Isekai Izakaya Nobu Chapter 24Chapter 24Side Story: Eva in Wonderland (Part 2)

She turned into a corner, crossed a bridge, and then turned into another corner.

Even though she had lost sight of the fox quite some time ago, Eva still kept on running.

Even though she was feeling hungry, she had no choice but to keep moving forward.

That was the only way Eva could distract herself from the feeling of helplessness.

This place was not the Old Capital that she was familiar with.

She understood that when she exited Nobu and first caught sight of the big road.

Similarly, she had seen a horseless carriage a little while ago, coming and going on the long, gray road.

From what little she had observed, the strange carriage somehow had a way to avoid running over people. There were places for people to cross the road, just like for crossing a river, and a pillar was set up there.

When the fire on the pillar turned green, the iron carriage did not move.

There were too many people in this town.

There were many more people than on the main streets of the Old Capital, and they passed by each other close enough to hit each other’s shoulders. It was to the extent that one would think there was a festival going on, but it did not seem like that either.

This was possibly the daily routine of these people who were dressed in strange clothing.

While she was crossing the main road, she tripped and almost fell down several times.

Eva vaguely understood that it was unlikely to find the fox any longer. As she began to have thoughts like that, she had an even more frightening thought.

She didn’t know the way back.

At first, she had made an effort to remember the direction, but all of the roads in this town looked identical to the confused Eva.

The buildings were the same colour, with similarly shaped corners. The roads were the same width, and the passersby looked the same too. Eva gradually became scared.

The words ‘divine punishment’ loomed over her in her mind.

The theft of the fried bean curd could cause God’s angels to bring down judgement on ‘Nobu’ immediately.

If that was the case, then it would be impossible for Eva to return to the Old Capital forever.

(TL: new series GET: Isekai ni Eva)

Her parents and younger siblings, Shinobu, Taisho, and the customers of the store. It might not be possible to meet them again.

She would quietly starve to death without anyone noticing, in this stifling town where she didn’t know her right from her left.

When she thought that, tears started flowing down her cheeks.

「Is there something wrong? Why are you crying?」

A pair of men suddenly called out to her.

Even though the people of this town did not wear hats, the two approaching her did.

Eva also noticed that they had a wooden stick on their waists, similar to the ones that Hans and Nicholas always had. No one else was wearing one. Even Eva knew that, if you were hit with that stick, even a large adult would faint.

「Oh! Is it possible that you don’t understand Japanese? Erm, do you s~peak Ja-pan-ese?」

(TL: guy here trying to speak English)

One of the men stooped down to talk with Eva, who became silent. The other person was talking into a small box that had strings attached to it.

Kidnappers!

Eva instantly understood. These men were trying to take Eva away. That small box that the man was talking into was most likely a tool that allowed him to call his fellow kidnappers.

「Are you not able to speak English? German? Oi, Gengoumaru, do you speak German?」

「No way. Shimoshikiryo should know. I’m a Mandarin expert, after all.」

「Even though the only Mandarin words I heard from you were ‘chi’, ‘pon’ and ‘pinfu’…」

(TL: these are mahjong terms in case you didn’t get the joke)

「Rude. I can also say the numbers.」

「I bet you can only count up to ‘nine’ at most.」

While the two spoke to one another in a strange, secret code, Eva started to slowly back away.

‘If I am caught here, I will surely be sold away. If that happens, I will no longer be able to return to my dear home.’

Eva closed her eyes, bit her lips, and took a deep breath.

She focused all of her concentration to her front and dashed off like lightning.

「Ah! You! Wait a moment!」

Eva shook off the two people who tried to stop her and ran away.

In order to escape, she entered an alley, cut through the shrubbery, and crossed the main street when the green light on the pillar was blinking.

She ran, and ran, and ran, and ran.

By the time she noticed, she had climbed up a stone staircase and arrived in front of a small temple.

Her whole body was soaked in sweat and she felt exhausted. Her feet and knees were screaming in agony.

Eva sat down on the ground, under the shadow of the temple.

The leaves on the surrounding trees made a rustling sound in the wind.

It was hard to believe that such a quiet and peaceful place was connected to that town from a while ago.

Since there weren’t any fallen leaves on the ground, somebody must have been cleaning the place everyday.

Incidentally, Eva remembered that she had been halfway done cleaning Izakaya Nobu as well.

Even though she had already finished half of it, would Shinobu be able to finish cleaning the store before opening time, after finishing her walk?

Eva unintentionally burst out laughing while imagining Shinobu’s flustered face.

It probably wasn’t the time to worry about whether the cleaning would be finished or not, since she might not be able to return home anymore.

From tomorrow, no, tonight onwards, she had to think of a way to survive through each night. Seeing as living in that stifling town was too harsh, Eva was thinking of finding a place to live nearby this temple.

Since the floor of the temple was elevated a bit, it was possible that she could endure the night by slipping underneath the floorboards. As for food, she might have to beg for it somewhere.

To be honest, it would be the best scenario if she could be employed by this temple.

Since it was a rather big place to clean, if Eva showed off her skills in cleaning, they might be kind enough to feed her.

Thinking that far ahead made her stomach grumble.

‘If I knew that this would happen, I would’ve eaten the rice balls before chasing the fox.’

Fox. Fox. Fox.

When she suddenly looked up, there was a fox in front of the temple.

It wasn’t the fox that Eva had chased. It was a fox statue, carved in stone. Two fox statues stood side by side, as if they were defending the temple.

She had lost her way because of a fox.

She felt a little bitter towards the fox when she thought about it, but when she stared at the fox statue, that feeling seemed to disappear.

「I wish this fox would take me back to ‘Nobu’.」

She laughed at herself for thinking something ridiculous.

She was tired and had reached her limits. After getting closer to the fox statue, she leaned against the pedestal to rest.

The cold stone felt like it was coursing through her body and sucking the heat away from her.

「Child. Oi~child.」

Eva slowly opened her eyes to see who was calling out to her.

She seemed to have fallen asleep, but it still looked like the temple from before. It didn’t seem like she was waking up from a bad dream after dozing off in Izakaya Nobu.

However, it also didn’t seem like she had completely woken from the dream yet.

She was looking at the face of the white fox that had stolen the fried bean curd.

「Child, you are someone who belongs to the opposite side. Why have you come here?」

「Because you took the fried bean curd meant for God’s messengers.」

Eva protested as she rubbed her drowsy eyes.

None of this would have happened if the white fox had not taken the fried bean curd.

「What strange things is this child saying? The God’s messenger is me, you know. In other words, the fried bean curd was for me.」

「Then, why did you run away?」

The fox was at a loss for words at Eva’s sharp question.

「Child, that is because you suddenly chased after me.」

「If you didn’t run away, I wouldn’t have chased after you! In the first place, aren’t God’s messengers angels with wings on their backs?」

「That is a messenger from a different God, you see. I am serving another God.」

「Hmmm…for some reason, that isn’t very convincing.」

The dumbfounded fox shook its head, and its tail pounded the floor.

「Anyway, it’s a serious matter if a person from the opposite side strays into this world without permission. I will send you back with my divine power.」

「I, I can return?」

「That won’t be a problem. In any case, I share the blame for this as well.」

The fox made symbols with its forelegs and the scenery around Eva began to blur.

「Hmmm, can it be considered a success or a failure for Ukanomitama-sama to use her lifeforce to connect the tavern business between two worlds…those people should have paid more attention to this child.」

(TL: Ukanomitama is the deity of food and agriculture)

「If I see you next time, I won’t chase you!」

「That’s obvious. Ah, I have a message for those two people.」

「Message?」

「Yes. And I will only say this once. So listen carefully and remember it…」

_________________________________________________________________

「…-va! Eva!」

Eva slowly woke up as she was shaken by someone with big hands.

In front of her were Taisho and Shinobu. Even Hans, Nicholas, and Edwin were there.

「Erm, I…」

When she looked up while lying on her back, she saw the familiar ceiling of Izakaya Nobu.

「Eva-chan, I was so worried!」

As Eva gradually got up, Shinobu hugged her tightly.

Her cheeks were wet with tears.

「Where did you go in the middle of cleaning? Did you know that the guards also split up and searched for you?」

「I thought you had been kidnapped, so I went to search for you around the neighbourhood.」

「But, Eva-chan, when did you come back, and why were you sleeping on the floor? I didn’t even notice you were here.」

「Anyway, no matter what, I’m glad you have returned.」

Taisho, Hans, Nicholas, and Edwin looked relieved and they patted Eva.

Eva tried to talk about what had happened on the other side, but she stopped.

Even now, she thought everything that had happened was merely a dream, so if she spoke out now, no one would believe it.

However, there was one thing that was very important and had to be told no matter what.

「Taisho, I have a favour to ask.」

「What is it, Eva-chan? To ask a favour so suddenly, how strange.」

「Please make inari sushi as an offering to the shrine, at least once a month.」