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After that preamble, Coppelia casually approached one of the nearby dancing Güllens and began speaking to it. Is this going to be okay? Machine translation tends to be spicy and exciting at best, which leaves me feeling vaguely uneasy…

“Gerogero-geero (Hey you, hey, jump right there, jump!)”
“Gero? Kero, keero!”
“Geroge—gehhooooo!!?”

Suddenly, the Güllens leapt up on the spot and delivered a full-powered kick that sent Coppelia flying several meters.

“““…………”””

Coppelia tumbled through the air, landing in a heap, while the Güllens croaked proudly and walked off with a very satisfied look.

“…See? Just like I said.”

Coppelia returned, fixing her rumpled clothes and looking very pleased with herself, completely unbothered.

“““No no no no no!!”””
“Gero?”

Just as our worries about what might happen next reached a new high, Mother Güllens returned and tilted her head as if to say, “What’s going on?”

“Geeko geko geko, geeko geko.”

Before anyone could stop her, Coppelia began speaking in Croaks again. We all watched with nervous anticipation *(mostly worried about whether Mother Güllens would get offended)*, but to our surprise, she listened calmly, nodding and occasionally offering a croaking reply. The two of them continued their Gerogero conversation for a while, and once they seemed to reach a natural pause, Coppelia turned to face us.

“Lady Clara. Mother Güllens says, *‘I’m deeply impressed by your strength. Please bear my children. They’ll surely be strong.’* …Looks like she’s a macho-girl.”
“What are you even talking about!? That’s what you focused on?! And for the record, I’m not interested in lesbians!”

There were too many things wrong with this for me to respond to them all.

“Well, since she’s a hermaphrodite, apparently she can go both ways. Although, she told me she usually reproduces asexually and lays eggs in moist places.”
“““That’s not funny (not a joke)!!”””

Unintentionally, Cestlavie, Regulus, Sechs, and I all shouted a firm “No!!” in unison.

“I see. Well, I’m academically fascinated by what kind of child would be born… Couldn’t we maybe get just one of her eggs on the down-low?” As expected from the assistant built by a mad alchemist— her sense of ethics had long since rocketed past the stratosphere.

“I refuse! Playing around with life like that is the lowest!”
“Ohh, so you’re in the natural reproduction camp. Got it. I’ll look forward to future developments, then—gwaaah gah gah, gaa-go!”
“Gua? Guugum, geko geko.”
“Hmm-hmm, I see. She says, ‘I’ll do my best to get Lady Clara to lay eggs.’”

Coppelia was spouting total nonsense, and Mother Güllens was going along with it. For the record— humans don’t lay eggs!

“I’m sorry, but our relationship stops at friendship! And why, of all things, is my first-ever confession from a non-human!? Does this mean my appeal only works on non-humans!? I’m emotionally devastated on so many levels!!”
“Eh? That’s not true at all. You’re super popular even in the Holy Capital, aren’t you? I heard your fan club’s about to hit five digits.”
“That doesn’t count!! That’s religious idol-worship!!”

As I passionately refuted the difference, Cestlavie scratched his messy hair and looked away awkwardly.

“Well, yeah, sure—most people give up on you as being out of their league, but there are quite a few gutsy folks who seriously love you, you know.”
“My Princess. My body and soul are already yours. I don’t think it’s wrong to call this love.”

With those words, Regulus followed up, eyes strangely moist, taking the perfect opportunity to come out with his feelings.

“Yes, yes, thank you, but I’ll pass on these sudden, baseless confessions that just fall from the sky since they make me feel all the more pathetic. More importantly, Coppelia, since you can speak the language, could you ask him—uh, her?—if she’s seen Eliza around here?”

“Understood. —Gero-gero, geg-geg-geg, guoo-guoo?”

Coppelia gestured animatedly and, while scraping some of the damp moss off the cave wall with her fingers, drew a portrait of Eliza (surprisingly well-done and accurate) and asked the question. Mother Güllens, after pondering a moment and consulting the surrounding child-Güllens, replied with a serious expression:

“Geg-geg-ge, Gegege no Ge, Geko Geko, Gerogero Geroguwa-guwa-guwa, Kerokerokerokerokerokerokerokero-keero, Kero, Gegegge, Gerogero, Kero-keero, Kerokero-kero-keero, Guwa-guwa-guwa, Kero, Keero, Kerokero kerokero kerokero kerokero-keero, Geggeggegge, cough cough.”
“She says, ‘I don’t know.’”
“That’s it!? That was clearly a loose interpretation, wasn’t it!?”

As I was voicing my retort, the scattered Güllenses began gathering ingredients they had foraged and laid them out in front of Mother Güllens.

There was a white, blind newt with no limbs. A giant mushroom that clearly looked poisonous. Brightly colored ferns that released spores. And a giant cricket the size of a small dog.

“…I’m a Shrine Maiden, so I follow a vegetarian diet and cannot eat raw meat or fish. Please let them know I’ll have to decline the animal items.”

Especially that spider-cricket thing, you’d caught me dead before I ate it.

“Lady Clara, didn’t you have grilled giant slug and pork-ogre cutlet just recently?”

That’s what I asked Coppelia to translate, but she tilted her head and threw in that totally unnecessary jab.

“The cutlet was cooked, you know. …And besides, I’ve never really been a fan of fermented bean products.”

That part is true. In typical reincarnated-Japanese fashion, people tend to get emotional over the taste of soy sauce and miso, but in my case, I’ve realized lately that those flavors and smells just don’t agree with my tongue or nose…such is the case I just recently learned. I prefer butter or olive oil by far, so I suppose my current physical body has a stronger influence over my preferences.

“Oh, I see. Ah, but she just said, *‘Today we caught a rare surface creature as prey. A big one,’* so it might actually suit your palate, Lady Clara.”

So even here, surface-dwelling creatures sometimes wander in, huh? That must mean there’s another entrance somewhere… I was pondering that when a few Güllenses appeared, carrying their catch on a long stick, its limbs tied together like a bound badger ready for stew.

It was about the size of a pig from my previous life, its entire body a flesh tone, ribs clearly visible from poor nutrition. It had hair on its head, wore glasses—

“—Wait, that’s a human!?”

He was completely stripped and unconscious, so I didn’t realize at first, but looking closely, I recognized the face.

“That’s… I think it’s Colin from the Daily Septentrio isn’t it?”

Oblivious to my confusion, Mother Güllens beamed with delight and offered the still-bound Colin forward.

“She says, *‘It’s not much, but please enjoy if you’d like.’*”

“Enough translating—stop Mother Güllens from casually pressing a stone knife against Colin’s carotid artery!!”

In a panic, we rushed in between the would-be main course and the eager chef about to gut him while he was still fresh. Thus, we successfully rescued Colin from being served for dinner.

***

#Author’s Note:#

Incidentally, all of the creatures and plants mentioned in the cave this time—aside from their color and size—actually exist on Earth.