Shylock | To My Peculiar Friend

[healingbonds]

MahoYaku Masterpost & Translator's Notes

CHAPTER 1

Akira: I need to return this glass I borrowed from Shylock. I guess he should be at the bar right now?

✦✧☾✧✦

Akira: The bar atmosphere makes me nervous... Good evening, Shylock.

Shylock: Good evening, Sir Sage.

Akira: I came to return this glass. Huh? Faust, you’re here too.

Faust: I’m about to leave. ...See you.

Shylock: Yes. Do drop by again anytime.

(Footsteps)

Akira: I didn’t realize Faust came here to drink.

Shylock: He likes to visit when there aren’t many people around. Nero and Oz also like to come by on their own.

Akira: Do they stay silent the entire time?

Shylock: No, they enjoy some conversation. Though Faust and Nero often ask for advice.


Option: What sort of things do you talk about?

Shylock smiles gently.

Shylock: Though they are comrades as fellow Sage’s wizards, they’re also guests of mine. I can’t reveal conversations I’ve had with my guests to others.

Akira: Ah... Of course. Sorry about that.

Shylock: Don’t worry about it. But you should feel free to speak to me as well, Sir Sage.
Be it about clever schemes, love stories, or past failures.


Option: Who else comes to visit?

Shylock: Everyone drops by quite often, including Bradley and Owen. Cain likes to visit too.
Sir Snow and Sir White... Rutile and Lennox have come by too.
And Chloe brought the younger wizards over the other day, like a tour.
Shino and Heathcliff were both nervous and adorable.


Akira: Now that you mention it, people ask you for advice often, don’t they, Shylock?
I heard from Cain and Chloe that they come to you all the time. I’m surprised the same goes for Faust and the others, but....
I feel like I can understand why.


CHAPTER 2

Akira: I feel like I can understand why.

Shylock: Is that so?

Shylock smiles.
His seductive, calm eyes are like sand by the waves on a moonlit beach: they tickle your heart in a perfectly gentle and refined manner.
Harsh and vivid things can exhaust your heart the more powerful they are, but.....
While Shylock has a vibrant charm, he also makes you feel like he will gently draw near you, so you can share your special secrets with him.

Shylock: You came to return the glass, right? Would you like a drink while you’re here?

I like his unassertive, tender voice and manner of speech too. I laugh and take a seat.

Akira: Do you have non-alcoholic drinks as well?

Shylock: I will make you one.

He’s the master of a bar, so naturally he likes wine. But he listens to my request without making a face; I like that about him as well.
The more gentle, polite, and refined he is, the more I feel I need to be gentle, polite, and refined in return; it makes me straighten my back.
That must be what the residents of the magic headquarters love about him as well.

Shylock: Here you go.

Akira: Wow, what a pretty color. The scent of fruit reminds me of a starry sky in a Southern island. What’s the name of this cocktail?

Shylock: I came up with it just now, so it doesn’t have a name—but if I were to name it, I suppose it would be called "A drink to persuade my guest to stay even though he only came to return a glass."

Akira: It’s delicious! It makes me want to visit again to enjoy "A drink to persuade my guest to stay even though he only came to return a glass."

We joke and laugh.


CHAPTER 3

Shylock: Have you gotten used to living in this world?

Akira: Yes, thanks to everyone’s help, things have started calming down. I’m currently taking notes about wizards in the Sage’s manual. I’m also taking notes on all of you.

Shylock: That sounds interesting.

Akira: Even if I have to go back to my world all of a sudden, if I leave notes in the Sage’s manual, I figured it would be useful to both the new sage and everyone here.
Would you mind telling me about yourself, Shylock?

Shylock: I don’t mind. Though I can’t assure you that all my stories are well-mannered enough to write down in the Sage’s manual.

Akira: I’d love to hear them!

Shylock: Well then, once you’re done with your drink, I’ll close shop for tonight, Sir Sage.
Let us talk together in my room — just the two of us.

Shylock narrows his beautiful eyes and smiles, as if to tease me.
I can’t help but blush every time Shylock makes this kind of face. I think he’s doing it on purpose.
The bar is silent while I finish the non-alcoholic cocktail that Shylock made.
In that time, which feels like an odd ritual, I experience a strange uplifting feeling, one tinged with excitement and anxiety.
It’s like heading down the path to a night festival—like I don’t quite know what to expect as I wander into a glamorous and worldly space.

Akira: Thank you for the drink.

Shylock: Of course. Shall we go, then?

Shylock snaps his fingers. In an instant, the bar’s lights go out, and the "Closed" sign is lowered.
I head to Shylock’s room with him.


CHAPTER 4

We meet Murr on our way to Shylock’s room.

Murr: Sir Sage! Shylock! Where are you headed?

Shylock: Sir Sage and I are going to chat in my room.

Murr: Nice! Are you going to talk about me? About the moon?

Shylock: We will probably talk about both you and the moon.

Murr: Can I come too?

Shylock: You may not.

Murr cuddles up to Shylock like a cat; Shylock strokes his chin and laughs.

Shylock: I am going to spend the night with Sir Sage. You should be jealous.

Shylock starts walking again, and Murr doesn’t chase after us any further. I turn around and ask.

Akira: Are you sure? I don’t mind having Murr there too.

Shylock: Oh my. You aren’t going to tell me you want to have me all to yourself?

He jokes, and I blush yet again.

Akira: I... I would like to have you all to myself....

Shylock: Fufu. You’re an honest person.
Here we are. Do come on in.

✦✧☾✧✦

Akira: So this is your room, Shylock....


Option: It feels very mature.

Shylock: Oh, what do you mean by that?

Akira: Huh? Um... like, it’s a room where grown-ups can do adult things.....

Shylock: Adult things....

Akira: .....
L-like drinking wine!

Shylock: Ah, I see.

Shylock nods, as if satisfied, and then begins to giggle.

Shylock: Well then, I do such adult things quite often.

Akira: (Uu... He’s laughing... He’s definitely playing with me....)


Option: What a large cabinet.

Shylock: Isn’t it profound and lustrous? I think it adds to the quality of the space. The trees from Blanchett are of excellent quality.

Akira: Blanchett....

Shylock: Yes. I managed to get it for cheap thanks to Heathcliff.


Option: That’s a lovely low table.

Shylock: Thank you. The counter at the bar is high, so I wanted a low table for my room.
Ah, there’s already a scratch on it... Looks like Murr nibbled on it.

Akira: (Why was he nibbling the table....)


CHAPTER 5

Shylock: I’m going to have a bit of a drink, but how about you, Sir Sage? Are you already satiated?

Akira: Ah, I’m all right for now.

Shylock: I understand.

Shylock pours wine into his glass, sits down, and puts his pipe in his mouth.
White smoke flows from his mouth when he breathes. I smell the scent of roses, apples, and cinnamon.

Akira: I’ve always wondered about the scent — it’s not tobacco, is it? It smells good.

Shylock: I used to smoke tobacco, but a couple hundred years ago there was an anti-smoking movement, and.... I’ve changed it ever since.

Akira: (I guess anti-smoking movements happen everywhere....)

Shylock: Back when it was popular, there were other wizards who smoked pipes as well. The witch Tiretta liked pipes, you know?

Akira: Tiretta... You know the Southern brothers’ mother?

Shylock: My bar has been open for ages, after all. Sir Figaro, Sir Snow, Sir White — they’ve all come to visit. Lennox visited too, once.

Akira: Lennox did? That’s surprising.

Shylock: He must have been searching for someone. I won’t say who, though.

Shylock says, and laughs in the back of his throat.

Shylock: That certain someone is weak when it comes to matters involving Lennox. He’s a fundamentally serious man, so I suppose he feels responsible for making Lennox spend his entire life searching for him.
It makes him worth serving; it’s truly a fine thing. In my case... Ah, I should speak in order.
What would you like to hear first, Sir Sage?

Akira: Ah... Then could you give me a brief introduction?

Shylock: Shylock Bennett. I was born and raised in Western Country. I run a bar in the entertainment district of the Town of Nectar.
I’ve lived longer than you think, Sir Sage. I’m not as old as Sir Oz, but I am around the same age as Murr, and I’m older than Owen.


CHAPTER 6

Akira: Did you always run the bar?

Shylock: No. I was originally born a noble. This was back when the number of people and cities in Western Country were a tenth of what they currently are, though.
Back when there were fewer people, wizards were respected and admired, you see. Many of us were the heads of our tribes.
I was born right as the times were changing from such an era — when the human population began growing, and wizards were increasingly shunned.

Akira: Was it difficult?

Shylock: Let’s see. In the beginning, I simply watched over the Bennett household with no particular trouble.
I lived in the same, familiar region for years — even when the Bennetts fell from local nobles to local lords, after a series of losses from schemes and power struggles.
The previous Sage said... I was like a zashiki-warashi¹. Have you heard of zashiki-warashi?

Akira: I have, but I think my impression of zashiki-warashi is pretty far from my impression of you, Shylock....?

Shylock: Oh, I see?

Shylock laughs and narrows his eyes nostalgically.

Shylock: I loved the Bennett region. There was a vineyard that stretched atop the hill, and if you looked down, you could see a sparkling azure shoreline.
It was wonderfully beautiful. The area had been known for its entertainment district since back then, so it was a cheerful, lively, and bright town.
Even after the Bennett family dispersed with the times, I remained, living in a corner of the region where I started a bar.
It has been about seven hundred years since then.

Akira: Seven hundred years.... A bar that you’ve run for seven hundred years. That’s incredible.

Shylock: I heard there were carpenters and inns in your country that have been passed down for over a thousand years, Sir Sage.

Akira: Now that you mention it, I might’ve seen something about that on trivia....


1. A zashiki-warashi is a spirit tied to a house, considered to be its guardian or protector


CHAPTER 7

Shylock: I suppose that’s what it feels like to people living in this modern era. I have guests who think I am younger than them.
But eventually, all my guests became wizards.
There’s often trouble when humans and wizards frequent the same shop, so lately I’ve made the bar wizard-exclusive.
The wizards have all been left behind by the times; they have nowhere to go, so they yearn for a place that is unchanging.

I’m moved by his earnest tone. I hear wizards live long lives, but I wonder how the changing times are reflected in their eyes.

Akira: An entertainment town with a vineyard atop a hill and a beautiful beach... Shylock, your bar is in a lovely location.


Option: I’d like to visit one day.

Shylock laughs sadly.

Shylock: The scenery has changed quite drastically since then. The seashore has been reorganized for military protection with man-made wave breakers.
The sound of the waves has changed, and you can no longer hear the voices of the seabirds. It is very sad.

Akira: I see....


Option: It makes sense that it’s lasted for seven hundred years.

Shylock: Thank you. The times have changed, and with it, the scenery. My bar has been influenced by such change, but....
It must be loved by the region, because there are things that remain constant amidst all the change.

Akira: (Things that remain constant amidst the change.... That might refer to the scenery and the atmosphere of the bar, but I think it’s largely Shylock himself.)
(I think Shylock’s refined nature and welcoming aura are unchanging....)


Akira: Changing the topic....
I hear you and Murr have been friends for quite some time. Where did you meet? At your bar?

Shylock: That’s right.
I already knew who Murr was when he first visited my bar. Murr was famous, after all.
He was gentlemanly, and far too polite; to me, he seemed like a bit of a show-off.

Shylock laughs and jokingly places his index finger in front of his lips.

Shylock: This is a secret, but the master of a bar always hates guests who are show-offs. I had put up my guard underneath my smile.
I feared this fancy mister scholar was going to begin some complicated lecture in order to prove his intellect to all the other guests.


CHAPTER 8

Shylock: I feared this fancy mister scholar was going to begin some complicated lecture in order to prove his intellect to all the other guests.
But Murr was different. He was a true genius, and had no interest in attention or praise. I still remember the first words he uttered to me.
"I would like to hear your philosophy on loneliness. I won’t let you say you have none. You, who have stayed on this hill while watching the times flow by...."
"You must have some sort of fetishism around loneliness."

It was crazier than I thought.

Akira: ...So what did you do, Shylock?

Shylock: I closed shop.

Shylock closes his eyes, inhales from his pipe, and smokes away.

Shylock: In order to speak to Murr alone.

Akira: And then...?

Shylock opens his mouth, and begins to laugh, as if remembering something funny.

Shylock: We had a passionate discussion until dawn, but for some reason the conversation got derailed in a bizarre fashion, and ultimately, we parted in anger.
I told him to never come again, and he replied he would come until I asked him to visit again.
In the end, my patience ran out first. We’ve been longtime friends since then. Though it does offend me quite a bit to call him my friend.

I can sense Shylock’s affection for his peculiar friend seeping from his bitter laugh.
Shylock and Murr are both very unique. I think it’s lovely that the two of them are friends.


Option: What do you love about Murr?

Shylock: I like how he’s provocative and original, and how everything he does is unexpected.
He was an intellectual, so speaking to him felt like traveling the world.
It’s a trip where you can’t let your guard down. You don’t know when spears might come flying at you, or when fire will burst from the earth. He’s mean and he loves excitement, after all.
But he gives you a sense of anticipation and excitement — as if you’ll meet a brand new you. That’s what I loved about him.


Option: What do you hate about Murr?

Shylock: I hate many things about him. He’s arrogant. He’s cold when matters tickling his curiosity appear before him. He’s greedy, and he’s in love with something cumbersome.
But... None of that matters. Because I liked him the way he was.
What I hate most about him is... Let’s see....

Shylock laughs as if he’s given up.

The fact that he knows I love him.


CHAPTER 9

Akira: I see.... So you must’ve been in shock when Murr’s soul shattered and he became the Murr he is today.

Shylock: It was certainly unexpected, but I did believe Murr would get into real trouble one day. He was arrogant, confident, and lacking in morals, after all.
Half of me is worried he’ll never return to his previous self; the other half of me thinks, "See, serves you right."

Akira: You don’t intend to help him return to his previous self?

Shylock: I do, but the current Murr I’ve raised is quite cute, after all. If he goes back to his previous self, he’ll become that Murr again....

Shylock says uneasily. Then he shrugs and sighs.

Shylock: But I will probably still yearn for him. In the end, I want him to return to his previous self, but I plan on proceeding slowly.

Akira: You’re right. It would make me sad if I couldn’t meet the current Murr anymore.
If Murr returns to his previous self, is there no chance he’ll act all innocently, the way he does now?

Shylock: Ahaha. ...Just imagining it terrifies me.

Shylock puts on such a rare, serious expression that I flinch. He must be quite the peculiar person.
Shylock gets rid of the leaves in his pipe and tries to put it away. Before he does, I say.

Akira: That’s your magic tool, right, Shylock? Everyone’s magic tools are so unique; it’s really interesting.



Shylock: Yes. This was a surprise find. I saw it at a bazaar, and purchased it because I liked it, but I haven’t met the merchant who sold it to me since then.

Shylock smiles gently while gazing at his pipe.

Shylock: People, objects — all meetings are fate.
If I had not spotted this pipe that day, I might not be the me I am today. Each day is filled with once-in-a-lifetime meetings.

Akira: That might be true.... It’s lovely to think that the belongings and things you love are the result of fate.

Shylock: I am better at treasuring things and growing attached to them when they fall out of the sky, or come rolling towards me on the roadside on a whim.


CHAPTER 10

Shylock: Vowing to obtain a treasure that lies at the peak of a distant mountain is wonderful and all, but I’m not very good at it.

Akira: Why do you say so?

Shylock: Because I feel it will give rise to attachment and obsession. And when you grow attached and obsessed, you want to steer things your way.
I want to love things as they are. If I desire to control them — it would be too much for me. I wouldn’t be able to control my own expectations, and I wouldn’t know what to do with them.

Shylock says, and then smiles in a troubled manner.
His lowered eyebrows give a glimpse of a childish loveliness unsuited for such a mature person.

Shylock: Sometimes I ask myself if that is what I’m doing to the current Murr by taking care of him, though.
As if I’m raising Murr to be the Murr of my desires — I wonder if I’m doing something so tactless....

A slight breeze enters the room, and I catch the remaining scent of Shylock’s pipe.
I don’t know what to say. I can’t say, that’s not true. Nor can I say, isn’t that fine, even if it is true?
If an incredibly charming friend with a questionable personality suddenly became a child, how would I take care of them?
I would want to fix what was bad about them. But then wouldn’t they be a different person from who they had been originally?
Even if they did return to normal, wouldn’t they have something to say to me when that happened?
How will Shylock and Murr’s future unfold?
No matter what the future has in store for them, I want to see what happens. That’s what I think.

Shylock: It’s getting quite late... I’ll walk you back to your room soon.

Akira: Thank you very much. I’m glad I got to hear many stories from you today.

Shylock: It was a fun night for me as well, Sir Sage. Good night.