An Island Full of Dills

"I saw two Dills fighting over prey."

Dill: ?

"More precisely, Long-Bearded Bald Dill and Hunter Dill are fighting over Kuma."

Robin kept her eyes tightly shut and explained quietly:

"I still don't know whether Dill is a name or a title."

"Who's there?!"

"Ah!"

Robin cried out softly in pain. The two arms she had created were pierced, and the pain forced the disguises on her and Dill's faces to dissolve as well.

Whoosh!

An arrow whistled through the air and struck the tree behind the three of them.

The force sent it straight through the trunk.

A trace of wariness flashed in Dill's eyes. This wasn't something an ordinary person could do.

He stepped forward and raised both hands, shielding Robin and Hina behind him. Looking straight ahead, he called out:

"We're shipwreck survivors! We just came from the beach. We're only here to find something to eat!"

Not only did the other person know the terrain, he also had a bow and arrows;

running wasn't an option. Dill could only hope the man wouldn't shoot him;

his hypnosis only worked when their eyes met.

"If you don't believe me, I can take you to the beach. Our ship is still stranded there!"

Rustle...

A tall man in gray cloth clothes approached, his face full of wariness. The longbow in his hands was drawn and ready to pierce his prey at any moment.

"So it's just three little brats."

Once he got a clear look at the three of them, the tall man let out a long breath and gave an ugly smile:

"Sorry, sorry. We rarely get outsiders here. Didn't scare you, did I?"

His raised lips squeezed the cross-shaped scar on his left cheek, making it writhe like an ugly centipede.

Hina couldn't help taking half a step back, hiding behind Dill.

Until recently, she had been a wealthy young lady. She had never seen anyone who looked this frightening.

The tall man noticed her little movement but said nothing about it. He turned and shouted toward where he had come from:

"Long-Bearded Bald Dill, you're lucky today! You can have Kuma, but you've got to leave the fawn."

Knowing he was in the wrong, the other man left the fawn he had hunted earlier and dragged the black bear away.

Before long, a campfire was burning, and the four of them sat around it.

As the tall man prepared the venison, he asked where the three of them had come from.

After learning that a black sea cow had appeared and wrecked their ship, he said in realization:

"So that monster went over to you! No wonder Fishing Dill never found it."

"Wait, that sea cow came from here?"

Dill hurriedly waved his hands and interrupted him. There were far too many strange things about that statement.

"And who is this Fishing Dill?"

"Three days ago, a patch of rainbow-colored fog suddenly appeared in the nearby waters. That monster came out of the fog."

The tall man placed a deer leg over the fire and explained:

"As for Fishing Dill, he's Fishing Dill, of course;

I'm the strongest hunter on the island, so I'm Hunter Dill. Naturally, Fishing Dill is the best fisherman on the island."

"W-wait a second;"

Dill opened his mouth as a possibility occurred to him,

"Don't tell me everyone on this island is called Dill?"

"Of course!"

The hunter nodded and said as though it were only natural:

"There's also Soldier Dill, Weaving Dill, Farmer Dill, Brewing Dill..."

The real Dill slowly went blank. For the first time, he felt his name was as common as Zhang Wei.

As the hunter explained, he worked out the naming rules here.

The island was full of Dills.

But they were divided into ranks, too.

The first rank added a profession.

Hunter Dill and Fishing Dill, for example, were the strongest among the hunters and fishermen respectively.

The second rank used a feature plus a profession.

For example, Scarred Hunter Dill and Big-Armed Fishing Dill.

The third rank used a feature plus a feature plus a profession.

The full name of Long-Bearded Bald Dill, who had been driven off earlier, should have been Long-Bearded Bald Hunter Dill.

Since that was simply too long, people generally addressed them using just their two features.

The fourth rank, the lowest among adults, used a number plus a profession.

For example, Hunter Dill No. 386.

The fifth rank was for the elderly and children, using a number plus Little or Old.

Little Dill No. 784, Old Dill No. 547, and so on.

"Right, I haven't asked your names yet!"

The hunter rubbed his hands together, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Surrounded by all sorts of Dills, he was very curious about, and yearned for, the names of people from other seas.

"My name is Dill."

The hunter's pupils contracted slightly. His right hand closed around his longbow, and he said in a low voice:

"Kid, only His Majesty the King can call himself Dill without a profession, a number, or a feature;

anyone else who calls themselves Dill will be severely punished."

Dill stared into his eyes and said firmly:

"But my name really is Dill."

"Do you believe me?"

Whoosh!

An arrow shot over his head like a thunderbolt and vanished into the forest.

The hunter's threatening voice followed:

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. But if you call yourself Dill again, the next arrow will hit your head."

His expression was stern, and another arrow was already nocked.

"Sorry, sorry. Just call me Dean, mister."

Only upon hearing that answer did the hunter lower his bow and laugh:

"Wahahaha! That's more like it."

"What a fine name. Does it have any special meaning?"

"Well, that story starts five hundred years ago..."

Dill casually made up a story to fob the hunter off, a trace of puzzlement crossing his mind.

He hadn't insisted on calling himself Dill out of stubbornness. He had wanted to use the opportunity to check the progress of his hypnosis.

He had activated his hypnosis as soon as they met, and about thirty minutes had passed since then.

Yet the hunter still showed no signs of being hypnotized.

Back then, it had only taken twenty minutes to hypnotize a kid into diligently studying for six years.

I'll find someone else to try it on later and see whether the problem is with this island or this man.

Having made up his mind, he simply stopped the hypnosis and focused on chatting with the hunter.

Hina watched from the side, dumbfounded. She hadn't even known her father's name had so much meaning behind it.

Robin lowered the hands she had crossed over her chest.

If the hunter had tried to attack again, she would have immediately used her ability to gouge out his eyes.

With their tacit understanding, Dill would also have immediately delivered a lethal nut shot with an electrified fist.

Fortunately, things hadn't reached that point, and Dill and the hunter were having quite a pleasant conversation.

"Um, Miss Robin, do you know the names of Dill's parents?"

"Hina is curious."

Robin turned and found that Hina had sat down beside her at some point and was looking at her eagerly.

"Dill's parents..."

She rested her chin in her hands, pretended to think back for a moment, then shook her head:

"I don't know."

Without Dill's permission, she wouldn't answer questions involving his privacy.

"All right. Hina is disappointed."

Hina sighed.

Dill had unintentionally used her father's name, and she had been planning to use his mother's name.

Before Hina could decide what false name to use later, Dill had already made the decision for her.

"Those two over there are my little sisters;"

"The black-haired one is Jolyne, and the pink-haired one is Lise."