Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 60: Lost in Translation

"Oh, don’t worry about it. It was just gathering dust in the treasury, almost forgotten," Theo replied casually.

"Still, what if I break it... or lose it?" Damien pressed, anxiety creeping in. There was no way he could ever afford to replace something like this.

"Ah, you have a point. Well then, let’s just make it official. Sebas, go ahead and file the paperwork today," Theo said, as if it were no big deal.

"What are you saying, Theo!?" Damien panicked.

"As you wish," Sebas replied without hesitation.

"Wait, no, you can’t just agree to this, Sebas!"

"You can’t give this to me! It’s way too valuable!" Damien protested, feeling like his opinions were being completely ignored as things spiraled out of his control. There was no way he could accept such an obvious treasure.

"Sir Damien," Sebas addressed Damien in his usual calm tone, his expression unchanged. "This is how things are done."

"That’s not going to work on me this time!" Damien shot back. Even he couldn’t accept a treasure this valuable just because someone said "that’s how things work here."

"No matter what Theo says, I’m not accepting it!" Damien declared, determined to stand his ground. "I already feel bad enough just borrowing it..."

Theo, still resting on Damien’s lap, gently cupped Damien’s cheeks with both hands and locked eyes with him. That intense gaze made Damien feel like he was about to agree to anything, but he steeled himself, staring right back, refusing to yield.

"I would be heartbroken if I couldn’t speak with you, Damien. Please accept this as a symbol of my love," Theo said softly, with a sincerity that hit Damien hard.

"Ah, okay..." Damien answered automatically.

Well, how was he supposed to say no to that? The serious look on Theo’s face made it impossible to resist. It felt a bit unfair—using his feelings like that—but Damien couldn’t refuse now.

...

After that little tussle—well, Damien had started it—they moved on to testing the translation tool by holding various conversations. They wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings in communication.

So far, everything seemed perfect. The magic necklace allowed them to communicate as if they were speaking their native languages, with no signs of any issues. It really was impressive.

"Alright, next... The fourth emperor of the Novgoradya Empire, Fedor Stroganov Alistov Ivanchenko Novgoradya, conquered the entire continent in just five years. How did that come through for you?" Theo asked.

"Uh, I heard it as... ’The fourth emperor of the Novgoradya Empire, Fedor Stroganov Alistov Ivanchenko Novgoradya, conquered the entire continent in just five years,’" Damien repeated.

Damien repeated Theo’s words back to him while Theo remained perched in his lap, reading from the documents. It might have seemed a bit silly, but this was the process for identifying any translation errors.

He was told to flag any terms he didn’t understand, and so far, they had discovered that proper nouns and unique terms from each world couldn’t always be perfectly translated. However, aside from those, the magic necklace was able to seamlessly translate most other concepts between worlds.

This necklace really was incredible.

"Alright, one more: Emperor Semyon Shulgin Nelyubov Konchalovsky, also known as the ’Salt Emperor,’ caused widespread rebellion by monopolizing the sale of salt. Please repeat," Theo said.

Ah, so that’s why he was called the Salt Emperor, Damien thought. This world really had its own fascinating history.

"Emperor Semyon Shulgin Nelyubov Konchalovsky caused rebellions in various regions by monopolizing salt, right?"

"Thank you. About that earlier point, by the way: Fedor, from Emperor Fedor Novgoradya, was named as such because he was the fourth child, Fedor means ’Four.’ Similarly, the Semyon Emperor’s name, Semyon means ’Salt’. In both cases, though, numbers and objects are still clearly distinguished as personal names," Theo explained.

That made sense. Damien hadn’t heard it as something like ’Four-whatever’ or ’Salt-whatever’; it had sounded like real names. The necklace was really doing an impressive job with the details.

"Hmm... this makes me even more curious about how this translation magic works," Theo mused, eyeing the necklace with growing fascination.

"Want me to return it?" Damien offered, taking advantage of Theo’s curiosity to push the necklace back on him.

"No, just lend it to me sometime," Theo replied, his eyes still fixed on the necklace.

"N-No way! If it’s mine, I’m not lending it!" Damien shot back.

"Then I don’t need it," Theo replied, backing down surprisingly easily.

Ugh...

"Fine, if you really need it, just ask," Damien said, a bit defeated.

"Thanks," Theo responded with a bright smile.

Damien sighed. It didn’t seem like he’d ever win these exchanges with Theo.

"Now that we’ve confirmed the translation tool works perfectly, let’s start the real interview," Theo announced, still lying in Damien’s lap, though his expression turned serious.

It was hard to take him seriously in this position, but at least it meant Damien didn’t have to feel too tense.

...

A few hours had passed since the detailed interview had begun. The questions ranged from vast topics like the universe, to smaller ones, like personal details—though only in a general sense, like averages or common knowledge. They hadn’t ventured into anything too private, probably because it was going to be used in official reports.

Damien had relied heavily on the textbooks he’d brought from Earth, answering as best he could. But due to his limited knowledge, there were plenty of things that had to be postponed for a more detailed discussion later. Theo had borrowed those textbooks to use as reference materials.

At first, Damien had offered to give them to Theo, but he wouldn’t accept them. So, now, Theo sat next to Damien, flipping through the pages with the translation necklace on.

"Hmm... this still doesn’t make much sense," Theo said, frowning as he flipped through the textbooks, before finally closing one with a sigh.

Theo handed Damien the necklace along with the textbooks, and Damien put it back on.

"I guess even you can’t read it, huh, Theo?" Damien mused. "I couldn’t read any of these books either."