catfolk had trouble when speaking “Na”.[5]
Mark stepped forward and showed a resolute expression
on his face. He was trembling slightly, his tail was curled between his legs and
his eyes were teary. For the beastfolk, to be able to touch their prided ears
and tail was a serious matter. What kind of things had he heard from Kevin the
peddler?
「O-oh, n-nice to meet you…… No, it’s alright, I won’t touch you against your
will…… Umm, I am Yuuji. I hope we will get along well.」(Yuuji)
Yuuji also made this world’s greeting gesture. He had
been taught by Alice.
With this, everyone finished the first meeting’s
greetings. The young Mark heard Yuuji’s words and then breathed out a sigh of
relief.
“Woof”, Kotarou made a bark, as if saying, “Don’t
forget about me.”
Then, “woofwoof”, she barked to the beastfolk family,
as if to greet them.
After they heard Kotarou’s voice, the three beastfolks
kneeled on their knees and raised their hands up to show their bellies. Of
course since they were wearing clothes, their bellies were not naked.
To show their bellies to the other party.
This was the beastfolks’ act of respect towards their
superiors.
The master of the slave, who was considered as a ‘pervert’
due to the misinformation in the first meeting, Yuuji.
The little girl who gave her greeting without any
problems, Alice.
The dog who was given respect as the superior,
Kotarou.
It was chaos.
No, if we look at it in a calm manner, this order
might be the correct one.[6]
☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽
Thus, Yuuji gained title: 「Master of the Slaves?」, Kotarou gained title: 「Supreme Being」.
Indonesian
reader might know it as : “Seng” (which actually refers to Zincalluminium
alloy)
[2]
Kofuki
imo: boiled potatoes which are then lightly stirred/fried with
sugar/butter/shoyu glaze which then become half-mashed, giving a powdery outer
appearance. It’s super simple, even Yuuji can make it!
[3]
English
doesn’t have a generally accepted singular neutral third person pronoun, but “singular
they” will suffice. (E/N: I’ve heard of “Ze/Hir/Zir” used before, but it’s
not the official one, just popular online.)
[5]
A
typical Japanese fiction trope. Catfolk or any cat for that matter will
pronounce Na as Nya. Nya is Japanese onomatopeia for cat meow.
Thanks for the chapter!
ReplyDeleteAs expected from Kotarou!
"The garage had a CGI wall, but he hesitated to peel it off for the fence."
ReplyDeleteDoesn't the house regenerate?
Thanks for the chapter
DeleteDid the garage count as part of the house?
DeleteBut if it regenerates then he would either have an unlimited supply or the wall would return from the second house back to the shed every time it regenerated, making it pointless to remove, i doubt the latter would be the case but unlimited materials is a bit too much
DeleteThanks for the Chapter
ReplyDeleteWrong place, thanks for the chapter!!
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely
ReplyDeleteThanks for your hardwork ^_^
ReplyDeleteThanks for your hard work!
ReplyDeleteYou were expecting kemomimi, too bad it's just nekomimi!
Lol, poor Yuuji, I'm sure the dog person in the forum would love to move there very much.
Thanks!
ReplyDelete∧_∧ Nepu!!!(⌒(
(Д゜ ) ∩∩ (⌒≡
⊆⊂´ ̄ ̄ ソ (⌒(⌒;
 ̄ ̄ ̄
I'm a little befuddled here. Her name is Nina, but she calls herself Ninya? Was she renamed by a non-cat recently, and she just hasn't adjusted? Because it makes no sense on any level.
ReplyDelete"Nya" is the sound cats make according to the japanse. Beastkin of the cat type tend to end their sentences with "nya" or have a hard time pronouncing certain things which then become "nya" instead of, in this case, na. It's merely something the author did because she is a cat, to make her more cat like. A classic is them saying stuff like "Desunya" :P
DeleteBut why name a catperson with name catpersons cant pronounce? :D
Deletethanks for the chapter :D
ReplyDeleteThe link for tl note doesn't work, it still refer to *.docx
ReplyDeleteAnyway, thanks for the chapter.
Thanks. I don't notice that. Fixed
DeleteThank you for the chapter. :)
ReplyDeleteYour use of 'they' as a singular gender-indeterminate pronoun is correct. Dictionary.com has a fairly robust explanation on its usage under their entry for 'They', if you would like to see (it's in the usage notes).
Moooooaaaaaarrrrr plissss
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's annoys me more and more the "Yuuji << Alice << Kotarou"
ReplyDeleteIt was funny the first times but now, for the 45th time, it's just annoying...
There is nothing u can do about it since that is the established hierarchy. I think what u're annoyed about though is the fact the so-called protagonist mentality hasnt changed at all and is just as useless since chap 1.
DeleteYes. Yuuji just isnt likable even as a pseudo protagonist since all his bad points are on full display.
Yup, he's a useless piece of human waste, we knew that since the first chapter and sadly he has barely matured at all. He depends on other people and lets everyone walk all over him. He's even worse than other similar protagonists. His idiocy is vexing and unnecessary, but the author is trying to stress it for humor, however... it just makes me cringe. I spend more time cringing than smiling when reading this novel. It still miraculously manages to be amusing and interesting enough to keep me reading though, I wouldn't say it's bad, it's just that he's a wimpy little bitch that gets screwed in the a*s by everyone around him.
DeleteI bet that he will soon get pushed around by the slaves too. It will now become something like Kotarou>>Alice>>female catkin>>son beastkin>>slave male dogkin>>Yuuji, with Yuuji being the lowest. He could be replaced with a goblin and I doubt anyone would notice much.
It was kinda amusing the first time when he got kicked around by his dog a bit, but now he's pretty much at the bottom of the ladder in every possible situation. Hell, every NEET on that blog is higher than him too... Except for the dog lover and lolicon perhaps, they're his equals.
That aside, give me back my expectations and feelings. Bipedal furries, the hell is this shit, they're even a family along with a son, so there'll be no romantic developments from that front. I wonder if that was supposed to be funny? I've seen this development before, maybe I laughed a bit when I read it the first time in some other novel, but it's not that good of a twist.
I'm still glad the author hasn't caused Yuuji to instantly have a personality change out of being NEET. That is an annoying thing in other WN where the MC instantly changes personality.
DeleteEven if Yuuji's shallow thinking and easygoing attitude are annoying, he's been a hikkiNEET for a long time, and having a comfortable home with smart barrier (enemy sensing) with two companions, it is hard for him to grow. There is not much adversity in his life which is what it will take to move him out of the deep NEET ruts he lives within.
So, maybe the author is going to send a shocking event to allow Yuuji's personality to change a bit.
April is coming. Where is end of chapter?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chapter.
ReplyDelete