Paradigm Parasite

into silence.

　I guess it can't be helped….

 

　”I understand ………….
But only until Oratorium.”

 

I decide to relent.

　Rothfeldt's expression brightened.

　He's an easy guy to understand, for better or worse.

 

“Can you talk to me about it?”

 

　That was the beginning of a barrage of questions from Rothfeldt, and I was already regretting that I had allowed him to accompany me.

　At first he only glanced at me, but when we started climbing the mountain, he couldn't take it anymore.

　He wanted to hear about what happened after he was abandoned in the wilderness.

 

“By the way, I was wondering, have you gotten any bigger?　I don't think my body was that big…”

　”I think you might have grown up.”

　”What?　No, I've grown…long…?”

 

　I was just trying to let the question slide and wondering how to shut this guy up….

　Oh, there was something I needed to clarify first.

 

　”I have one thing I need to decide?”

　”What's that?”

　”Your name.
You can't call yourself Rothfeldt with that look, can you?”

　”Oh…
well, my body belongs to Lilynette, doesn't it?”

“I guess you could just call yourself Lilynette?”

　”No, I feel kind of bad to Mr.
Hoffer.”

　”Then why don't you figure it out for yourself?”

 

　Rothfeldt cooed, but shook his head emphatically.

 

　”You can put it on for me, if you like.”

 

　Yeah…I don't want to.

 

　”Please.”

 

　He looked me in the eye.

　Hmmm.
I'm getting a little off-kilter.

 

　…Names…

　I thought about calling her Hanako or Sachiko, but decided against it.

　I'd prefer a name derived from the person himself as much as possible….

 

　Rothfeldt…Roth…ah, there is a good one.

　In this world, names are given by parents.

 

　In Rothfeldt's case, it is Rothfeldt Haydn Oratorium.

　Oratorium is the family name.
Rothfeldt is the name given by his father and Haydn is the name given by his mother.

　Other names are given when there are godparents other than the parents.

 

　Haydn and…
isn't that a woman's name?

　Then let's break it down a bit…

 

　”How about Heidi?”

　”…Heidi…
yeah, that's good.
I like it.
It's very nice.
I'm Heidi from now on.”

 

　Heidi, aka Heidi Rothfeldt, mumbled her name over and over again as if to confirm it.

Then she was quiet for a while, but then the questions resumed.

I wanted to ignore her, but she was too insistent, so I gave her a digested version of my adventures on Mount Shudras.

 

　Heidi listened to me with a twinkle in her eye like a child.

I cut out the part about my physical condition, so it was as if I had conquered that mountain almost unscathed.

　The inconvenient part of the story was that I got through it with a little application of magic.
Was that too much to ask?

She didn't seem to have any doubts.
Well, that's good.

 

　”You are strong! It's amazing that you managed to beat a pack of earth dragons almost unscathed!”

 

No, I got mad when I was hit by them and managed to finish them off by doing something reckless.

 

“If it had been me…I would have managed to get three of them…”

 

Three heads…right.

　Come to think of it, I killed three of them and was down, too.

　There is a difference between hard and soft, but I guess we are the same person.

　So, are our abilities the same?

 

　I've mixed things up so much that I'm not sure what I was originally.

　I've mutated so much that the only original part of me left is my brain.

　I suddenly became curious and looked at Heidi's body from head to foot.

 

Well, she certainly has been working out.

The assassin seems to have built her body very well, with very little lean meat on her, and her body is tight.

Hmmm, looks easy to eat.

 

…Oh no, I mistook her for a food or something before I knew it.

 

　”What is it?　I don't want you to look at me too much.”

　”No, I'm just hungry.”

　”Why are you looking at me and thinking about eating?”

“Maybe we'll eat after we climb a little higher.”

　”You?　Did you fool me by any chance?”

 

　I don't know.
I'm not thinking about emergency rations, okay?

 

　After that, we decided to camp a little further up the mountain.

　Naturally, Heidi, who had grown up as a little boy, couldn't cook, so I had to cook for her.

　Incidentally, several of the people I had eaten with so far were able to cook, so I had no problem doing so.

 

I grilled the meat I had planned to eat raw and put back the dried food I had bought in water.

　It wasn't what you would call cooking, but Heidi was delighted with it.

She's like a child, isn't she?

 

　After the meal, Heidi suggested we take turns resting, so I let her do whatever she wanted.

　After all, the sun was already setting.

I let Heidi sleep first, and while watching the bonfire, I thought about what we should do at Oratorium.

 

　I could probably make the first move, but it was also possible that the other party would have insurance to protect themselves…
but I'd have to wait and see.

　It would be easy when we confronted him.

Zubel is a butler, not a warrior, so if I fight him, it will be a piece of cake.

 

　I'm confident I can kill him with one blow.

　Well, I'm not going to kill him easily because he did a lot of unnecessary things to me.

　The problem is Fatima.

 

　I heard that she is skilled in water magic…or rather ice magic.　

　If it's true, that's a problem.

　Even I might be in trouble if I'm frozen to the core.

 

　Worst-case scenario, I might borrow Heidi's ring to nullify it.

　Is this the best I can do with the information I have at the moment?　

　While I was thinking about this, I heard a noise and looked over to see Heidi about to wake up.

 

…I guess it's time to switch.

 

　I can't sleep, so it's going to be a boring time.

　I don't have anything to do, so I'm going to do some rewashing of the memories I've taken away.