Editing Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden:Volume 6 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 1===

“…………”

Mushrooms were piled up in a mountain on the cutting board.

From pure white mushrooms as thin as string, to bright red mushrooms that looked as solid as stone, spotted poisonous mushrooms that were uncannily moving and mushrooms that were currently in a balloon state and spouting spores.

“…………Muu.”

Sheltis glared down at that ominous mountain of mushrooms.

He had reddish brown frizzy hair, looks with some cherubic and impish qualities still present and a slimness that couldn’t quite be called slender.

“Which ones are poisonous and which ones are edible……”

He had taken off his favorite black jacket, and was wearing a striped apron over his shirt.

As for why he was sporting such an appearance, it was because he was currently in the kitchen. But even if he was in the kitchen, it didn’t mean that he’d be left with cooking duties and what he’d been handed was a guidebook instead of a knife.

“……I can’t see anything except poisonous mushrooms though.”

With the book labeled ‘''Mushroom Encyclopedia''‘ on its spine in one hand, he compared the images on the pages to the mushrooms on the cutting board.

For example, this spotted poisonous mushroom. The uncanny movement was a feature but this was written for it in the ‘''Mushroom Encyclopedia''‘.

 

‘''Compound color spotted poisonous shimeji''

''The red and yellow flecks are its trait. It moves about once every three seconds and you can see that this is a reaction to releasing spores. Do you understand?''

''Anyway, don’t eat this unless you’re reckless; actually, don’t even touch it. It’s a potent poisonous mushroom that will keep you from leaving the toilet for a week with bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. If you’re unlucky, your kidneys and liver will fail and you’ll die.''‘

 

“……For the time being, that means this one can’t be eaten.”

It was written not to touch it so the poison might be transferred from the skin too. He timidly tried to move it off the cutting board with the edge of the knife──

“''Ah, wait, Sheltis. I think it’s this one. The one on the left page.''“

{{furigana|Machine crystal|Ilis}} which was at the end of the pendant hanging at his chest was blinking.

“This?”

“''Yes, if it’s that one, then it’s edible. Why not consider it?''“

 

“''Compound color spotted pseudo-shimeji''

''The red and yellow flecks are its trait. For movements, it moves about once every four seconds and doesn’t have spores. (It’s a pain so look at the right page.)''

''Unlike the mushroom on the right page, this one is edible, so you can boil or fry it or whatever you like. The difference with the poisonous mushroom to the right is in the movements. That one moves once every three seconds and this one moves once every four seconds. Distinguish that. ……Well, sometimes that one takes four seconds and this one takes three seconds, so just think of it as having bad luck and give up if that happens. You’ll be fine if you’re normally a good person. Pray. I also ingested poison because of this once.''“

 

“How am I supposed to tell!?”

“''No, look, it says if you’re normally a good person then you’ll be fine even if you eat it──''“

“No, no, no! Isn’t this guidebook completely worthless!? Rather, isn’t this sentence here non-explanatory? ‘''Pray, I also ingested poison because of this once''‘, isn’t this irresponsible!? Who’s the author…………Va……iel?”

He had to be seeing things. The name of the author on the guidebook was the same as the name of a man who belonged to the same unit.

……Come to think of it, Vaiel did seem to specialize in cooking.

Putting aside the two women of marriageable age, Monica and Kagura, he was the only one who could actually cook in their unit.

“Nah, it couldn’t be.”

 

Author introduction.

He became a best seller when he published an explanatory book on “Men’s Cooking” borne of living alone most of the time. Though sharp-tongued, his thorough and heated explanations are supported by an wide variety of readers. ……Lately, he was scouted by a unit of three kids in his main occupation as a Guard. What a paiiin.

 

“It’s Vaiel!?”

“''Isn’t that great; if it’s someone you know then we can trust what’s written. As expected of the unit’s head chef.''“

“I wonder about that……”

As I thought, let’s avoid dangerous things. From the pile of mushrooms, he took the thin white mushroom and looked at the guidebook again. And──

“Hey, Sheltis, did you call me just now?”

The woman chopping rhythmically in the center of the kitchen looked over.

It was the store owner of the open-air cafe, ‘''Albireo''‘, located in the Second Living District. She was still young……most likely, she was in her early twenties yet managing this shop, and she was normal for her to be known as head chef in the store.

“Nope, not you, head chef. A different person.”

“Oh my, is that so? By the way, are you done with the preparations for the mushroom nabe I left you with?”

“Mm─, I’m still selecting the mushrooms.”

“My, my, it can’t be helped. Then I’ll handle this. You look after the nabe over there. Add some water if it looks like it’s about to boil over.”

“Okay, okay. ……This is how it’s like when I come back after a while.”

It’s almost been a full two months.

Just when he thought he’d returned to the place he’d lived and worked at until he re-entered {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}, she hadn’t said “welcome back” or “it’s been a while” and instead bluntly went “help with the cooking preparations”.

“It’s exactly because it’s been a while.”

She smiled spinning her knife skillfully.

“But it was great timing. I went hunting for mushrooms on the last holiday but because I took anything I could find, it’s hard to tell which ones are poisonous. If you hadn’t come, it would’ve been too much work so I would’ve just boiled it all and served it to the customers.”

“You’re brimming with the intent to kill with poison!?”

“It’s fine. I’d hire somebody to taste test for poison before that……about ten healthy ones.”

“It’s not fine at all: it’d be terrible for those people!”

……Ahh, I’m glad it was stopped before victims appeared.

……Actually, I don’t think this is something that would normally be considered at an open-air cafe.

“But there’s a ton. Did you gather these all by yourself?”

“Of course I went with Eyriey. We rode on her three-wheeled vehicle to the Biotope.”

“The Biotope? Eh, but that place”

The {{furigana|floating continent|Orbie Clar}} could be largely split into three areas.

First, in the middle were the Living Districts that people inhabited.

On the outside of that was the Nature District. This area had nature preserved and was comparatively safe.

Further beyond that lay the Biotope ── it was a savage land with vast nature that hadn’t been touched by humans and which extended to the edges of the {{furigana|floating continent|Orbie Clar}}. The chances of encountering wild dragons and large carnivores and, above all, Yuugenshu was high in this area.

“There are swarms of wild carnivores……”

“Yes, it’s been a long time since I enjoyed such a full-out thrill. An earth dragon, a fire-breathing bird and a ten metre-long super poisonous centipede. I recalled the past without trying to.”

“Head chef, who are you?”

“You sure say some strange things; aren’t I just the owner of an open-air cafe?”

Chop, chop chop chop chop chop. She precisely sliced the vegetables thinly with the knife in a reversed grip.

……It’s strange when she holds the knife in reverse. It’s exactly like when I hold my dual blades.

“Ah, and Sheltis. Was Meimel doing well?”

“Meimel?”

“Yes, there should be a Priestess in {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}} by that name. You’re a Guard of {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}} so I was wondering if you already met her. Come now, it’s that Priestess that loves to tease. No matter how busy she is, she’ll drink a day’s worth of vegetable juice and won’t go without an hour of calisthenics.”

“I’ve met her but……wait, wh-what’s with that suggestive information! Hey, why does an open-air cafe shopkeeper know about a Priestess’ private life!?”

“Eh? This is obvious──”

The head chef said up to there and then shut her mouth and crossed her arms in thought.

“……Let’s talk about this some other day.”

“Uwaa, suddenly acting like it’s none of my business!”

The second Priestess, Meimel, and the head chef.

……I’m curious but also kind of scared to find out.

He wanted to know but would avoid getting in deep. Somehow feeling something cold down his back, Sheltis gave up on pursuing the matter further.

“By the way, where’s Eyriey who went to the Biotope with you?”

“She’s shopping at a market on the outskirts. But she’s late. It’s been an hour since I asked her so it wouldn’t be strange for her to return any minute now.”

The head chef frowned with a puzzled expression.

“Maybe she’s loitering around again.”

“No─pe, I wasn’t. There was just an unusual arrest so I went to take a look.”

The shop’s back door opened slowly revealing a girl holding paper bags with both arms.

“I’m back! Oh, Sheltis, you should’ve said you were coming back ahead of time. You were in the Governmental Sector until the day before yesterday, right?”

Eyriey put the paper bags down on the kitchen counter.

She had unkempt orange hair and not a shred of make-up. Her favorite clothes were oil-stained overalls which had none of the showiness of a sixteen year old.

“Yeah, we put together the report after returning yesterday and finally got to take a break this morning. That’s why I wondered if I could go outside during that time. There’s another meeting in the evening though.”

“Heh─, a meeting? Then maybe Yuto and I will come play too.”

“……I wonder how the topic just now made you think of coming to play.”

“We’ll wait patiently in your room while you’re at the meeting. Let’s play after the meeting ends? Okay? Yuto also said she wanted to visit Shel-nii.”

“If I get the time then.”

“‘Kay─! Then let’s finish today’s job in a flash. It’s just inspecting the errand bike’s engine so it should take just a few minutes──”

“Would you wait, Eyriey?”

The head chef quickly caught by the neck the girl who was about to run out the back door again.

“It’s fine if you’re going to do your job but isn’t there something to report before that? It looks like your shopping took a while. What’s this you were saying about looking at something?”

“Ah, I was interested in that too.”

An unusual arrest she’d said, but what did that mean?

“Right, right, I thought you’d say that.”

Eyriey tapped her fist to her palm while still being held by the neck.

“At the plaza a little while ago, I saw a purse snatching. The thief aimed for an elderly’s purse and ran away after snatching it.”

“Oh my, that’s unusual. A thievery.”

While looking sideways over at how the boiling nabe was doing, the head chef rolled her eyes in surprise.

Although a light crime, it was rare for thievery like that to happen in the Living Districts where public order was good. There were reporting devices installed in places and everyone knew that the criminal’s face would show up plain as day on the observation cameras.

“Since it was an arrest, of course it was a security officer who caught him.”

“I saw a stranger scene than that, head chef!”

Eyriey clenched her fist with an excited tone of voice.

“The criminal who stole a purse at the plaza and ran away! Ahh, what is the fate of the obaa-san’s purse!? ── or so I thought, then an onee-san came from the intersection on the other side with a huge rifle and when I was wondering what she’d do, she pointed the gun at the criminal and ‘''bang!''‘.”

“She shot?”

“It was a rubber bullet for suppression though. Yeahhh, it was surprising. Since the security officers in town carry stun guns, right? She had such a heavy rifle! Her outfit wasn’t the blue one security officers wear either, but some kind of dark camouflage suit.”

“''Eyriey, I have a feeling that wasn’t a security officer. According to my information, rifles aren’t on the list of large guns carried by security officers.''“

“Ah, so it really isn’t? But it was amazing! That onee-san held that rifle in one hand and shot the criminal from within the midday crowd in the plaza. Even though she’d hit a civilian if she missed…………she really nailed him.”

“Of course she would. I think she’d hit him even if she shot a hundred times.”

“''She’d hit him.''“

“Yeah? Sheltis and Ilis, what’s up, you know her?”

“Eyriey, that was probably a Guard and not a security officer. And a ridiculously famous one.”

Exceptional physical strength that made it possible to one-hand a two-handed rifle. That and the courage to shoot within a crowd without hesitation were the makings of a sniper.

Above all else──

“''Say, Eyriey, was that woman wearing a strange blindfold?''“

“She was, she was! Shooting a rifle with both eyes covered, that’s so amazing!……so who is that person?”

……The sniper with a blinder.

……So she has returned to {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}.

“I think even you’ve heard at least her name. Come on, think of who would be the most famous sisters on the {{furigana|floating continent|Orbie Clar}} ”

“''Horn Nova ── she is the little sister of the third Priestess, Viola Nova, and holds the position of the third Sennenshi, Ex Machina. She is the representative master shooter of the {{furigana|floating continent|Orbie Clar}} and the user of the ‘''Magic Bullet''‘.''“