Book 7 Chapter 2
Chapter 151
The small mountain village was half-ruined. Corpses, their flesh terribly gnawed away to expose bone, lay scattered on the blood-soaked dirt floor.
“This place also fell victim to the carrion crows. The fortunate thing, if there is one, is that their bodies weren't taken.”
Miria said.
All the villages they had passed by had turned out to be ruins. An ominous energy, impossible to explain, lingered in the mountain range.
“Witch……”
As I glanced at the corpses, I also saw a woman in a blue robe and a conical hat.
The Republic's Witch Association used to station one witch in every three or four villages to spread the teachings of the dragon, but it seemed she had died in this attack.
Burying over fifty corpses alone seemed too much for Miria. If only I could use earth magic, it would be over in an instant…
As I picked up a shovel and helped her with the task, I cautiously asked about the situation.
“What I know is that a black church organization called Luzhaihuan is actively moving. It's probably been about a month.”
Luzhaihuan? If my memory served me right, it meant 'obsession' in the primitive language. Those bastards, what grand cause are they so obsessed with?
Whatever its meaning, we had no choice but to hasten our journey. Before other victims emerged.
After filling the pit with earth, when I pressed my hands together in prayer, Aki tilted her head.
“Ah-woo?”
“This is praying. It's so the souls of the dead can go to the side of the gods.”
“Prayer, prayer, prayer.”
Whether she understood the meaning, or what she prayed for, I couldn't tell, but then Aki clumsily clasped her hands together, imitating me, and squeezed her eyes shut.
- A man who knows how to pray for someone is a truly wonderful man, Rin.
Recalling Freide’s profile from 300 years ago, diligently offering prayers and shedding tears for each and every one of the dead during the turbulent period, made the tip of my nose tingle.
That night, as always, we avoided the eyes of the three-eyed crows in the goblin tunnels.
The next day, we passed through the Red-Petalled Forest (赤寵林), a highland area on the mountainside. These were the sacred trees of the Red Mountain Range, which absorbed and purified foul, negative energies, but now only desolate stumps remained.
The largest was big enough in diameter for ten adults to lie down with room to spare, and even the smallest was large enough for Aki and me to lie down with room to spare.
“No, no, no, no.”
Pipi moved around, sitting on various stumps, and yelped mournfully, enough to make my heart ache.
It was Freide who had told me the stories tied to this forest.
Had she said that when her heart felt heavy, wandering through this place with Pipi made all the knots in her mind feel like they were being burned away, leaving her refreshed?
For Pipi, this must be a place imbued with memories of days spent with Freide.
“Is this also Luzhaihuan’s doing?”
“Probably not.”
“Not?”
“Red-petalled trees have good aesthetic qualities. Their growth rings shimmer like flickering flames. They must have been used for artworks.”
“So ordinary people cut all of these down and took them? What is the Republic's Senate (元老院) doing?”
With a helpless sigh, Miria uttered such incomprehensible words.
“Senate? Where is the Senate in the Republic now?”
It was I who was more bewildered.
‘Where is the Senate?’
This statement was tantamount to saying that there was no Imperial Council of the Five Electors who governed the Holy Human Empire.
When the Red Dragon Legion governed the Republic, the dragons residing in each city would appear before the Senate as consuls to discuss major and minor affairs of state.
Originally, the Fire Dragon alone could sway the affairs of state, but it seemed the Fire Dragon wished for humanity to grasp the gods' teaching that 'all humans are equal.'
‘So the consuls brought tribunes (mostly witches) to the Senate and taught them the ways of a republic, or so I heard…’
I had understood that now that the legion had departed, priestesses and witches had taken over those duties, but had some monumental event occurred that fundamentally changed things?
I heard the answer in the village named <Soldos>, which we arrived at the next day.
It was a village that had sprung up in a crevice where the mountains parted, with a small stream running through it and thick wooden palisades, making it look more like a wooden fortress (木城) than a village.
If this had been Imperial territory, the ruler's flag would surely have fluttered, but since this was the Dragon Republic, where everyone was equal, there was no flag.
“Hey, is it okay to stop at a village like this? You said we should avoid people's eyes as much as possible.”
“Don't worry. The people here can be trusted. And I also need to replenish my equipment like daggers and arrows here.”
As the gate, made of five interlocked logs, opened, Miria surprisingly comfortably took off her helmet and lightly shook her head.
Strangely, while the residents greeted Miria familiarly by name, the men (especially the young ones) holding crossbows glared at me watchfully.
“Who's this guy?”
“Miria brought him?”
“He's an Imperial scoundrel! How dare a gigolo with a kid try to make a move. If you're going to make a move, stand in line properly.”
“What line?”
Miria glared at him with eyes full of contempt, and he immediately laughed foolishly and backed away.
By the stream, women and children could be heard laughing as they caught freshwater fish, and beneath the palisade, old women were carving wood to make crossbow bolts.
The person who greeted us on behalf of the village was a witch who looked like a pure white pudding. Beneath her blue conical hat was a middle-aged woman of short stature and plump build.
“Well, well, who do we have here? It's Miria, the beautiful swordswoman who bathes in goblin blood to maintain her everlasting beauty.”
The woman fussed, wiping sweat from her face with a long sleeve, and had a kindly smile.
“Bathing in their blood only makes you smell. And instead of blood, I use bile or gastric fluid.”
Ignoring Miria’s reply, given with a sigh, the Pudding Witch turned to me.
“So, what kind of prince is this that Miria rescued from the goblin den? I'm Yukien, and the moniker given to me by my master, who passed away from high blood pressure 30 years ago while defecating, is Cheongseong (淸省 - Clarity\/Reflection). If I had received it a little later, I would have become the Witch of Belly Fat, hohoho.”
I knew it instantly.
This person is interesting.
“I’m Rain. This is my late-born younger sister, Aki, and this is Pipi, my companion bird.”
“Pipi? Oh my, how incredible. I wonder if you know that every witch’s dream is to raise a sun parrot and name it Pipi.”
Freide, the priestess of the Fire Dragon, was still revered with near-awe by many witches, even 300 years later.
Pipi seemed to like Yukien too, perching on her shoulder and tilting its beak, but when Yukien, who had been chuckling heartily, suddenly burped, it swiftly flew away.
“Oh, dear. Please forgive my burp, Lady Pipi. As one gets older, one becomes unable to control things like farts and burps.”
“Pipi will forgive you. Although it's a fake, so it's more narrow-minded than the genuine Pipi raised by Lady Freide.”
“What? What? What? What?”
No sooner had I teased Pipi than its beak swiftly struck my crown in retribution.
“That's fortunate. Oh, look at me. You seem tired from traversing the intense heat of the Red Mountain Range in midsummer. How about we have a meal together after you bathe? We have some quite plump geese ready, though not as plump as me.”
It was truly astonishing that such a village existed amidst such a grim and deteriorating era.
The positive energy flowing through the village felt as if it all originated from this witch, and the kind personality hidden beneath her playful demeanor more than reminded me of Freide.
Given that it had perched on her shoulder despite their first meeting, Pipi must have felt the same way.
“Hey.”
While I was conversing with Yukien, Miria, who had unfastened her sword belt and removed her armor and gauntlets, and was now idly kneading Aki's cheek (I don't know when she went over there), suddenly froze.
When Aki said "Aw," Miria, who had been quietly smiling, looked not like the cold-blooded swordswoman who massacred goblins, but like a girl full of laughter and mischief.
That smile vanished, and she looked back at me with an expression mixed with regret and irritation. She must have thought I was going to ask for Aki back.
“Wash with Aki first.”
“What?”
“Bathing that one is no joke, so be prepared. Don't let her eat the soap. I have something to discuss with the Lady Witch.”
Surprised by my words, Miria wore a bewildered expression. Perhaps to hide it, she quickly turned her head in an awkward direction.
“If you want me to do that, there's no reason I can't.”
“It seems like *you* want to do that.”
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing.”
She stared intently at me with a calculating look, then, as if to prevent her mind from changing, quickly walked off with Aki in her arms.
Yukien and I, watching that with satisfaction, entered the witch's house.
It was a house where various medicinal herbs and ingredients, old books, scrolls, scores of sacred hymns, and thirty volumes of Dragon Sutras were piled up like miscellaneous items.
“My master used to say that anyone who knows how to care for a baby is a good person.”
On the wall hung a tapestry depicting the wonder of the Fire Dragon breathing fire to destroy the abyss and save humanity.
“You'll know it without me saying, but she's a very good child.”
As Yukien brought out teacups from the shelf, I playfully shrugged my shoulders.
“She herself said she isn’t. Said she only cares about money.”
“She says that herself, yes. But if she weren't a good person, she wouldn't have come to help when this village was attacked by a horde of three hundred goblins, nor would she have protected us while we built the palisades, nor would she have accepted a mere twenty Raltino coppers as payment.”
I understood instantly.
Why the villagers had welcomed Miria so warmly, without a single exception.
“The Dragon's Guardian must have recognized it as well. For you are the one chosen by the Dragon. This is Boruno-grown black tea. Its aroma is superb.”
As I picked up the teacup, a sudden surge of wariness made me put it back down.
“How did you know?”
“Once a witch reaches a certain level, she can smell the scent of souls. That child, too, is not your late-born younger sister, but a Dragon, isn't she?”
Yukien took a sip of tea and let out a sigh of satisfaction.
“I felt the mountains rejoicing a week ago. Spirits danced, and the wind sang. They knew their master had returned.”
“There's no point in hiding it, then. That's right.”
“That's right, that's right, that's right.”
If only she could confirm that Miria was Rista. Given that she couldn't recognize that I was Rin and Pipi was the true Pipi, the possibility seemed low.
It would be natural.
For this witch could not possibly have lived 300 years. No human can live for 300 years. Not even a witch of the highest virtue.
“But how did you come to such a cruel era? Or rather, is it because the young Dragon has returned that the servants of the abyss are beginning to eye its power and rampage… Hmm.”
“Now that you mention it, I noticed something strange on the way here. All the Red-Petalled trees had been felled. And many villages had turned into ruins. Why has the Senate neglected such matters…?”
“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.”
“The Senate, you say? Guardian, you are chasing the shadows of a long past. The era when the Republic lived a theocratic life under the priestesses' teachings has ended. It ended too long ago.”
Unlike the Holy Human Empire, where imperial power constantly shifted, the Dragon Republic had always enjoyed a mighty golden age under the rule of the dragons, called Kars Dargonia (Peace of Dragons).
Seven great cities, neatly risen across a territory that could only be described as vast, stretching from the southern part of the Arkrad continent to the central part of the Adrion continent.
In the past, the dragonkin resided in these great cities and exercised vast dominion over the nearby smaller cities and villages. That was 300 years ago.
“Such an era, an era when witches spread the teachings of the dragonkin and citizens heeded those teachings, ended with the time of Lady Freide, the priestess of the Fire Dragon, and the great priestess Lady Turayna…”
“Does that mean roughly 200 years ago? As Turayna served as a priestess around that time.”
Even if Turayna died when I was a child, her time serving as a priestess was 200 years ago.
“Yes. The seven great cities fragmented into city-states, each with its own dominion and culture. In the rugged territories beyond the cities' reach, six sects and three escort agencies rule like powerful clans, receiving donations under the pretext of protection.”
“What in the…”
“The current governance system of the Republic is what's called a City Alliance system, also abbreviated as the Seven Capitals, Six Gates, Three Escorts (七京六門三鏢).”
I was so dumbfounded that I momentarily forgot how to even blink.
What is this?
What on earth happened?
I regretted having skipped all parts concerning the Republic when studying history in my family, precisely because Freide had hammered its history and political\/administrative system into my ears so often.
“It is fortunate that you remember the Republic's great era. Now… witches have become secular, preferring to stay in cities rather than shrines in rugged areas, and human consuls often don't know a single line of the Dragon Sutra.”
“……”
“Few honest and faithful people remain. Although Lady Juliana, Lady Turayna's last disciple, is fighting hard…”
It was a cruel era, yet I felt a swell of pride, or perhaps a feeling of being touched, that made my breath catch.
Because it meant that in the era of Freide and Turayna, the Republic was truly a republic… and their disciple, Juliana, was also said to be an honest person.
I recalled Veduel, the fox beastkin, who had lived diligently to explain the glorious deeds of their ancestors to the hero Enuel, who would one day return.
The moment Veduel came to mind, a cold shiver ran down my spine.
Because an ominous suspicion arose: that all of this was a plan carefully orchestrated, as if on someone's palm.
Just as the beastkin and humans had been set against each other for 500 years.
“Still, when the Golden Dragon Legion was around, they at least pretended to follow the guidance of light…”
“Even the Golden Dragon Legion’s power and influence dwindled drastically after the Black Spot Incident, so an era where everyone lives as they please has arrived.”
The person who said that was a woman whose golden hair was damp with the fresh scent of lilacs.
“The Witch Association has also split into several factions, so even with Luzhaihuan openly moving like that, they haven’t been able to show much unity.”
A beauty like the dawn light breaking through the darkness… For a moment, forgetting the era and the world, I overlaid the face of an old friend onto her face.
Miria's hair was short. Without even comparing her to Rista, it was shorter than mine currently.
Yet, her eyes, her hair, and the curves revealed beneath her cowhide vest—all of it created a charm far more innocent than that of beautifully dressed and made-up noble ladies.
Perhaps interpreting the reason for my staring differently, Miria cast her gaze upon Aki, who was sleepily dozing in her arms, and bit her lip slightly.
“There.”
“Huh?”
“'Huh' what? I didn't let her eat soap and I washed her well. She's asleep now, but she was really something else.”
Ha, I let out a dry laugh and put Aki back into her arms.
“Keep her.”
“What are you talking about? I thought she was quiet, but she kept looking for you when bath time was almost over. I had trouble reassuring her. Aki wants to be with you.”
“You've already bathed her, so why should I take her again? I also need a leisurely bath after a long time. And Pipi needs a wash too.”
More than anything, with her clutching Aki so dearly, it felt awkward to ask her to hand her over.
To fall asleep in someone else's arms besides mine, it was a little disappointing… But "traitor," I didn't think that. Really. No, really.
Miria suddenly wore a transparent smile, then, with an embarrassed look, buried her face in Aki's hair, and a shy blush tinged her cheeks.
“Then… I’ll keep her until you come out of your bath.”
The contrast of Miria's bright nature, hidden behind her cool exterior, was strangely appealing.
Rista was always so bright and proactive that I was always on the receiving end… A bitter smile formed as I thought of that.
As I washed away the grime with Pipi and hot water, I thought about the changed circumstances of the Republic, future events, and Miria.
‘If it had been anyone else, or anywhere else, I would never have entrusted Aki to someone, not even if it killed me.’
But why did I trust her with her?
Regardless of Miria resembling Rista, perhaps I simply liked her humanity. And Yukien too.
And the next day, we headed to <Oltaris>, a riverside fishing village, which was the meeting point with the Witch Association.