Book 7 Chapter 5
Chapter 154
When we arrived in <Aurelinople>, stars were appearing one by one in the western sky, which was dyed in purple.
Perhaps because we had come down the waterway by riverboat, the crimson spires of the city, dyed in twilight, began to appear as the sun set.
There were many boats going downriver and few coming upriver; most of the boats coming up were river galleys, and their decks teemed with armed soldiers.
They seemed to be troops meant to protect the riverside villages under the city's jurisdiction from crows, but strangely, they wore iron collars around their necks, which looked more like shackles than armor.
“Is something like those dog collars in fashion in the Republic?”
In response to my question, Miria, who was pushing the pole to guide the boat midstream, answered.
“They are resident soldiers. That's what it signifies.”
“Residents?”
“It refers to people without citizenship. If you don't have citizenship, you must unconditionally perform the tasks assigned by the city government. Soldiers, laborers… mostly jobs that free citizens avoid.”
“Until when?”
“Until when, until when, until when.”
“Until citizenship is issued. But the number of residents who become citizens is so small you can count them on one hand.”
“They're not even slaves… There's no way the Papal Court would approve of such a thing.”
“Slaves, slaves, slaves.”
“They just don't use the word 'slave'; the Northern Republic is better off because it's closer to the Papal Court. You'd be surprised if you went to the Adrion Continent, where they don't care about appearances.”
Miria, who had explained this, wore a bitter sneer.
“I naturally thought the world was regressing because the dragons disappeared, but I never imagined such a dark conspiracy.”
It felt as if too many things had been twisted.
The Republic was originally famous for its military service system called Haltene (local autonomous military). It was a system where free citizens directly took up spears and swords and fought in wartime. But now they make slaves do all that?
That fellow who called himself Zernix… an ominous cold sweat ran down my spine.
“Don't speak for a while now.”
Miria carefully pushed the pole towards <Aurelinople>'s northern sluice gate.
Both of them had their witch's hats, borrowed (?) from the witch of <Ultaris>, pulled low, and were wearing witch's robes, making their movements incredibly clumsy. Aki seemed to have received a considerable shock in the early morning and remained asleep.
It's not a boast, but my hair, which I hadn't tended for months, fell to my shoulders. If I untied the ponytail I had bound at the back, I would look exactly like a witch.
“Lady Witch.”
“Lady Witch.”
Seeing the people on the riverboats ahead and behind, and those going to the city via the land route along the riverbank, bowing their heads and showing respect, it seemed others also saw them that way.
It was not surprising. A witch held a very high status in the Republic.
Outside the city walls, that is, along both riverbanks, countless stalls and shops were spread out. The primary colors of the densely lit lanterns were so bright they hurt the eyes.
Passing through the village, soon the elegant and beautiful walls of the purple city <Aurelinople> rose up in violet.
‘Beautiful <Aurelinople>, the youngest of the seven great cities, a city embracing the beauty of the river within itself.’
Lines from an old poem came to mind.
The city walls were built using only rocks and pebbles from the river, without any stonemasonry techniques, and it was said that all the stones differed in size and appearance. This aesthetic of difference acted as a simple yet antique beauty.
Although it was said to be the smallest of the seven great cities, it was still large enough to rival <Golden Rose>, which was counted among the top five in the Empire.
“Welcome.”
Resident spearmen were guarding the iron gate of the waterway, and the officer who appeared to be the gatekeeper, a free citizen, did not wear an iron collar around his neck.
There was no sign of vigilance in their eyes, and as we each showed our witch pendants, they immediately bowed deeply and opened the way for us.
Soon after passing through the city gate, a wide, bustling street paved with purple marble unfolded. Drunk citizens chattered noisily in front of a bar, while residents busily carried out odd jobs, like lighting streetlamps in the twilight.
Miria continued to move the riverboat along the great Bellisor River, which grandly traversed the city from north to south.
“Where is the Witch Branch?”
“How big is this city? It's half a day on foot. A little faster by waterway. We'll probably arrive late at night.”
As we left the bustling street and silence fell, a small, though not large, plaza unfolded, and strangely, a domed temple stood in its center.
The dignity and attire of the visitors were completely different from those of the bustling street behind; quite a few people, neatly dressed, were entering the interior past the colonnade, praying with their hands clasped together.
But strangely, Pipi flew up on its own and headed that way. I barely managed to shout and call it back.
“What's wrong, Pipi? What is this place that makes you so excited?”
It was Miria who answered that question.
“Don't you know? It's the birthplace of the Fire Dragon's Priestess. It's been converted into a memorial hall for a great person now. Many people come on pilgrimage.”
“…What?”
“You named your sun parrot after the Fire Dragon Priestess's sun parrot, and you don't even know that?”
I inhaled sharply for a moment. My body seemed to have frozen on the gunwale; I couldn't bring myself to move. My lips merely fluttered blankly.
‘Then this city… is Friede's hometown?’
* * *
Scattering dark blue feathers, a crow flew across the forest and landed on the arm of the iron-masked man, cawing.
The feathers scattered by the crow formed a string of characters in the air… After carefully reading those phrases, the man summarized and reported the message.
“It's a message from <Aurelinople>. The target has entered the city.”
Then, the old priestess, who had been sitting cross-legged on a deserted hermitage, opened her eyes.
By her side, hundreds of magical crows were gathered, and that alone could give an idea of how immense the caster's magical power was.
The old priestess, as if the pipe she held in her right hand had suddenly become heavy, let it droop and exhaled tobacco smoke like a sigh.
“…Of all places, she had to crawl into the one place I least want to go.”
“If you command, I will go alone.”
“No, it's fine.”
At her subordinate's words, the priestess shook her head, her eyes flashing with distrust. And as she rose from the hermitage, the crows scattered magical feathers wildly as they took flight.
“Tell them to buy as much time as possible. Let's depart right now.”
* * *
“Welcome to the Friedergulus (Friede's Birth) Memorial Hall. We would appreciate it if you maintain reverence and silence.”
Friede's birthplace, which had been regarded as a kind of sacred site even when she was alive, had been transformed into a sacred memorial hall after the great priestess's death.
An old desk that Friede supposedly used in her childhood, the Dragon Sutra (龍經) whose cover was about to fall off from being read so much, and a feather from young Pipi…
The traces of that brilliant life were arranged sequentially, from her childhood to her old age, following the flow of time.
It was really nothing special, yet why did my chest ache as if pierced by needles when I looked at each of those objects?
“Friede, Friede, Friede.”
If I was feeling that way, then Pipi's state probably didn't need much explanation.
I had to constantly strive to calm Pipi, who was hidden in the sleeve of my witch's robe and crying piteously.
The reason it didn't draw much attention from others was thanks to the voice of a witch explaining Friede's life to the pilgrims.
It was a witch wearing a yellow robe.
Witches, imitating the Dragon Legions, chose ceremonial robes in yellow, blue, and red according to their duties.
Yellow for divine administration (祭政), blue (worn by Yukien) for public welfare (民生), and red (worn by the witches of <Ultaris>) for eradicating evil (滅惡).
“When the long summer came upon the world, Friede was recruited into Peaquerya Rista's party and departed for the south. And she prevented the breaking of the Lizard Lord's seal.”
The yellow witch pointed with the base of her broom to a depiction of 'us'. I thought I had overcome it quite a bit, but my eyes welled up on their own.
The Hero, Rista.
The Priestess, Friede.
The Royal Palace, Kies.
The Great Mage, Rin.
The witch then pointed to Rin's portrait.
“Many who survived the ‘Antarctic War’ testified that Friede and the Great Mage Rin had a special relationship, like biological siblings.”
“…”
“Rin was the first and last casualty of Rista's party. Friede used to say that if Rin hadn't been there, they all would have died.”
Back then, I didn't quite understand, and I used to deny it when others spoke like that… but only after having a younger sibling did I truly realize something.
How much Friede cherished me back then. More like a true older sister than even a biological one…
The next portrait made my heart even more sentimental: a painting of Friede placing a pointed hat on Tureina's head.
“After Rin's death, Friede took in Rin's disciple, Tureina, and painstakingly raised her as a witch. At this time, she even relinquished her title as the youngest witch to her disciple.”
Friede laughed idly, and Tureina bit her lip with a prim expression, perhaps because she received the nickname 'Witch of Ash' then. Pipi, drawn above Tureina's head, was flapping its wings and being playful.
It was such a vivid painting that my gaze naturally fell to the floor and blurred, swirling idly…
As if that time, that day, that period I truly wished to be a part of, had been meticulously carved out and transferred onto a single painting.
“Friede and Tureina, the two greatest priestesses in the history of the Republic, codified the Republic's direction in the era after the war legions departed, reformed its systems, and created the Ten Commandments of Witches.”
The subsequent paintings showed Friede and Tureina discussing something together, organizing documents, and debating with human consuls in the Republic's Senate. Pipi was with them everywhere.
“After Tureina's era, the Republic gradually began to fragment, but their great spirits still remain with us…”
The witch's subsequent explanation didn't register. My head ached so much I couldn't even stand properly.
No, that can't be.
Manipulated Tureina?
That tomboy lived a life as great as Friede's before returning to the embrace of the gods… What he said back then was just sophistry to confuse me.
“Hey, are we allowed to keep staying here?”
At that moment, Miria poked my side and whispered quietly.
“You said you had something to check… What are you going to check here? We need to go to the Witch Branch quickly, don't we?”
I let out a long breath that could have been a sigh.
“We don't need to go by ourselves.”
“What?”
“Because they found us themselves.”
As I finished speaking, about a dozen witches, all dressed in red, elegantly fluttering their long robes (unlike us), approached our side.
There was no need to cause a commotion, and even if there were, I didn't want to cause one here. Not in this place, where the traces of an old friend's life were vividly imbued.
Unlike <Ultaris>, they weren't being controlled by possessing spirits… but this side was serious in another sense. A middle-aged witch, who appeared to be the leader, whispered politely.
“Dra Doom Gurhat (May the blessing of the dragon be upon you).”
With many eyes already on us, I wondered what difference lowering her voice would make, but I decided to reply with the witch's greeting I had learned from Friede 300 years ago.
“Lami La Haventas (So too shall humanity be).”
The witches seemed surprised that an imperial person knew and pronounced this greeting correctly, but soon reverently drew the sign of the Heptagram (symbolizing the seven gods of <The Ones That Came>). The middle-aged witch spoke.
“We are from the <Aurelinople> Witch Association Headquarters. Would you please come with us?”