[God You're a Liar] Chapter 6.1: The Boundaries of Lies

 06: The Boundaries of Lies

 

 

　I sipped the seared meat and boiled vegetables he had prepared for me, bit by bit. I'm sure the tension that had been building up in my belly has relaxed as my belly was filled, and at the same time, the exhaustion that had built up from being set up for an unaccustomed act has been released, and I've fallen asleep on the couch.

 

　...... I can hear them talking in the distance.

 

　Who could it be?

 

One voice is familiar to me. It's Master Zeine. But the other one is unfamiliar to me. It was very low, slightly higher in tone than his voice, moist and moist.

 

Two men arguing with each other ......?

 

I can't understand what they are saying as they seem to be on the other side of the door.

 

It's as if Zeine is answering an angry "someone" with an exasperated response and the other person is talking back.

 

The strong tone of voice in between, I picked up bits and pieces of it, but I had no idea what was going on.

 

　Really, what are they fighting about?

 

　I'm troubled. I can't open my eyelids.

 

The body lying on the couch was struggling to get up, and I couldn't help but wonder what was going on on the other side.

 

　Was it a visitor, or was there another roommate? I wanted to know who the voice was.

 

I was thinking about ...... in my interrupted consciousness, and then the voice of the speaker snapped off.

 

I can feel the presence of someone approaching.

 

“Tsk. ...…”

 

　The sigh was his.

 

Robust arms were inserted into my back and behind my knees. He lifted me up lightly and carried me off the couch to another location.

 

The place where I was lowered down was apparently a bed. I remember the comfort of the bed.

 

The messy mattress looked like it had already been re-arranged, and there was no wetness or distinctive smell.

 

“Now, someone ...…”

 

“It’s Nothing. You should get some more sleep if you're tired. I'm going to bed.”

 

The murmurs I managed to squeeze out were taunted in dismay.

 

The hand stroking my hair is so gentle.

 

While I was losing myself in the hard warmth of the hand lying next to me, I let my consciousness sink into the darkness again, loosely.

 

 

　---It was only a short time later that I woke up with difficulty in my sleep.

 

Apparently, the sleeping man had unconsciously taken me into his arms. My upper body was firmly secured to the arms around my back, and my lower legs were also entangled with his legs, so I couldn't move well.

 

We were in a sideways position, facing each other, and my face was snugly attached to his chest plate.

 

It's a good thing that I’m able to get the best out of it, because it's so heavy, narrow, and painful, and it's ...... too embarrassing to stay in, and I couldn't bear to be ...... so much embarrassment, and eventually I started to move around not too long afterwards.

 

If I can't get him to let go no matter how hard I try, I want to at least secure a slightly more comfortable position.

 

“Huh. ...…”

 

Then he somehow lets out a breath.

 

I sneaked a glance up and there was no sign of him waking up. Repeating his regular breathing, he looked somehow younger than when he was awake.

 

“...…”

 

“I'm a liar, by the way.”

 

Before I fell asleep, the one word he told me with a grin suddenly came back to me behind my ears.

 

...... The self-proclaimed god who brought me here.

 

He has the strength to carry me unceremoniously and the power to cross long distances in an instant. A super-powered person who can create a calm, sunny box garden in the land of ice and snow in his spare time. An existence that does not feel uncomfortable using profane language to royalty.

 

Where was the lie mixed in with his story? Where is the boundary between lies and truth?

 

I feel that the whole thing about the bride's costume tailorship is true.

 

He seemed to be wondering at heart at that time. Perhaps it's because he knows me, who cried raggedly in front of Oiwa because I was swept up in the tailor's messenger, that he felt inclined to ask me, the person involved, what he had been wondering about for some time.

 

Then perhaps, perhaps, he doesn't actually know the royals or anything?

 

This could be. Maybe he was just kidding around and told a big lie. I can't confirm that I'm listening, and it was a fearful and cold word before that.

 

I wonder if he's really a god in the first place.

 

...... Are the old stories he told us about the old days really events that happened?

 

I've never heard that the place where the village is located used to be a vast forest, or that there was a crystal cave that was inhabited by a giant dragon. That area is an ordinary land with small forests and low mountains.

 

However, if you ask me, I've never seen a huge tree in a forest. Even if it is said to be a young forest, it seems to make sense. And the area around that big rock is just flat land.

 

I'm sure I'll be able to find a lie in his story: ...... The most disconcerting part was the crystal episode.

 

The blue crystal that the giant dragon tried to protect is not such a valuable item nowadays. The same crystal would have been rarer in purple or yellow.

 

But maybe its value has changed after hundreds of years. He's right, they were expensive at the time, but it's also possible that blue crystal became a cheap gemstone when it became available all at once.

 

...... I should have learned more seriously about my upbringing if this was the case.

 

The school in the next village, which I attended for three years from the age of ten, taught me the basics of reading, writing and math, the general origins of the country and what His Majesty the King had accomplished, among other things. When it came to older history, I was completely out of touch.

 

The lore surrounding the Great Rock is so sketchy that I don't even know if the demon lying beneath it is a giant dragon or not. In the days before the elders were born, when Zeine-sama descended---probably at the time when the bridal gown was ready to be made.... I guess the old stories are barely passed down because they burn properly in front of my eyes.

 

“Do you believe in reincarnation?”