I was well aware that there was no use in trying to get him to stop, so I decided to continue without pointing out his speech pattern.
“You were telling us to come into the shade earlier. Is it bad to be in the sun?”
“It’s the word of the great god. If we don’t stay in the shade, something terrible will happen to all of us, meow.”
Oh, so it’s just your religion. That’s pretty different from banning any contact with sunlight. Still, I wasn’t quite satisfied with why they were gathered in the shade provided by the rocky mountain. It’s only shaded for now, right?
“What would you do if the sun rose to right above this spot? You don’t seem to have any structures with roofs.”
“It’s always evening here, meow.”
“No, you’re wrong,” the hero chimed in. “It’s morning. The sun is about to rise.”
“There you go again, King... The sun will eventually set, meow. You need to give up already, meow.”
It’s always evening? But the hero says it’s early morning? Oh, I get it now! This kingdom must be experiencing midnight suns. That happens on Earth too—regions close to the north pole spend summers where the sun never fully sets. The sun just revolves around the horizon. That means if you spend twenty-four hours walking around the mountain, you’ll always be in the sunlight. This must be religious activity limited to the summer—it all makes sense now. Their king must be a nonbeliever.
The midnight sun would also explain why they were arguing whether it was morning or evening. I was starting to understand the mysterious settlement a little more, and I was starting to feel comfortable.
Sorry for being so harsh towards you, Mr. Cat Ears. After giving your cat ears and speech quirk another thought... No, never mind. I still don’t like it. Though those cat ears really do look real. The fine, silky hairs look exactly like a cat’s—it’s like they could move at any mome—
“They moved!” I yelped.
“Meow?!”
I’d suddenly raised my voice, which made the cat-eared man’s cat ears flatten on his head, like a cat that was scared. They’re real ears! Have beastkin existed in this world this whole time?! Stop adding things that suddenly change the world-building this late in the game.
“Are those ears real?” I asked.
“They’re attached to my head, meow. I’m sure it’s an un-fur-miliar sight to someone new, meow.”
“Can I touch them...?”
“B-Be gentle, meow.”
What is this feeling? Both “Yay! I’m so happy!” and “I’m gonna punch you!” are feelings that exist within me without any contradiction. What should I do? I guess he said it’s okay, so I guess I’ll touch them.
I reached my left hand out to the man’s cat ears. I poked them with my pointer finger, and they were cool to the touch. This. This is what a cat’s ear should be like! They’re real. The way he twitched when I touched his ear made me fully cringe because of the middle-aged part of his catboy-ness, but his cat ears still felt relaxing to touch.
“They’re actually real.”
“I was overworked for a long time, meow. That’s why when I came to this kingdom, I wanted to live a laid-back life, just like a cat, meow.”
“I see... How did these ears sprout on your head?”
“I was overworked for a long time, meow. That’s why when I came to this king—”
“I got it already, thanks.”
If he became a cat because he wanted to, I should’ve turned into a Tyrannosaurus by now.
We would’ve had a proper conversation if he didn’t have that speech quirk, and he was starting to not make sense, so I looked away from the cat ears and looked down. My left heel was right on the border of the sunlight and shade, which hadn’t moved since I’d entered the settlement.
“Huh?” That’s strange. I’ve looked at a sundial in the past, but they actually move pretty quickly.
Though the man and I had talked for a short period, it normally only took a few minutes for shadows to move a noticeable amount. Though it’s not that the shadows aren’t moving. It’s actually the sun’s position that...
“No way.” I quickly rushed out of the shade and ran somewhere the sun was visible. The cat-eared man was telling me to come back, but I ignored him and went to check the sun.
To my disbelief, the sun wasn’t visible. It hadn’t risen or set. The same amount of light was peeking over the horizon as when I’d first woken up.
If it’s a midnight sun, then it should move parallel to the horizon... And shadows should still move because of that.
Paying no mind to the middle-aged catboy shouting at him from the shade, the hero slowly walked up to me.
“What concerns you?” he asked in a gentle voice as he stood beside me.
“The sun. The sun hasn’t moved at all.”
“That’s right. This is the Kingdom of Twilight. The sun is always about to rise. It’s not day nor is it night. It’s a half-baked kingdom.”
If this kingdom is on a planet, that would be impossible unless... With the unbelievable facts laid out before me, I pinched my left cheek.
“It doesn’t hurt. Is this...a dreamland?”
“No, I think it doesn’t hurt because your sense of pain has dulled.”
Womp, womp. It seems that this isn’t a dreamland. He’s right, though—I might have to try to tear off my cheek before I feel any pain.