Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita:Volume 1 Chapter 1

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Chapter 1 - Planet of the Fairies

This was terribly bumpy.

Paved decades ago, perhaps even centuries ago, the asphalt road was presently an abandoned highway without the slightest trace of humanity in sight. Weeds had sprung up on both sides, and roots had grown around it like veins, slowly transforming this place into primeval wilderness.

The flatbed truck tread indifferently over this road that could hardly be called a road.

Seated atop it, I could only describe my feelings with exceedingly miserable vocabulary.

Every time the car rose up above an obstacle, abrupt shocks would vibrate up through the platform… thereupon shaking me and the boxes I was packed alongside with.

I blamed myself for thinking that traveling in the bed of a truck would be a graceful experience. It was far too stupid of me.

I was so fortunate as to be traveling on a road surrounded with flowers bursting in full bloom, yet I was no particular mood to admire it thanks to the excessive pain in my buttocks,.

This depressing atmosphere in itself reminded me of the song, “Donna, Donna.”

“If only I had just sat down in the passenger’s seat… never mind.”

I mumbled to myself, but quickly rejected that train of thought. If I had sat down there, I would have been expected to singlehandedly strike up conversation with the caravan leader in the driver’s seat. As someone who was endowed with a brain that froze with total blanks and was otherwise terrible with strangers, that span of time probably would have shaved my nerves dangerously thin.

My brain or my butt. Obviously I’d rather that the latter become thin.

Be as that may, I seriously couldn’t bear this any further, so I turned towards the driver to ask a question.

First I took a deep breath.

“...Excuse me, how mush lunger will it be?”

I messed up my pronunciation, but it didn’t seem like he noticed, so I didn’t correct myself. Ugh, I was really bad at talking to strangers.

“Three, maybe four hours. That is, if the sun doesn’t get covered up.”

The caravan leader must have been a statue with how little he moved his head as he responded.

After I giving my brief thanks, my attention fixated itself on this crude solar cell unit that was spread open like an umbrella above the canopy.

This flatbed truck simultaneously used fuel cells and solar energy as its power source, so I figured it must have been a gasoline-electric “hybrid car.” The fact that it was still operational was rather miraculous—although, the car itself probably used only one of those energy sources most of the time.

As we traveled, I started to feel restless.

Since that guy let me ride along for free, I really wasn’t in a position to complain.

But since this truck was pulling an enormous load, it slowly lumbered forward at the thrilling speed of eight kilometers per hour.

“Four more hours of this...”

Around then, the driver began to hum from his seat.

With the warm sunlight shining down on the driver, he looked so very nice and comfortable.

I, on the hand, simply couldn’t bear the ache in my butt anymore, so I stood up. But then—

“I strongly advise against standing up, since there was once a person who did so but fell off. Incidentally, that person got swept up in the wheels and was dragged around for a very long time before he died.”

I immediately sat back down into my previous spot.

If that was the case, at the very least I needed to distract myself. I ended up looking at the cluster of wildflowers at the opposite side of the road.

A panorama of yellow rapeseed flowers occupied most of my field of view.

That was a very convenient plant that could processed into oil or pickled as an edible vegetable.

On the downside, if you approached them, there’d be a huge hoard of aphids that’d pounce on you. As a result, I had no desire to to prance into the midst of it like I might have had in the past. My maiden-like naivety had deteriorated, a little bit like what was presently happening to my tortured butt on this journeying flatbed truck.

With the ache in my buttocks gradually worsening, I dejectedly gazed at the scenery outside, just when a tiny head poked out from a bed of flowers.

“...”

Our eyes met.

For probably a second or so?

However, it quickly ducked back in, as if to escape.

“...Ah.”

This was my second time seeing them ever since I was a child.

Even though it was abrupt and lasted only a split second, I was absolutely sure I wasn’t mistaken.

From just one glance, they had this particular look that was simply unforgettable.

I smiled, forgetting how much my butt hurt.

“So they even lived in these kinds of places, too.”

It was common knowledge that they could live virtually anyplace where life was possible, but they rarely showed themselves in front of people. As a result, I personally considered this unexpected encounter to be a sign of good luck.

I needed to establish friendly relations with them.

As a member of the last graduating class of 《School》, this was my final duty.

I leaned against the edge of the platform, my cheeks feeling the gentle caress of a light breeze as I lost myself in memories of the past.

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