The Story of Gothic Lady Who Met a Grave Keeper in Another World - Chapter 15

I realized something amazing.
It’s not that Mr Thorden is a shy guy, it’s just that in this world, men and women don’t seem to have much contact with each other in general.
I thought it was a European world and that hugs and kisses were just greetings, but Mr Sciuto told me that hugs are something entirely else between a man and a woman.

I was so surprised that he didn’t ask me what kind of relationship I had with Thorden.

I couldn’t even say anything to him.
He looked at me as if I was a piece of trash, and then he asked me if I was a harlot. I was sure that my self-esteem would dig its own grave and I would never come out on the ground again.

I’ll never come out of my grave. It’s just like in Japan. Just like Japan. It’s the same as in Japan. It’s about grown-up men and women, yes. You have to treat people with moderation and civility.

And that moderation and civility, as well as being close to others, is something Thorden does not understand, Sciuto said.
He’s been here as a gravedigger since he was a child.
He said he is a being who is forced to live at a distance from others.

So when I approach him, it’s extreme, and when I leave him, it’s also extreme.
When he bends over like a slave and acts as if he were an animal or a tool, he can make contact with others with seeming impunity, but when he is treated as a human being, he cannot approach them.

As she may have guessed, he doesn’t know what a woman is. He doesn’t even know what it is to “hold a woman. He knows the word, but he can’t think of it as a real thing.

I remembered Mr Sciuto’s words.
I thought that he talked about sex very openly, but I did not feel assaulted by it.
The emotions in his eyes were fatigue, pity, and resignation.
I didn’t know whether those feelings were directed at Mr Thorden, me, or at us both, but anyway, he just reminded me, ‘Don’t make me feel this.’

Thorden doesn’t know how to handle a woman of his size. If he puts a little pressure on you, he’ll break your skinny wrist. You scream in pain, but he can’t understand why you’re screaming.

Huh, that’s tough, I thought.
I felt as if it was someone else’s problem.
Because it’s someone else’s business.

“Because, you know, …… I’m the one who ran away when he saw me naked.”
How can I be wary of him?
I’ve done a full course of what Mr Sciuto calls “making him feel like it” up to this point.
And nothing happened.
What’s the point now?

”Hmm, it’s done.”

I held up the repaired dress to the afternoon sun streaming in through the window and checked the workmanship.
For the time being, I had managed to fix the torn part.
I only had a needle and thread, so all I could do was wet and fix the holes. ……

”I wish I could sew something more……Scuito, if you brought your sewing tools, you should have brought some fabric too…… I also need paper and pens to make patterns…… and a flexible ruler……I wonder if there are sewing machines in this world……”

The road ahead.
Oh, I see. If I ask for these ‘things I want to use for sewing,’ I may be able to contribute to the development of this world.
I immediately wrote down what I wanted.
I’ll attach this to my note, too.

”If I don’t work, there is nothing to do during the day. I want to sew something. I don’t have a pattern, so I’m going to have to go to …… and see if I can take apart the clothes I have and use them as a pattern. I have some old clothes somewhere ……”

”Oh,” I exclaimed.
This is a graveyard.
And the corpses are wearing clothes.
That means…

There are a lot of old clothes, aren’t there?
”I mean–no, no, no, no, no, no! That’s grave robbing! And in this world, dead people move, so you can’t take off their clothes!”

I shouted and stood up.
It’s dangerous.
The corpse had become so familiar to me that I almost ripped off the clothes from the corpse as if I were borrowing a friend’s old clothes.

”What? A friend! Come to think of it, there was one, close to me! A living person! There’s a bit of a communication problem, though!”

I remembered Mr Thorden’s clothes.
Yes – they were all torn.
The pants, the shirt, everything, everything was torn somehow, everywhere.

That is it.
Let’s make that my day job.
It would be good practice for when Mr Sciuto gets me a job.

I ran out of my house (I don’t know if I can call it that) and knocked on Mr Thorden’s old rag house.
No answer.

No answer! Sorry to bother you!

I decided to enter without permission.
I had been sleeping here until this morning.
It’s strange to suddenly say, ‘I’m not going to silently step into a stranger’s house’ just because Mr Sciuto warned me to be careful about my distance.

Mr Thorden, who was beaten to a pulp this morning with a nosebleed, is not ill because, according to Mr Sciuto, he ‘just let his stupidity get the better of him.’
He is a night person and usually sleeps during the day.

As I stepped into the house, I first stopped to look at the robe that was pulled over the back of the chair.
Oh, well, well, well.
It was the robe I had worn when I first met Mr Thorden.
I picked it up and found it was in tatters, with holes here and there.
The cloth is thin and frayed, a rag in the shape of a robe.

I put the robe back on the back of the chair.
I’ll start on this when I have a lot more cloth on hand.
The easy part, after all, would be the shirt.
I knocked on Mr Thorden’s room.
No answer.

I thought to myself, ‘It’s probably not a good idea to go in there.’

It was a private room. It goes without saying that it is an invasion of privacy to break in there.

Oh, jeez! Oh, yes, and if it’s not clothes, there are curtains and all sorts of things that can be mended, you know.

I ran upstairs.
The curtains in the room that had been given to me in my old private room – as I recall, were in pretty bad shape, too.
I ran into the room.
Anyway, I need a piece of cloth that I can fiddle with, whatever it is.

I said, “I’m going back there.”

“Hmm?”

Mr Thorden was sleeping in the bed where I had been sleeping until this morning.
He was breathing softly in his sleep.
Come to think of it, Mr Thorden was in this room when I came to pick up my luggage.

Is that ……?
Maybe this was originally Mr Thorden’s room?
And he had vacated it to me?

I quietly and silently left the room.
I went down the stairs and quietly stepped into the room where Mr Thoden had shut himself in last night.

It was daytime, but the room was dark.
I groped my way in, opened the curtains, and light streamed into the room.

”…… Wow!”

I shouted.

”The storeroom …….”

Stacks of crates, carpentry tools, and horse saddles.
It was so dusty I started coughing.
A flimsy piece of cloth lays on the floor where Mr Thorden would have slept.

”What self-sacrifice…”

Somehow, I sat down on the piece of cloth on which Mr Thorden had slept.
There was no pillow.
No pillow, no cover.
What is this, abuse?

A change of clothes…a change of clothes?

The people in this world may not change their clothes that often.
One outfit for daily life. One fashionable outfit. When they can no longer wear it, they get a new one. Maybe that’s about it.

”It’s a waste …… of good material.”

A well-trained body, long arms and legs, and a tall stature – all of these things make a person look great no matter what clothes they wear.
The reason models are tall is that taller people can see more of the clothes they are wearing.
In other words, the model is an advertising panel, and the bigger the better.
If Ms Thorden were to wear fashionable clothes, they would look great.

”……?”

Suddenly, I thought I saw a scrap of cloth on top of a stack of containers, and I stood up.
I used a rickety stool lying around as a foothold and peeked into the crates.

”Ah, …… children’s clothing!”

I exclaimed with glee as I picked up a small-sized piece of clothing.
I thought to myself, ‘Well, Mr Thorden has lived here since he was a child, so he must have some of the clothes he used to wear.’
It may be difficult to make adult clothes out of children’s clothes, but it should be possible to use them as repair cloth. Above all, if I take it apart, it will be used as a pattern.
”I wondered if I could have it. I’ll ask Mr Thorden about it at night…”

I am such an idiot.

“Huh?”

I heard a sound under my feet.
One of the legs of the battered and rickety stool was shattered and broken by my weight.
Thinking it was dangerous, I quickly grabbed a pile of crates.
The crate rattled and fell.
It fell on top of me.

“Aaaghhhhhhh!”

I screamed and fell to the floor with the crates.
A terrible noise echoed through the shabby house, and Mr Thorden came rushing down from the upper floor with a tremendous force.
Oh hi, it is me again! The Annoyance is back again!
It had been a long time since I had been able to sleep in my bed, but now I was disturbing Mr Thorden’s peaceful sleep!

”Eri!”

Mr Thorden finds me under a container.
Fortunately, none of the contents were very heavy – well, the container itself was heavy – and I was not seriously injured.
I had been suffering from twisted legs and zombie bites ever since I arrived here, and the damage now was nothing compared to that.

”I was looking for a piece of cloth! I’m, um, I’m looking for a piece of fabric. ……”

Even though I knew he couldn’t understand me, I couldn’t help making excuses.
Mr Thorden didn’t answer me, but in a panic, he moved the crate and pulled me out from under the rubble.
He really has amazing power, doesn’t he?

“Eri, –? Eri, –? —?”

‘Are you all right?’ ‘Are you hurt?’ I can imagine most of the words coming out of Mr Thorden’s mouth, such as ‘How did this happen?’
He might even be cursing him profanely. ‘You lazy girl!’ And so on.
But let’s ignore that possibility.

Because, you know, it’s not like he’s going to say anything.

“……”

Because I was hugged.
After confirming that I was safe, Thorden-san hugged my body with frightening strength.

His body is trembling.
The voice whispering in my ear is also trembling.
When I try to move away from him, his body trembles and he hugs me tighter.
To be honest, it’s painful.
I mean, what’s wrong with this? Until this morning, I had been told not to come near or touch him, so what kind of change of heart is this?
”…Thorden?”

I called out, and Mr Thorden huffed and tried to push my body away.
No, it’s too late, no matter what you think. I held him for a good minute.
He looked at me, compared my hands to his, and shook his head in pain.
Then he stood up and pulled something out of the crumpled container.

It was a small hatchet.
He tossed it on the floor, then a rusty knife, then a broken sword, and so on, one after another.
Pointing at it, he said something to me.

” –. —-? ——!”
He probably said, “Eh, ah …… yes. Let’s see, …… is dangerous, isn’t it? I had no idea that there were so many dangerous things in the container.”
Yes!
Yes! I’m sorry! I’m sorry.
You’re…?
Yes?
”—–. ——?”

I nodded my head at Mr Thorden’s question.
I can’t help it. I couldn’t understand him.
I could tell that he was angry with me, but as soon as he moved from that to a question, I was at a loss.
When I was at my wits’ end, Mr Thorden picked me up and forcibly took me out of the warehouse.
He took me directly to the new house, which he had just built, and placed me carefully on the sofa.

Oh, um, ……
“Yiela.”

Oh, it’s a word of prohibition! It’s a negative word! Probably means don’t move! I know this much!
I tried to stand up, but Mr Thorden restrained me, so I remained seated meekly.
Then Mr Thorden brought a piece of paper and a pen and held them out to me.

He said, ” Uh?”
”Rudy.”

He makes a gesture to move the pen.
Haha, he wants me to write. But what?
As I continue to nod my head, Mr Thorden draws a picture of a cup on a piece of paper.
He gets up and brings a cup from nowhere.

”Oh, ah,” he said, ‘if you want something, you can have it at the warehouse! If there’s something you want, you’re supposed to draw it and tell me about it, not raid the warehouse without my permission! That’s what you want!’, he probably says.

Hahaha! I’m really sorry for everything!
But I have decided to take you at your word.
I’m Eri Himeno.
Actually, I’m good at drawing message games!

”Let’s see, let’s see… …… First of all, it’s the cloth, right?”

I drew a picture of a rolled cloth.

”I’d like to get an embroidery set,…… well, I wonder if there are any over here, like this one.”

I drew a picture of a rolled cloth.
The colourful embroidery thread.
Cutting scissors.
Do irons exist?
A Chaco pen would be nice.
And then–

“… Eri.”
Yes?
”Yes?”

He asked me a question.
But I couldn’t understand.
Mr Thorden huffed and took the pen out of my hand.

A drawing of a girl – probably me. It is not very good.
A picture of an embroidery tool – I guessed.
A girl who is pleased with the whole thing.

Ah-ha. Yes, that’s right. I love sewing.
“Like?”

I raised my hands to express my joy.
Mr Thorden laughed.

What? Did Mr Thorden just laugh?
Huh?
Oh, I’m sorry, you startled me!

I was surprised.
It was only when I saw Mr Thorden’s smiling face that I realized that he had never smiled at me before.

Smile, smile, smile! Smile more!

I lifted the bridge of my lips with both hands.
But Mr Thorden was only puzzled.
I quickly took the pen back from Mr Thorden.

Oh no, no, no.
I had to make it clear that I was not trying to get him to take such a large amount of goods out of his pocket.

I drew a picture of Mr Sciuto.
–I think I have captured the characteristics rather well, but I should add “Sciuto” just in case.
Mr. Scuite brings the cloth and I do the work and he gets paid.
And then I give the money to Mr Thorden.

” Right?”
I chuckled.
But Mr Thorden looked terribly wronged.
Huh? What is it? A bad mood? Suddenly?

Mr Thorden took the pen out of my hand and made some changes to my drawing.
He erased the process of giving money to Mr Thorden from my mind.
Then he stood up.

She said, “Huh? Huh? No, but I can’t take this and that for free! I’m older than you!”
“Eri, bierra.”

He held me down like a “Doggy, stay”.
He took a piece of paper in his hand on which I had drawn what I wanted and left my house.
And I was alone again.